This small album of black and white photographs, A Photographic Record of "Short" Aircraft Designed & Constructed by Short Brothers (Rochester & Bedford) Ltd. in the Period 1908-1944, contains 69 photographs by V. E. Galloway with historical descriptive text by L. Stedman. The introduction which starts the album gives a brief overview of the history of the Short Brothers British aircraft manufacturing company (generally referred to as "Shorts") from its formation in England (UK) in 1908 through 1944; the author describes the contents of the album as follows: "The pages that follow contain a pictorial record of aircraft types produced since 1908... an ancestral line of which the firm of Short Brothers may feel justly proud."
Scope and Contents:
This small 9 x 11.25 inch photo album, A Photographic Record of "Short" Aircraft Designed & Constructed by Short Brothers (Rochester & Bedford) Ltd. in the Period 1908-1944, contains 69 black and white photographs by V. E. Galloway with historical descriptive text by L. Stedman. The introduction which starts the album gives a brief overview of the history of the Short Brothers aircraft manufacturing company (generally referred to as "Shorts") from its formation in England (UK) in 1908 through 1944. The inside front cover features aerial views of the Short Brothers works near Leysdown-on-Sea (1909) and at Eastchurch (1911). The remainder of the album presents photographs in chronological order of Short Brothers aircraft models from the Short-Wright Flyer (a license-Built Wright Model A) to the Short S.45 Seaford flying boat, most accompanied by captions.
Arrangement:
The album appears in its original order, which is roughly chronological.
In 1983, almost all of the photographs in this album were reproduced on the second side (Side B) of National Air and Space Museum Archival Videodisc 1, a LaserDisc CAV format 12-inch (30 cm) optical disc published by the Smithsonian Institution. Print numbers assigned during videodisc production are used as item-level image numbers (print numbers NASM 00086888 to 00086957, videodisc frame capture numbers VD-1B36888 to VD-1B36957). The two text pages (i and ii) appearing between the inside front cover (NASM 00086888) and page 1 (NASM 00086889) were not reproduced on videodisc, but were later scanned and catalogued as NASM-9A06510 and NASM-9A06511 respectively. Although assigned videodisc numbers, pages 1 through 3 (NASM 00086889 through NASM 00086891) were not reproduced on videodisc due to camera operator error, and were later scanned and catalogued as NASM-9A08529 through NASM-9A08531.
Biographical / Historical:
In November 1908, Hugh Oswald, Albert Eustace, and Horace Leonard Short established Short Brothers Ltd to build Wright aircraft under license in England (UK). In 1919 the name was revised to Short Brothers (Rochester & Bedford) Ltd. In 1936 Short Brothers convinced the British Air Ministry to establish a new factory in Belfast and established Short & Harland Ltd, jointly owned by Short Brothers and Harland & Wolff, to manage the plant. In November 1947 Short Brothers and Short & Harland merged to form Short Brothers & Harland Ltd of Belfast (Northern Ireland, UK). In June 1977 the company readopted the name Short Brothers Ltd. By the 1980s, 100 percent of the company stock was held by the British Government and, in 1984, the company was renamed Short Brothers PLC. In October 1989 the company was purchased by Bombardier Inc of Canada to become the European Group of Bombardier Aerospace, although the company still operates under the Short Brothers name.
Provenance:
Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences, gift, unknown, NASM.XXXX.0538
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests
