The Short-Mayo Composite Aircraft - The Strange, Weird and Wacky of Aircraft Design!

The Short-Mayo Composite Aircraft - Strange and Weird Aircraft Designs! 🛩️ About This Video: Hello and welcome back to the Antique Airshow. On today's episode we are looking at what is perhaps one of the weirdest and strangest aircrafts to be designed - The Short Mayo Composite Aircraft. It isn't even one aircraft, instead being two aircraft connected and flown together. The brainchild of R.H Mayo (technical general manager of Imperial Airways), and built by Short Brothers, the Short Mayo Composite was a solution to sending larger payloads across the Atlantic. Developed in the mid 1930s, the idea was that by putting a smaller floatplane that was overloaded on top of a bigger seaplane, the seaplane could carry the floatplane up to altitude where it could be launched. The Short Mayo Composite consisted of the Short S.20 Mercury floatplane for the top component and the Short S.21 Maia as the carrier aircraft. The Short Mayo Composite flying machine would make a series of successful flights before experiments stop due to World War Two. 🔍 Key Points: - The theory behind R.H Mayo's thinking - The development history of both the Short S.20 Mercury and the Short S.22 Maia -The History of the Short Mayo Composite aircraft. 📚 Resources: Aussie Airlines: https://www.aussieairliners.org/shortfb/g-adhk/g-adhk.html Aussie Airlines: https://www.aussieairliners.org/shortfb/g-adhj/g-adhj.html Aviastar: https://www.aviastar.org/air/england/short_mayo.php Brighton Toy and Model Museum: https://www.brightontoymuseum.co.uk/index/Category:Mayo_Composite_Aircraft Grace;s Guide: https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Short_Mayo_Composite PilotFriend: http://www.pilotfriend.com/photo_albums/timeline/between/Short%20Mayo%20Composite.htm Wonders of World Aviation: https://www.wondersofworldaviation.com/mobile/short-mayo-aircraft.html Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Mayo_Composite 📌 Disclaimer: All comments that are not from The Antique Airshow in the comment section are not opinions of The Antique Airshow. Links: DC-3 video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10y4PO3iMQE&t=3s Follow The Antique Airshow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tomato_eins/ Thank you for Watching! If you enjoyed the video, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share! #aviationhistory #seaplanes #flyingboat #englishchannel #planes #aircraft #ww2aircraft #history #strangehistory #britishhistory