Short S23 C Class Empire Flying Boats Part 2

Design and development
The origins of the Empire boats lay in an Air Ministry requirement for passenger and mail carriers that could service the colonies particularly to make the connection to Australia.

The Empire was officially known as the C-class and each aircraft was christened with a name beginning with C. The first aircraft, G-ADHL Canopus, was completed in June 1936 and launched on 3 July. A total of 42 Empires were built, all at Short's Rochester factory.

Imperial Airways (and its successor BOAC), Qantas and TEAL operated the Short Empire.

The first series of the Short Empires, the S23, could carry 5 crew, 17 passengers, and 4,480 lb (2,035 kg) of cargo at a maximum speed of 174 knots (320 km/h).

The range of the S.23 was less than that of the US Sikorsky "Clipper" flying boats and as such they could not provide a trans-Atlantic service. Two boats (Caledonia and Cambria) were lightened and given long range tanks so they could make the trip but that meant they could carry fewer passengers and less cargo. In an attempt to manage the Altantic crossing a piggy-back approach was tried. Using a built up S.23 design as the main carrier and a smaller four-engined floatplane design, the Short S.20, mounted on its back. Only a single example was built of a carrier aircraft, the S.21 (Maia) and one S.20 (Mercury) together known as the Short Mayo Composite A successful mid-air launch of Mercury was made in 1938.

The S30 series were fitted with Bristol Perseus sleeve valve engines and had a strengthened airframe allowing the take off weight to be increased to 46,000 pounds and giving a range of 1,500 miles. Cabot, Caribou, Clyde and Connemara were fitted with in-flight refuelling equipment and extra fuel tanks so they could be used for a trans-atlantic airmail service. The idea behind this was for the aircraft to take off and once airborne take on extra fuel to an all up weight of 53,000 pounds giving a range of over 2,500 miles. The extra fuel did reduce the payload to 4,270 pounds against the 6,250 pounds of the standard craft. The refuelling was by 3 converted Handley Page Harrow bombers operating out of Ireland and Newfoundland.

In addition to the C class flying boats there were also three S.26 type built; these were known as the "G class" and had names starting with "G": Golden Hind, Golden Fleece and Golden Horn. They were a scaled up version of the C class, with a wing span of 134 ft (40.9 m) and a length of 101 ft. (30.9 m).

General characteristics
Length: 88 ft (26.82m)
Wingspan: 114 ft (34.75 m)
Height: 31 ft 9¾ in (9.70 m)
Wing area: 1,500 ft² (139.35 m²)
Empty weight: 23,500 lb (10,659 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 40,500 lb (18,370 kg)
Powerplant: 4× Bristol Pegasus radial engines, 920 hp (696 kW) each
Performance
Maximum speed: 200 mph (322 km/h)
Range: 760 miles (1,223 km)
Service ceiling: 20,000 ft (6,100 m)

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Short
• S23
• C
• Class
• Empire
• Flying
• Boats
• aviation
• history
• aircraft
• imperial
• airways

[oldgringo2001]

I've never seen one of the C-class, but I did visit a Solent once in Alameda or maybe Oakland, California. There's a group there that's been trying to restore the plane to flight condition since the 1980s. It was used briefly to impersonate the China Clipper in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

[40rst]

He had many stories regarding his service including that of using ex armuments from downed B17 bombers to replace there own inferiour weapons..no gun turrets etc just him standing half out of the top pointing the gun. I have a few photos to remember him by but this will be passed onto family to have a look at for sure!. cheers for the memories.

[40rst]

Great footage of the 'Coolangatta' My grandfather Bob Strathearn past away just a few years ago and was a wireless/air gunner on the coolangatta when in service during WW11, he retired from service before it lost its bottom due to metal fatigue in rose bay sydney.

[TheTurbinator]

Are there any videos of the whole interior of this plane. Like a walk-trough video.

[jeremy1000100]

@kworthing78

There are still a couple of Shorts Sunderlands on display in museums in England, although of course they no longer fly.

Try the R A F Museum at Hendon, North London.

[flygweilo]

@DartDakota QANTAS Empire Airways was a subsidiary entity set up by QANTAS to participate with Imperial Airways Ltd in the Empire Airmail Scheme. Tasman Empire Air Lines (TEAL) which later became Air New Zealand, was set up for the same purpose.

When the Empire Air Mail Scheme was set up, Ansett dissented as they - and other now defunct Australian airlines - had other plans for air mail.

QEA allowed a single company, comprised of the various entities, to have the necessary end-to-end rights.

[danlefou]

I like "Aircraft Landing In Turin, All Luggage In Amsterdam".

[ragemanchoo82]

How many of those survive?

[fordlandau]

you can see in the background of the Sydney landing parts of the Sydney suburb of Vaucluse..looks the same really today!

[denberg2]

Keep 'em coming, Bomberguy!