Fabulous to see this, thank you! Great also to Capt Bennett speaking, an accomplished aviator. His world long distance seaplane record from 1938 still stands today. He later became famous as Air Vice Marshal Donald Bennett who was in charge of the 'pathfinder force' in WW2.
My understanding is that the Mayo though rather wonderful was a bit of a con!
They wanted to show that they could deliver mail to New York - but the reality was that even by this extreme solution they could not carry enough to make it more than a stunt.
I 'd not swear to it but I think it was also a reaction to the Dornier X ( albeit also a bit of a con ) or maybe hints of the undeniably superior but later Boeing Clipper. Still cool!
Beautiful stuff,reminded me of my very first dinky toy that I purchased in 1939 and have always rembered it,thank you,those were the days.I was talking to a fellow collector of Dinky toys he had not heard of this,and I can prove it did exsist. GREAT.
Sadly they have even built on the slip now the only Short Bros building left is the Main Hangar at BEA Systems near Rochester Airport where the Land Planes were built. Apart from a few street and building names there is no reconigtion made to the Shorts Bros.The Last flying Sunderland "Sir Arthur Gouge" was based at the Dockyard many years ago and I was lucky enough to see her fly but now she lives with Kermit Weekes in Florida at the Fantasy of Flight Museum. Thank You Gix.
I went for a stroll today to have a look, its a boathouse for the Rochester Rowing Club. Most of the slip seems to be intact and used by the club. I took the camcorder so I'll soon be uploading some footage of the presnt day site and Shorts Reach, where these incredible machines took off from.
What's hysterically funny about this footage (from todays perspective), for something so experimental, the test flight is still being carried out over a densely populated area!
my grand father worked for shorts
lennygoldsmith 1 year ago
Fabulous to see this, thank you! Great also to Capt Bennett speaking, an accomplished aviator. His world long distance seaplane record from 1938 still stands today. He later became famous as Air Vice Marshal Donald Bennett who was in charge of the 'pathfinder force' in WW2.
humrv7 1 year ago
Amazing footage,great story and history. thanks for putting on you tube.
pyed1 1 year ago
My understanding is that the Mayo though rather wonderful was a bit of a con!
They wanted to show that they could deliver mail to New York - but the reality was that even by this extreme solution they could not carry enough to make it more than a stunt.
I 'd not swear to it but I think it was also a reaction to the Dornier X ( albeit also a bit of a con ) or maybe hints of the undeniably superior but later Boeing Clipper. Still cool!
Sqdrn1 2 years ago
Wonderful footage, thanks for posting!
seftonwallet 3 years ago
could this have been the inspiration behind the German "Mistel" combinations during WWII?
ges2005 3 years ago
Flip that...this one came first.
MrMoorkey 2 years ago
Just a passing thought: If Mercury was too heavy with petrol to lift away from the water, how did she get back to Uk from Canada?
jonzflicks 3 years ago
The problem was head winds on the east to west crossing. With tail winds on the west to east crossing they didn't need as much fuel
Bomberguy 3 years ago
Beautiful stuff,reminded me of my very first dinky toy that I purchased in 1939 and have always rembered it,thank you,those were the days.I was talking to a fellow collector of Dinky toys he had not heard of this,and I can prove it did exsist. GREAT.
oldarf 3 years ago
Sadly they have even built on the slip now the only Short Bros building left is the Main Hangar at BEA Systems near Rochester Airport where the Land Planes were built. Apart from a few street and building names there is no reconigtion made to the Shorts Bros.The Last flying Sunderland "Sir Arthur Gouge" was based at the Dockyard many years ago and I was lucky enough to see her fly but now she lives with Kermit Weekes in Florida at the Fantasy of Flight Museum. Thank You Gix.
gixergs 4 years ago
I went for a stroll today to have a look, its a boathouse for the Rochester Rowing Club. Most of the slip seems to be intact and used by the club. I took the camcorder so I'll soon be uploading some footage of the presnt day site and Shorts Reach, where these incredible machines took off from.
OffWorldWorkshop 4 years ago
Awesome footage, what a find!
I live near Rochester, the only thing left to see of the Shorts factory is the concrete launch apron into river.
OffWorldWorkshop 4 years ago 2
What's hysterically funny about this footage (from todays perspective), for something so experimental, the test flight is still being carried out over a densely populated area!
OffWorldWorkshop 4 years ago
Ah the sound of those engines.
BerlinBunker1 4 years ago
Reminds me of the Space Shuttle return flights to KSC.
rolko52 4 years ago
wow! that's cool.
brino182 4 years ago
A totally impractical. Can you imasgine going thru all this everytime a few passengers are loaded. And what about the return trip?
twinten 4 years ago
I used to take my Pussycat glider up on the back of a Senior Telemaster like that, ha ha.
fmichaelb 4 years ago
While giving you full credit for this unique piece of history - I believe the correct name should be spelled "Maia" and not "Mayo".
The pairing of Mercury and Maia comes from Greek and Roman mythical history, and, if you go looking the internet has numerous sites describing this.
Nonetheless - you are making an enormous contribution to aviation buffs everywhere. Thank you!
pj3atcencol 4 years ago
Major Robert H. Mayo was the co-designer. The concept is known as the Short-Mayo. Maia is the name of the mother ship.
Bomberguy 4 years ago
Man! I stand corrected and apologise for MY faux-pas! Many thanks for this and all the others. :-)
Regards,
pj
pj3atcencol 4 years ago
No problem, thanks for the comments
Bomberguy 4 years ago
Keep 'em coming, Bomberguy!
denberg2 4 years ago