Recognize this spot as more than just railway arches? Here, at Arch 75, Queen’s Circus in Battersea Park, stood a workshop of true pioneers. This is the location of The Short Brothers Blue plaque. It marks where Horace, Eustace and Oswald Short laid the foundation for Britain’s aircraft industry.
The Short Brothers were Britain’s first aircraft manufacturers. The Short Brothers Blue plaque honors these aeronautical engineers. Erected in 2013, it commemorates their work in arches 75 and 81.
Let’s step back to the early 1900s. Eustace and Oswald Short began as showman aeronauts building balloons. In 1903, they secured a government contract to construct military observation balloons for India. Their association with Battersea started in 1906. They moved their premises to these railway arches. Charles Rolls of Rolls-Royce chose them to build his balloon Britannia for the Gordon Bennett International Balloon Race. The Shorts built about thirty balloons here. These balloons were mostly for members of the Aero Club. The site became one of the Aero Club’s chosen flying grounds.
As interest in aeroplanes grew, Eustace and Oswald invited their older brother Horace to join them. Horace left his job with Sir Charles Parsons in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. In December 1908, he joined his brothers in Battersea. Before Horace’s arrival, Eustace and Oswald tried building a glider in 1907. They built it for the aviator J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon.
The Short Brothers business began to shift away from Battersea. In January 1909, Frank McClean ordered Short No 1. It was designed and built at Battersea. It needed a larger test site. The Shorts subleased land from the Aero Club at Shellbeach. This was on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. Their facility at Shellbeach was described as England’s first actual aircraft works next to a flying field.
In March 1909, the Short Brothers received a contract from Wilbur and Orville Wright. They were to build six Model A Wright Flyers. This was the first contract for batch production of aircraft in the UK. Even before the first Short-Wright flew, the Shorts built Short No 2. J. T. C Moore-Brabazon ordered it in April 1909. Moore-Brabazon flew Short No 2 on a circular flight of one mile on October 30th of that year. He won the Daily Mail prize of 1,000 pounds. This gave the brothers the distinction of being the UK’s first sellers of a functional aeroplane. The foundation of the UK’s aircraft industry can be dated from this point.
Before World War One, the Royal Navy was a major buyer of Short aircraft. In 1911, the first Royal Navy officers learned to fly in a Short aircraft. The first aeroplanes bought for the Royal Navy were Short built in 1911. In 1912, the first aircraft to take off from a Royal Navy ship was also a Short. The Royal Navy’s first seaplane was delivered by the company in 1912.
Short aircraft served with distinction in World War One. The UK’s first air-launched torpedo was dropped by a Short seaplane. After Horace’s death in 1917, Oswald took over design work. He carried out pioneering work in all-metal stressed-skin aircraft construction.
The Short Brothers became world-famous in aviation. Their business was concentrated at Rochester during World War One. They built a series of flying boats including the Singapore, Sunderland and Empire airliner. The Empire airliner set the standard for international air travel in the late 1930s.
So next time you pass by this Short Brothers Blue plaque, remember the Short Brothers. Think of their pioneering spirit and their contribution to aviation history.