Short Seaford

The 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

Template:UK

• British Overseas Airways Corporation
• Royal Air Force
  • No. 201 Squadron RAF

Specifications (S.45 Seaford)

General characteristics

• Crew: 8 — 11 (two pilots, radio operator, navigator, engineer, bomb-aimer, three to five gunners)
• Length: 88ft 7 in (27.0 m)
• Wingspan: 112 ft 9 in (34.37 m)
• Height: ()
• Loaded weight: 75,000 lb (34,020 kg)
• Powerplant: 4× Bristol Hercules XIX radial engines, 1,720 hp (1,283 kW) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 242 mph (389 km/h)
• Range: 3,100 mis (4,990 km)

Armament

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

See also

Related lists

• List of aircraft of the RAF

External links

• 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

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Short Seaford".