Short Empire

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The BOAC Short 'C' Class flying boat G-AFBL Coogee, at Rod El Faray, Egypt, c1942.

The Short Empire was a passenger and mail carrying flying boat, of the 1930s and 1940s, which flew between Britain and British colonies in Africa, Asia and Australia. It was manufactured by Short Brothers and was the precursor to the more famous Short Sunderland of World War II.

The Empire was officially known as the C-class and each aircraft was christened with a name beginning with C. The first aircraft, G-ADHL 'Canopus', was completed in June 1936 and launched on 2 July. A total of 42 Empires were built, all at Short's Rochester factory.

Imperial Airways (and its successor BOAC), Qantas and TEAL operated the Short Empire.

The first series of the Short Empires, the S23, could carry 5 crew, 17 passengers, and 4,480 lb / 2035 kg of cargo. It had four Bristol Pegasus engines, each generating 910 hp / 680 kW. Its wing span was 114 ft / 35 metres and its length was 88 ft / 27 metres. It weighed 24,500 lb / 11 tonnes empty and 40,500 lb / 18 tonnes loaded. Its maximum speed was 174 knots / 320 km per hour.

The S30 series were fitted with Bristol Perseus sleeve valve engines and had a strengthened airframe allowing the take off weight to be increased to 46,000 pounds and giving a range of 1,500 miles. Cabot, Caribou, Clyde and Connemara were fitted with in-flight refuelling equipment and extra fuel tanks so they could be used for a trans-atlantic airmail service. The idea behind this was for the aircraft to take off and once airborne take on extra fuel to an all up weight of 53,000 pounds giving a range of over 2,500 miles. The extra fuel did reduce the payload to 4,270 pounds against the 6,250 pounds of the standard craft.

In addition to the C class flying boats there were also three S26 type built and these were known as the G class and had names starting with G. They were a scaled up version of the C class with 134 foot wing span and was 101 feet long. The engines were Bristol Hercules sleeve valve units. They were designed to cross the Atlantic without in flight refuelling having a range of 3,200 miles carrying a payload of 3,700 pounds. None were not fitted to carry passengers but a design for a 24 person layout was prepared.

1 List of aircraft
2 Civil Operators
3 Military Operators
4 References
5 External links

[edit] List of aircraft

Registration	Name	Operator
S.23
G-ADHL	Canopus	IAL/BOAC
G-ADHM	Caledonia	IAL/BOAC
G-ADUT	Centaurus	IAL/BOAC
G-ADUU	Caledonia	IAL/BOAC
G-ADUV	Cambria	IAL/BOAC
G-ADUW	Castor	IAL/BOAC
G-ADUX	Cassiopea	IAL/BOAC
G-ADUY	Capella	IAL/BOAC
G-ADUZ	Cygnus	IAL/BOAC
G-ADVA	Capricornus	IAL/BOAC
G-ADVB	Corsair	IAL/BOAC
G-ADVC	Courtier	IAL/BOAC
G-ADVD	Challenger	IAL/BOAC
G-ADVE	Centurion	IAL/BOAC
G-AETV	Coriolanus	IAL/BOAC
G-AETW	Calpurnia	IAL/BOAC
G-AETX	Ceres	IAL/BOAC
G-AETY	Clio	IAL/BOAC - to RAF as AX659 9/7/40
G-AETZ	Circe	IAL/BOAC
G-AEUA	Calypso	IAL/BOAC
G-AEUB	Camilla	IAL/BOAC - to QANTAS as VH-ADU 8/42
G-AEUC	Corinna	IAL/BOAC
G-AEUD	Cordelia	IAL/BOAC - to RAF as AX660 9/7/40 returned to BOAC and previous identity - 19/9/41
G-AEUE	Cameronian	IAL/BOAC
G-AEUF	Corinthian	IAL/BOAC
VH-ABA	Carpentaria	Qantas - to BOAC as G-AFBJ 8/42
VH-ABD	Corio	Qantas - to IAL/BOAC as G-AEUH 9/39
VH-ABE	Coorong	Qantas - to IAL/BOAC as G-AEUI 9/39
VH-ABF	Coogee	Qantas - to BOAC as G-AFBL 8/42
S.26
G-AFCI	Golden Hind	IAL/BOAC
G-AFCJ	Golden Fleece	IAL/BOAC
G-AFCK	Golden Horn	IAL/BOAC
S.30
G-AFCT	Champion	IAL/BOAC
G-AFCX	Clyde	IAL/BOAC
G-AFCY	Captain Cook	Qantas - to TEAL as ZK-AMC Awarua 3/40
G-AFCZ	Clare	IAL/BOAC
G-AFDA	Aotearoa	to TEAL as ZK-AMA 3/40
G-AFKZ	Cathay	IAL/BOAC
S.33
G-AFPZ	Clifton	IAL/BOAC - to QANTAS as VH-ACD 8/42
G-AFRA	Cleopatra	IAL/BOAC