Category:Short S-17 Kent Flying Boat

Various flying boats have been used by Imperial Airways from time to time, but the standard machine now is the Short "Scipio", originally known as the Short "Kent." This machine is a biplane, and is fitted with four engines carried in nacelles slung between the wings. It is 113 feet in span and 78 feet 5 inches in length, and when fully loaded it weighs 14.3 tons and has a speed of 135 m.p.h. It has been developed from the "Calcutta" but is considerably larger, the span of the upper wing of the "Calcutta" being approximately the same as that of the lower one of the "Scipio". A feature of the new machine is that the planing bottom of the hull is planked with stainless steel up to a little above the water line.

The flying boat has accommodation for 16 passengers, carried in a cabin fitted up as luxuriously as those of the landplane liners. It has large windows, sound insulation, good ventilation and lighting and heating, together with adequate provision of washing facilities. The general internal arrangements of the machine can be seen in the lower illustration on this page.

— , -, , Meccano Magazine, , November 1934