The Short Type 166 was a 1910s

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

two-seat reconnaissance, bombing and

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

-carrying folder

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

, designed 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 ...

Development

The Short Type 166 was designed as a 'folder' aircraft to operate from the

Ark Royal Five ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS ''Ark Royal'': * , the flagship of the English fleet during the Spanish Armada campaign of 1588 * , planned as freighter, built as seaplane carrier during the First World War, renamed ''Pegasu ...

as a torpedo-bomber. Six aircraft, known within Shorts as the ''Type A'', were originally ordered before the outbreak of

World War I 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 ...

, and were assigned the Admiralty serial numbers 161 to 166. As was normal at the time, the type was designated the Admiralty Type 166, after the naval serial number of the last aircraft in the batch. Sometimes, the aircraft are referred to as the Short S.90 (S.90 was the manufacturer's serial number of the first aircraft, naval serial 161). The ''Type 166'' was similar to the earlier Short Type 136, but slightly larger, and was designed from the start as a torpedo carrier, although it was never used in that rôle.Barnes & James, p.101.

Design

The ''Type 166'' was a two-bay biplane with twin wooden pontoon floats, with a water rudder fitted to the tail float, plus a stabilizing float mounted near the wingtip under each lower wing. It was powered by a nose-mounted 200 hp (149 kW) Salmson engine. A follow-on order for 20 aircraft was assembled by

Westland Aircraft Westland Aircraft was a British aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil, Somerset. Formed as a separate company by separation from Petters Limited just before the start of the Second World War, Westland had been building aircraft since 1915. D ...

at its Yeovil factory.Westland History – Short 166
/ref> The Westland-built aircraft did not have provision for a torpedo, but could carry three 112 lb bombs, and were fitted to carry radio equipment. There was also a Lewis gun in the rear cockpit, that was operated by the observer.

Operators

; * Hellenic Navy ; * Royal Naval Air Service

Specifications

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * *
Flight International 1956

External links

{{Admiralty aircraft type numbers 1910s British bomber aircraft Floatplanes Type 166 Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1916