Short Seaford

Infobox Aircraft
name=Seaford


caption=
type=Military flying boat
national origin=United Kingdom
manufacturer=Short Brothers
designer=
first flight=1944
introduced=
retired=
status=
primary user=Royal Air Force
more users=British Overseas Airways Corporation
produced=
number built=8
developed from=Short Sunderland
variants with their own articles=Short SolentThe Short Seaford was a development of the Short Sunderland flying boat for a longer ranged maritime patrol bomber for RAF Coastal Command.

Initially developed as the "Sunderland Mark IV" the S.45 proved to be so different that it was given a different name.

Design and development

The Sunderland Mark IV was an outgrowth of a 1942 Air Ministry specification. Specification R.8/42 called for a generally improved Sunderland with more powerful Bristol Hercules engines, better defensive armament and other enhancements. The new Sunderland was intended for service in the Pacific.

Relative to the Sunderland Mark III, the Mark IV had a stronger wing, bigger tailplanes and a longer fuselage with some changes in form. The armament was greatly improved, consisting of two fixed forward-firing .50 inch (12.7 mm) Browning machine guns in the nose, a Brockhouse 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 position on each side of the fuselage,

Two prototypes were ordered as Sunderland Mark IV and the first flew in 1944 but the changes were so substantial that the new aircraft was given the name Seaford. Thirty production examples 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 XIXs. Only six production Seafords were completed and never got beyond operational trials with the RAF.

The Sunderland was developed, via the Short Sandringham, into the Short Solent. The second production Seaford was loaned to BOAC in 1946 for evaluation as a civil airliner. BOAC liked it and 12 Seafords then being laid down were completed as Solent Mark IIs. Most of the RAF Seafords were rebuilt as Solent Mark IIIs.

Operators

;UK
*British Overseas Airways Corporation
*Royal Air Force
**No. 201 Squadron RAF

pecifications (S.45 Seaford)

aircraft specifications

ref=

plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop
crew=8 — 11 (two pilots, radio operator, navigator, engineer, bomb-aimer, three to five gunners)
length main= 88ft 7 in
length alt= 27.0 m
span main= 112 ft 9 in
span alt=34.37 m
height main=
height alt=
area main=
area alt=

empty weight main=
empty weight alt=
loaded weight main=75,000 lb
loaded weight alt=34,020 kg
max takeoff weight main=
max takeoff weight alt=
engine (prop)= Bristol Hercules XIX
type of prop= radial engines
number of props=4
power main=1,720 hp
power alt=1,283 kW

max speed main=242 mph
max speed alt=389 km/h
cruise speed main=
cruise speed alt=
stall speed main=
stall speed alt=
range main= 3,100 mis
range alt= 4,990 km
ceiling main=
ceiling alt=
climb rate main=
climb rate alt=
loading main=
loading alt=
power/mass main=
power/mass alt=

armament=
* 8× .50 inch machine guns
* 2X 20 mm Cannon
* bombs and depth charges

ee also

aircontent

related=

similar aircraft=

lists=
*List of aircraft of the RAF

see also=

External links

* [http://www.jaapteeuwen.com/ww2aircraft/html%20pages/SHORT%20S45%20SEAFORD.htm British Aircraft of WWII]

Oakland, California, Aviation Museum have a Seaford (converted to a civilian Solent) on display - http://www.westernaerospacemuseum.org/museum/solent/solent.html