Now the Short's Mayo. That was one of a kind.
Short's Mayo Composite was an attempt to provide long-range air mail services with two aircraft teamed together to carry out a single mission. This was a daring concept that looked bizarre. It was also a challenge to pilots, but it worked. Durning its brief moment of glory in the late 1930's, the Short Mayo combination established a long-distance duration record for seaplanes that will probably never be broken: 5,984 miles, from Dundee, Scotland, to the Orange River, South Africa.
In the 1930s, tests proved that an Imperial Airways "Empire" flying boat could achieve a transatlantic crossing only if its entire payload consisted of fuel, leaving no room for cargo or passengers. Since an aircraft can fly at greater weight than that at which it can take off, Robert Mayo proposed that a small heavily-loaded mail plane be carried to operational altitude above a larger "mother plane" and then released to complete its long-range task.
Shorts designed and built a Composite unit, modifying an "Empire" flying boat to mount the S.20 long-range twin floatplane. The system was a sucess, but World War II ended any further development.
SPECIFICATIONS. .S.20 "Mercury". .Type: Long-range floatplane mail carrier.. .Powerplant: Four 340-hp. Napier Rapier H piston engines.. .Maximum speed: 210 m.p.h.; 194 m.p.h. at max weight.. .Extended range: 5,984 mi. (record flight).. .Normal range: 3,800 mi.. .Weights: Empty 10,150 lb.; max 15,466 lb.; normal Composite launch 20,775 lb.; record launch 26,752 lb.. .Payload: 1,000 lb.. .Dimensions:Span 73 ft.. .Length 51 ft.. .Wing area 1,748 sq. ft.
SPECIFICATIONS. .S.21 "Maia". .Type: Flying boat, mother plane for long-range upper component.. .Powerplant: Four 919-hp. Bristol Pegasus XC radial piston engines.. .Maximum speed: 200 m.p.h.. .Range: 843 mi.. .Service ceiling: 20,000 ft.. .Weights
mpty 24,715 lb.; max takeoff 37,954 lb.; max for Composite launching 27,676 lb.. .Dimensions:Span 114 ft.. .Length 85 ft.. .Wing area 1,748 sq. ft.
Unfortunately, I cannot find a link to a photograph, only a model:
ps. here is a link to the Flying tankers home site with downloadable video footage:
. .<a href="http://www.martinmars.com/videogal.htm" target="_blank">Mars</a>
(But if you want comfort and silverware, have'nt they started building Zeppelins again?)
[ 20 February 2002: Message edited by: ORAC ]</p>