Short Admiralty Type 74

infobox Aircraft
name = Admiralty Type 74
type = Military reconnaissance biplane seaplane
manufacturer = Short Brothers


caption =
designer = Horace Short
first flight = 4 January 1914
introduced = 1914
retired =
produced = Eastchurch
number built = 7
status =
unit cost =
primary user = Royal Navy
more users =
developed from = Short Admiralty Type 42
variants with their own articles =

The Short Admiralty Type 74 was a single-engined biplane tractor seaplane with non-folding wings, which saw service with the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War.

Design and development

The Type 74 incorporated some of the innovations Horace Short had introduced on the Short S.42, including manganese-steel tube struts instead of wood. In addition to the two main rubber-sprung floats below the fuselage and the single tail float, it also had smaller floats attached below the tips of the lower wing. Ailerons were mounted on the upper wing only, the latter extending beyond the span of the lower wing. The extensions were braced by diagonal struts to the lower wing-tips.

Since it was intended for use as a coastal patrol seaplane operating from coastal stations, there was no requirement for the Type 74 to have folding wings.

The Type 74 was powered by a 100 hp (74.6 kW) Gnôme engine, which provided a maximum flight duration of 5 hours. [Barnes and James, p.99.]

Operational history

In 1913 the Royal Navy ordered seven 100 hp biplane seaplanes from Shorts, which were assigned the company's serial numbers "69-75". The first of these flew on 4 January 1914, piloted by Gordon Bell, Chief Test Pilot at Shorts. He was accompanied on this first flight by Charles Richard Fairey (later Sir Richard Fairey), who left Shorts in 1915 to found the Fairey Aviation company.When this first aircraft was delivered to the Royal Navy air station on the Isle of Grain it received the Navy's serial number "74", so this and the remaining 6 aircraft from the batch (Navy numbers "74-80") were therefore known as the Admiralty Type 74 according to the rules in use at the time.

Of the seven aircraft, four (including Naval nos. "75" and "79") were dispatched to the air station at Dundee, the other three remaining at the Grain air station. The Dundee aircraft took part in the 1914 Royal Fleet Review off Spithead as part of a contingent of 17 seaplanes and four airships. [ [http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/milestones-of-flight/british_military/1914.html 1914 Royal Fleet Review] ]

Operators

;UK
*Royal Naval Air Service

pecifications

aircraft specification

plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop
ref=cite book
last = Barnes C.H. & James D.N
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Shorts Aircraft since 1900
publisher =Putnam
date =
location =London (1989)
pages =560
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 0-85177-819-4
crew= 2
length main= 39 ft in
length alt= 11.9 m
span main= 57 ft in
span alt= 17.35 m
height main=
height alt=
area main= 580 ft²
area alt= 54 m²
empty weight main= 2,100 lb
empty weight alt= 952 kg
loaded weight main= 2,700 lb
loaded weight alt= 1,225 kg
max takeoff weight main= lb
max takeoff weight alt= kg
engine (prop
type of prop= Gnôme
number of props= 1
power main= 100 hp
power alt= 74.6 kW
max speed main= 65 mph
max speed alt= 104.6 km/h
range main= mi
range alt= km
ceiling main= ft
ceiling alt= m
climb rate main=
climb rate alt=
loading main=
loading alt=
power/mass main=
power/mass alt=

References

Notes

Bibliography

* cite book
last = Barnes C.H. & James D.N
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Shorts Aircraft since 1900
publisher =Putnam
date =
location =London (1989)
pages =560
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 0-85177-819-4

External links

* [http://www.britishaircraft.co.uk/aircraftpage.php?ID=848 British Aircraft Directory: Early Seaplanes (Short Brothers)]

ee also

aircontent

related=Short S.42

similar aircraft=

sequence=
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see also=