Short Seaford

In 1942, the Air Ministry issued Specification R.8/42 for a replacement of the Sunderland, as a long range patrol bomber for service in the Pacific Ocean. It required more powerful engines, better defensive armament, and other enhancements.Barnes 1989, pp. 357Green 1968, p. 106.

The Sunderland Mark IV used major structural elements of the Sunderland Mark III, with a fuselage stretch of 3 ft ahead of the wing, an extended and redesigned planing bottom, the same wing with thicker Duralumin skinning, and Bristol Hercules engines. Further structural changes were made after initial flight tests. The planned armament consisted of two fixed forward-firing .303 inch (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns in the nose, a Brockhouse Engineering nose turret with twin .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns, twin 20 mm Hispano cannon mounted in a Bristol B.17 dorsal turret, twin .50 in (12.7 mm) guns in a Glenn-Martin tail turret, and another .50 in (12.7 mm) machine gun in a hand-held waist position on each side of the fuselage. The turrets were all electrically powered. Two prototypes and thirty production aircraft were ordered as the Sunderland Mark IV.

thumb

On 30 August 1944, the prototype (MZ269) first flew from the River Medway at Rochester. The increased engine power caused aerodynamic stability problems, and a new fin was designed with greater height with forward dorsal extension, plus a new tailplane with increased span and area.Barnes 1967, p. 360. Changes were so extensive that the new aircraft was given the name Seaford.London 2003, p. 196. Thirty production aircraft were ordered, but the first of these flew in April 1945, well after the introduction of the Sunderland Mark V, and too late to see combat in Europe. The prototypes were powered by Hercules XVII engines of 1,680 hp (1,253 kW), but production aircraft used 1,720 hp (1,283 kW) Hercules XIX engines. The planned Glenn Martin tail turrets were never installed. Eight production Seafords were completed; the first (NJ200) was used for trials at MAEE Felixstowe. The second production Seaford (NJ201) was evaluated by RAF Transport Command, then in December 1945 it was loaned without armament to BOAC as G-AGWU, then returned to MAEE as NJ201 in February 1946. In April 1946, the other six production Seafords were delivered to No. 201 Squadron RAF for brief operational trials. In 1948, those six aircraft were modified as civilian airliners at Belfast, then leased to BOAC with the designation Solent 3.Barnes 1989, pp. 360–363

;{{UK}}

• British Overseas Airways Corporation
• Royal Air Force
• No. 201 Squadron RAF

Short S.45 Seaford NJ203, converted to a Short Solent in 1948, is displayed at the Oakland Aviation Museum, Oakland, California.Ogden (2007){{Cite web |url=http://oaklandaviationmuseum.org/solent_flying_boat_32.html |title="Short Solent" |access-date=14 March 2015 |archive-date=19 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160619044717/http://oaklandaviationmuseum.org/solent_flying_boat_32.html |url-status=dead }}

{{Aircraft specs

|ref=GreenGreen 1968, p. 107. and Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War IIJane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II 1989, p. 139.

|prime units?=imp

|genhide=

|crew=8–11 (two pilots, radio operator, navigator, engineer, bomb-aimer, three to five gunners)

|capacity=

|length m=

|length ft=88

|length in=6+3/4

|span m=

|span ft=112

|span in=9+1/2

|height m=

|height ft=37

|height in=3

|wing area sqm=

|wing area sqft=1687

|wing area note=

|aspect ratio=

|airfoil=

|empty weight kg=

|empty weight lb=45000

|empty weight note=

|gross weight kg=

|gross weight lb=75000

|gross weight note=

|fuel capacity=

|more general=

|eng1 number=4

|eng1 name=Bristol Hercules XIX

|eng1 type=14-cylinder radial engines

|eng1 kw=

|eng1 hp=1720

|prop blade number=

|prop name=

|prop dia m=

|prop dia ft=

|prop dia in=

|prop note=

|perfhide=

|max speed kmh=

|max speed mph=242

|max speed kts=

|max speed note=at {{convert|500|ft|m|abbr=on}}

|cruise speed kmh=

|cruise speed mph=207

|cruise speed note=at {{convert|7000|ft|m|abbr=on}}

|range km=

|range miles=2800

|range note=normal range
{{cvt|3100|mi|km nmi}} overload range

|endurance=

|ceiling m=

|ceiling ft=14000

|g limits=

|roll rate=

|climb rate ms=

|climb rate ftmin=875

|time to altitude=18 min to {{convert|10000|ft|m|abbr=on}}

|more performance=

|guns= 6 × .50 in Browning machine guns (two each in nose and tail turrets and two beam guns), 2 x 20 mm Hispano cannon in dorsal turret and 2 × fixed .303 in Browning machine gun

|bombs= 4,960 lb (2,250 kg) of bombs and depth charges

|rockets=

|missiles=

|hardpoints=

|hardpoint capacity=

|hardpoint rockets=

|hardpoint missiles=

|hardpoint bombs=

|hardpoint other=

|avionics=

}}

{{aircontent

|related=

|similar aircraft=

• Kawanishi H8K

|lists=

• List of aircraft of the Royal Air Force

|see also=

}}

{{reflist}}

• Barnes, C.H. Shorts Aircraft since 1900. Putnam, 1967, 1989 {{ISBN|0-85177-819-4}}
• Green, William. War Planes of the Second World War: Volume Five Flying Boats. Macdonald, 1968. {{ISBN|0-356-01449-5}}.
• {{cite book |author= |date=1989 |title=Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II |location=New York |publisher=Military Press |isbn=0517679647}}
• London, Peter. British Flying Boats. Sutton Publishing, 2003. {{ISBN|0-7509-2695-3}}.
• Ogden, Bob (2007). Aviation Museums and Collections of North America. Air-Britain. {{ISBN|0-85130-385-4}}
• {{cite magazine|last=Warner|first=Guy|title=From Bombay to Bombardier: Aircraft Production at Sydenham, Part One|magazine=Air Enthusiast |date=July–August 2002|issue=100 |pages=13–24 |issn=0143-5450}}

{{Commons category}}

• [http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1946/1946%20-%200018.html Short Seaford] Flight 3 January 1946 (3 pages of diagrams and images)

{{Short Brothers aircraft}}

Category:1940s British patrol aircraft

Category:Flying boats

Category:Short Brothers aircraft

Category:Four-engined tractor aircraft

Category:High-wing aircraft

Category:Aircraft first flown in 1944

Category:Four-engined piston aircraft