rapier

Another bit of aircraft nerding from me. The one on top is a Shorts S20. Below is an S21. Both aircraft were passed on to BOAC in 1940. The S20 was broken up at Rochester in 1941. The S21 was destroyed in an air raid at Poole during WWII.

Very nice photo. The Planes are Magnificent & In very good shape for 1938.

It must have been interesting watching this little combo take off!

FrigateRN Absolutely! See our next photo for the pilots...

This is amazing!

Dear SDSAM Archivists, Your collection on Flickr represents probably the most complete and thorough set of historical aircraft images on the web. While it was frustrating that most of the images are tiny, it is refreshing to see that you are now posting higher resolution images. And the coverage of the Shorts products, my favorite manufacturer, and a historically important one, is a significant addition. However I can't help but notice that this latest set of uploads is scanned incorrectly, with all of the images appearing very dark. The excitement of finally seeing the Short 'boats uploaded to your collection, and at higher resolution, is indeed made bittersweet by this technical error. Any chance of re-scanning the Shorts images at the correct brightness? Keep up the good work, love your site!! Thanks.

Batman_60 Yes, we will eventually have to rescan these. If you send me an email at arenga@sdasm.org I can send you some color corrected images.

Thanks for the response, and glad to hear that you plan to make good on these great images.

The 'Mayo Composite' moments after a trial separation. The release mechanism for the S.20 upper long range mail plane was surprisingly complex. Both aircraft were unique, one of a kind articles, the S.21 being based on the S.23 Empire Flying Boat, but had a wider chine to support the weight of the upper aircraft.