The Short No.1 biplane was an early British aircraft built in 1909 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 ...

. Although it never flew, it was notable for being the first aircraft designed by

Horace Short Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his '' ...

Design and development

The Short No.1 was built for

Francis McClean Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Francis Kennedy McClean, (1 February 1876 – 11 August 1955) was a British civil engineer and pioneer aviator. Sir Francis was one of the founding members of the Royal Aero Club and one of the founders of naval aviatio ...

, who had seen Wilbur Wright's flight demonstrations at

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

in France. McClean, a keen astronomer, had to leave on an expedition to observe a

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six month ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, but wrote to Horace Short, whom he had only met once, asking him to build him an aeroplane. Horace Short began design work in November 1908, and construction of the aircraft was started at

Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batter ...

workshop in early 1909. The uncovered airframe was exhibited in March at the 1909 London Aero Show at Olympia. The aircraft was a three-bay

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 ...

with a biplane elevator and central fin mounted on two pairs of converging booms in front. The chord of the outer bay of each wing was extended aft to form flexible extensions to effect lateral control: between the tips of these extensions, four balanced rudders were pivoted. The undercarriage consisted of a pair of

ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

skids extending forward, almost as far as the elevators. No wheels were fitted, as it was intended to use a launching rail for takeoff. Apart from the skids, the entire airframe was built of

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

, and was covered with

Continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continent, the major landmasses of Earth * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' ( ...

brand rubberised fabric. The engine, originally intended to be a version of the Wright's vertical 4-cylinder engine made by Bariquand et Marre, drove a pair of pusher propellers, mounted slightly above mid-gap using a

chain drive Chain drive is a way of transmitting mechanical power from one place to another. It is often used to convey power to the wheels of a vehicle, particularly bicycles and motorcycles. It is also used in a wide variety of machines besides vehicles. ...

. This was arranged so that both propellers revolved in the same direction, since crossing them to make them revolve in opposite directions might have infringed patents held by the Wright brothers. Work continued at the newly established Short Brothers works on the

Isle of Sheppey The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale. ''Sheppey'' is derived ...

, and was complete upon McClean's return from China. The Bariquand et Marre engine was not yet available, so a engine taken from a Nordenfelt car was installed. However, at more than in weight, when a first attempt at flight was made in September, the engine failed to propel the machine even as far as the end of the launching rail. The Bariquand et Marre engine arrived in October, and McClean made three attempts at flight on 2, 3 and 6 November, almost succeeding in becoming airborne, but on the last attempt he applied full up-elevator, and the machine stalled and fell back on the launch rail, breaking the undercarriage and propellers: it was not repaired.Barnes 1967, p.43 McClean's next aircraft was a copy of the

Wright Model A The Wright Model A was an early aircraft produced by the Wright Brothers in the United States beginning in 1906. It was a development of their Flyer III airplane of 1905. The Wrights built about seven Model As in their bicycle shop during the ...

built under license by Short Brothers.

Specifications

References

;Citations ;Bibliography *Barnes, C.H. ''Shorts Aircraft Since 1900''. London: Putnam, 1967 {{Short Brothers aircraft Short No.1 biplane 1900s British experimental aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1909