Note: This is a sub-section of Short Brothers.
The Short Mayo Composite was a piggy-back long-range seaplane/flying boat combination produced by Short Brothers to provide a reliable long-range air transport service to the United States and the far reaches of the British Empire and the Commonwealth.
The Short-Mayo composite project, co-designed by Major Robert H. Mayo, and Shorts chief designer Arthur Gouge, comprised the Short S.21 Maia, (G-ADHK) which was a variant of the Short "C-Class" Empire flying-boat fitted with a trestle or pylon on the top of the fuselage to support the Short S.20 Mercury(G-ADHJ).[1]
1938 The successful first separation took place on February 6, with Capt. J. Lankester Parker flying the lower component, Maia, and Mr. H. L. Piper the upper, Mercury.
An Atlantic crossing was made in July of that year, The first "heavier than air" commercial crossing of the North Atlantic - Imperial Airways' floatplane G-ADHJ was launched from the Short S21 flying boat G-ADHK near Foynes and flew non-stop to Montreal, a distance of 2,930 miles in 20 hours 20 minutes. The return flight was via the Azores and Lisbon.
Subsequently Mercury made a number of other air-launched flights, on one of which, piloted by Bennett, it established a seaplane record from Scotland to South Africa. On another occasion over a ton of mail was taken non-stop to Alexandria on a routine Imperial Airways flight.
See Also
Sources of Information
- Obituary of Robert Hobart Mayo