British Short Type 184 Seaplane Torpedo Bomber

By Crusader1307

Developed and produced by The Short Brothers of England, The Type 184 was the World's first Seaplane Torpedo Bomber – deployed in 1915. The Type 184 was also the first such Aircraft to actually sink an Enemy Ship by Air (Torpedo) attack (Jutland, 1916). With the rapid development of The Aircraft as a Military asset, many prototypes and alike were built and flown (each introducing a ''new'' facet in Aviation Development). Naturally, especially from a Navy's point of view, Aircraft could be adapted to carry Torpedoes for direct attacks against Enemy Shipping at Sea. The Type 184 was such a development. In essence, The Type 184 was a Float Plane (an Aircraft capable of landing and taking off from a water surface), experimental designs in Commercial flying had already been tried. The Military applications were close behind. Using Pontoons attached to the bottom fuselage (in lieu of traditional landing wheels), weight and overall construction were of tantamount importance. Basic Type 184 construction was similar in design with the previously discussed ''Boxkite'' Flier (used as a Flight Trainer). The fuselage of Type 184 would be lighter, yet stronger than most ''typical'' Fighters of The Period. Overall length of a Type 184 was 40-feet. They had to have a much longer wingspan for the aerodynamic abilities needed to fly and deploy a Torpedo. Typically, they spanned 65-feet in B-Wing Configuration. Power was provided by a Single Sunbeam Gas Engine, which generated 260-HP. The The Type 184 achieved 88-mph and had an operational ceiling of 9,000-feet. A Pilot and Observation/Gunner were assigned.