The Short S.32 was a British four-engined all-metal long-range transport monoplane designed by
Short Brothers to
Air Ministry Specification 14/38. The project was abandoned in May 1940.
If produced, it would have been one of the first British pressurised airliners.
Development
In 1938 the British
Air Ministry issued two specifications (14/38 and 15/38) for large transport aircraft comparable in size with the
Junkers Ju 90 and
Focke-Wulf Fw 200, with Specification 14/38 being for use on Empire routes and 15/38 for European routes.
[Barnes 1967, p. 341.][Brookes ''Flight'' 9 May 1958, p. 632.] The Ministry placed a contract with Shorts for three prototypes designated the Short S.32 against specification 14/38 and a production order for 14
Fairey FC1
The Fairey FC1 was a British airliner project of the 1930s. Although an order was placed for 14 FC1s in 1938, work was stopped by the outbreak of the Second World War, and no examples were built.
Development and design
In 1938, the British Air Mi ...
s against specification 15/38.
The S.32 was a four-engined mid-wing monoplane powered by
Bristol Hercules
The Bristol Hercules is a 14-cylinder two-row radial aircraft engine designed by Sir Roy Fedden and produced by the Bristol Engine Company starting in 1939. It was the most numerous of their single sleeve valve ( Burt-McCollum, or Argyll, typ ...
radials. The S.32 had a tailwheel landing gear to overcome problems with a nose wheel retracting into a pressurised fuselage. The build of three prototypes for the Air Ministry was started at Rochester but due to the urgent need for the factory to build the
Short Stirling
The Short Stirling was a British four-engined heavy bomber of the Second World War. It has the distinction of being the first four-engined bomber to be introduced into service with the Royal Air Force (RAF).
The Stirling was designed during t ...
construction was abandoned.
Specifications
See also
References
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{{Short Brothers aircraft
1930s British airliners
S.32
Abandoned civil aircraft projects of the United Kingdom
Mid-wing aircraft