The Short N.3 Cromarty was a prototype British twin-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 ...

flying boat, designed towards the end 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 fig ...

. Only a single example was built, which first flew in 1921 and was wrecked in 1922.

Development

In April 1917, the British Admiralty developed a requirement for a long-range patrol flying boat to work in support of the Fleet, and issued Specification N.3(b) (later reissued as Air Ministry Specification XXX) to meet this need.London 2003, p.62. This resulted in designs from

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in ...

(for the

Valentia Valentia may refer to: Places *Valentia Island, off the coast of County Kerry, Ireland *Valentia (Roman Britain), a province of Roman Britain *Valence, Drôme, France, known in Roman times as Valentia *Nuragus, Sardinia, Italy, known in Roman time ...

) and Shorts of

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, who, although better known at the time for

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

s, had gained experience in flying boats, building

Felixstowe F.3 The Felixstowe F.3 was a British First World War flying boat, successor to the Felixstowe F.2 designed by Lieutenant Commander John Cyril Porte Royal Navy, RN at the RNAS Felixstowe, naval air station, Felixstowe. Design and development In Feb ...

and F.5s under licence from April 1917.Barnes 1967, p.155.London 2003, pp. 63–64. Short Brothers received an order for three prototypes just after the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...

ended the First World War.London 2003, p.64. Short's design, the N.3 Cromarty, was a large, twin-engine

. It was powered by two Rolls-Royce Condor engines, and had a similar, but larger hull to that of the Felixstowe flying boats, with a biplane tail. It featured a side-by-side cockpit for the two pilots, a large box cockpit for a gunner, who was armed with a COW

automatic cannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large- caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary shells, as opposed to the smaller-caliber kinetic projectiles (bul ...

, and a dorsal position for another gunner armed with a Lewis gun.Williams and Gustin 2003, p.101. Production of the prototypes started in February 1919, but the second and third were cancelled before completion, with the first prototype eventually being launched on 21 March 1921, being first flown by John Lankester Parker on 11 April 1921.

Operational history

After extensive testing, the Cromarty was handed over to the RAF's Seaplane Development Flight on 17 June 1922. In August, the Flight, comprising the Cromarty, two Felixstowe F.5s and a Phoenix Cork, set out on trials of operating large flying boats away from support facilities for extended periods of time. Arriving at St Mary's, Isles of Scilly on 21 August, the Cromarty successfully weathered a storm, but was taxied onto a reef, holing the hull. The damage was declared uneconomic to repair and the Cromarty was scrapped in place.Barnes 1967, p.157.London 2003, p.65. While the Cromarty had performed well in its limited service, one problem (as with all wooden-hulled flying boats) was soakage of water into the hull, with as much as of water absorbed after a few weeks of service.Short 1925, p.825. Tests with a metal-hulled Felixstowe F.5 resulted in an order for a prototype of an improved, metal-hulled flying boat, based on the Cromarty. This became the prototype Short Singapore I.Barnes 1967, pp. 195–198.

Specifications

Notes

References

Aircraft Production at a Glance
. ''

Flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can b ...

'', 14 December 1922, pp. 725–740. *Barnes, C.H. ''Shorts Aircraft since 1900''. London:Putnam, 1967. *London, Peter. ''British Flying Boats''. Stroud, UK:Sutton Publishing, 2003. . *Short, Oswald
All-Metal Flying Boat Hulls
. ''Flight'', 17 December 1925. pp. 823–825. *Williams, Anthony G. and Gustin, Emmanuel. ''Flying Guns: World War I and its Aftermath 1914–32''. Ramsbury, UK:Airlife, 2003. .

External links

{{Short Brothers aircraft 1920s British patrol aircraft Flying boats

Cromarty Cromarty (; gd, Cromba, ) is a town, civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish and former royal burgh in Ross and Cromarty, in the Highland (council area), Highland area of Scotland. Situated at the tip of the Black Isle on the southern shore o ...