Short Type 184

infobox Aircraft
name = Type 184
type = Scout
manufacturer = Short Brothers



caption =
designer = Horace Short
first flight = 1915
introduced = 1915
retired = 1933 (Estonia)
produced =
number built = 936
status =
unit cost =
primary user = Royal Naval Air Service
more users = Royal Flying Corps
Hellenic Air Force
Estonian Air Force
developed from =
variants with their own articles = Mann Egerton Type B

The Short Type 184 was a British two-seat reconnaissance, bombing and torpedo carrying folder seaplane designed by Short Brothers.

History

An urgent requirement by the British Admiralty for a torpedo-carrying seaplane was met by a design by Horace Short of Short Brothers, Rochester, England.

The first aircraft flew in early 1915 and 936 aircraft were built by ten different British aircraft companies.Barnes and James, pp. 527, 541] , making it the most successful of Shorts' pre-World War II aircraft.

In August 1915 a Short 184 of piloted by Flight Commander Charles H. K. Edmonds from HMS "Ben-my-Chree" operating in the Aegean became the first aircraft in the world to attack an enemy ship with an air-launched torpedo.cite book
title=Guinness Book of Air Facts and Feats
edition=3rd
date=1977
quote=The first air attack using a torpedo dropped by an aeroplane was carried out by Flight Commander Charles H. K. Edmonds, flying a Short 184 seaplane from HMS Ben-my-Chree on 12 August 1915, against a 5,000 ton Turkish supply ship in the Sea of Marmara. Although the enemy ship was hit and sunk, the captain of a British submarine claimed to have fired a torpedo simultaneously and sunk the ship. It was further stated that the British submarine E14 had attacked and immobilised the ship four days earlier.]

However, on 17 August 1915 another Turkish ship was sunk by a torpedo of whose origin there can be no doubt. On this occasion Flight Commander C H Edmonds, flying a Short 184, torpedoed a Turkish steamer a few miles north of the Dardanelles. His formation colleague, Flt Lt G B Dacre, was forced to land on the water owing to engine trouble but, seeing an enemy tug close by, taxied up to it and released his torpedo. The tug blew up and sank. Thereafter Dacre was able to take off and return to the Ben-My-Chree. [cite web
url=http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-12712.html
title=Mention of this and other WW I actions
publisher=theaerodrome.com forum archives] Despite early successes in sinking ships the 184s were mainly used for Bombing and Reconnaissance. A Short 184, aircraft number 8359, was the only aircraft to take part in the Battle of Jutland. The pilot on that occasion was Flt Lt Frederick Rutland (who became known ever after as “Rutland of Jutland”).

A landplane version of the S.184 was also sold to the Royal Flying Corps as the Short Bomber.

The aircraft served in most theatres of war, e.g. in the Dardanelles campaign and as far afield as Mesopotamia, and continued in service into the 1920s.

On 9 May 1916 a Short 184 seaplane, "using a bombsight developed by Bourdillon and Tizard, hit a target with a 500 pound bomb from a height of 4,000 feet."cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Milestones of Flight website: British Military Aviation in 1916 - Part 1
work =
publisher =RAF Museum
date =
url =http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/milestones-of-flight/british_military/1916.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = ]

Operators

;flag|Canada|1921;flag|Estonia
*Estonian Air Force opated 6 aircraft 1919-33Gerdessen 1982, p.76] ;flag|Greece|old
*Hellenic Air Force;flag|United Kingdom
*Royal Naval Air Service
**Newhaven Seaplane Base
*Royal Flying Corps
*Royal Air Force
**No. 202 Squadron RAF (1920-1921)
**No. 219 Squadron RAF (1918-1920)
**No. 229 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 230 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 233 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 234 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 235 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 237 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 238 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 239 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 240 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 241 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 242 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 243 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 245 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 246 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 248 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 249 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 252 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 253 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 263 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 264 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 265 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 266 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 267 Squadron RAF (1918-1921)
**No. 268 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 269 Squadron RAF (1918-1919)
**No. 270 Squadron RAF (1919-1919)
**No. 271 Squadron RAF (1918-1918)

pecifications

aircraft specification

plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop
crew=2
length main= 40 ft 7 in
length alt= 12.38 m
span main=63 ft 6in
span alt= 19.36 m
height main=13 ft 6 in
height alt= 4.11 m
area main= 688 ft²
area alt= 63.9 m²
empty weight main=3,703 lb
empty weight alt= 1680 kg
loaded weight main= lb
loaded weight alt= kg
max takeoff weight main=5,363 lb
max takeoff weight alt= 2,433 kg
engine (prop)=Sunbeam Gurkha (74 units), Sunbeam Maori
type of prop=
number of props=1
power main=260 hp
power alt=194 kW
max speed main=88 mph
max speed alt=142 km/h
range main=
range alt=
ceiling main= 9,000 ft
ceiling alt= 2,745 m
climb rate main=
climb rate alt=
loading main=
loading alt=
power/mass main=
power/mass alt=
more performance=*Endurance: 2¾ hrs
armament= *One Lewis gun in rear cockpit
* 1 14-inch (356 mm) torpedo or up to 520 lb (236 kg) of bombs

Manufacturers

Source: Barnes and James
#Brush Electrical|Brush Electrical Engineering Co. Ltd. (190)
#Frederick Sage & Co. Ltd. (72)
#J. Samuel White (110)
#Mann, Egerton & Co. Ltd. (22)
#Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company (62)
#Robey & Co. Ltd.cite web
url=http://www.therobeytrust.co.uk/about%20robey%20page.htm
title=The Robey Trust] (256)
#S E Saunders Limited (80)
#Short Brothers, Rochester (117)
#Supermarine Aviation Works Ltd. (15)
#Westland Aircraft Works Ltd. (12)

ee also

aircontent
related=
*Mann Egerton Type B
*Short Bomber

similar aircraft=

sequence=

lists=
*List of aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm
*List of aircraft of the RAF

see also=

References

Notes

Bibliography

* cite journal
last=Gerdessen
first=F.
title=Estonian Air Power 1918 - 1945
journal=Air Enthusiast
issue=No 18
date=April - July 1982
pages=pp 61-76
issn=0143-5450