| Built by Short
Bros., Ltd. of Rochester, for Imperial Airways, the Short "Empire"
flying-boats, powered with four 910 h.p. Bristol "Pegasus"
X.C. radial air-cooled motors, can carry 24 passengers and 1½
tons of mail for a normal range of 810 miles at a cruising speed of
of 165 m.p.h.. The Caladonia and the Cambria, special versions of
the standard boats with a range of 3,300 miles, made five double-crossings
of the North Atlantic, without incident, during the summer of 1937.
These boats were loaded to a maximum weight of 45,000 lb. (20 tons),
4,500 lb. more than the standard boats. Imperial Airways have 28 standard
"Empire" flying-boats operating between England and Australia
and England and South Africa. |
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