The Short N.2B was a prototype British patrol

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, designed and built by

Short Brothers Short Brothers plc, usually referred to as Shorts or Short, is an aerospace company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Shorts was founded in 1908 in London, and was the first company in the world to make production aeroplanes. It was particu ...

. A single-engined

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

intended to replace Short's successful Type 184, only two were built, the

Fairey III The Fairey Aviation Company Fairey III was a family of British reconnaissance biplanes that enjoyed a very long production and service history in both landplane and seaplane variants. First flying on 14 September 1917, examples were still in us ...

being preferred.

Development and design

In 1917, the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...

released Specification N.2B for a long-range patrol seaplane to replace the

Short Type 184 The Short Admiralty Type 184, often called the Short 225 after the power rating of the engine first fitted, was a British two-seat reconnaissance, bombing and torpedo carrying folding-wing seaplane designed by Horace Short of Short Brothers. It ...

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

(RNAS) service. The Short Brothers' response to this specification, designated Short N.2B was a single-engined, unequal span

with two-bay folding wings. While Short's wanted to fit a Rolls-Royce Eagle engine, this was rejected by the Admiralty owing to an expected shortage of these engines, with the

Sunbeam Maori The Sunbeam Afridi was an aero-engine produced by Sunbeam during the First World War. Design and development Conceived to replace the Crusader/Zulu on the production lines, Louis Coatalen designed a companion engine for the V-12 Cossack, givi ...

substituted.Barnes 1967, p.138. Eight prototype Short N.2Bs were ordered together with competing aircraft from Fairey (the

). The first prototype flew in December 1917.Mason 1994, p.99. When it was tested at the Marine Experimental Aircraft Depot on the Isle of Grain in February 1918, it showed performance no better than the Short 184 with the same engine. While modification with a different propeller and attempts to reduce drag did improve performance, the Fairey III was preferred, being ordered into production in versions powered by both the Maori and Eagle engines, with only the first two prototype Short aircraft being built.Barnes 1967, pp.138-139. In May 1919, Shorts modified the second prototype with an Eagle engine salvaged from the modified Short N.1B Shirl ''Shamrock'', which had crashed during an attempt to cross the Atlantic, the revised aircraft showing greatly improved climb rate but with speed only increased by 8 mph (13 km/h). The Maori was reinstated, and the second prototype delivered to the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

in January 1920.Barnes 1967, pp.141-142.

Specifications (Maori engine)

Footnotes

References

*Barnes, C.H. ''Shorts Aircraft since 1900''. London:Putnam, 1967. *Bruce, J.M. ''British Aeroplanes 1914-18''. London:Putnam, 1957. *Mason, Francis K. ''The British Bomber since 1914''. London:Putnam, 1994. . {{Short Brothers aircraft 1910s British military reconnaissance aircraft N.2B Floatplanes Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1917

Development and design

Specifications (Maori engine)

See also

Footnotes

References