Short Valetta

S.11 Valetta

Role: Passenger monoplane
National origin: United Kingdom
Manufacturer: Short Brothers
First flight: 21 May 1930
Number built: 1

The Short S.11 Valetta was a 1930s British passenger monoplane designed and built by Short Brothers at Rochester.

Development

Designed and built for the Air Ministry to enable comparisons between a floatplane/landplane and a flying boat. The Valetta was a monoplane powered by three Bristol Jupiter XIF engines and first flown on 21 May 1930 as a floatplane. It had room for two crew and 16 passengers. In July 1931 it left Rochester on an African survey flight flown by Sir Alan Cobham, it returned to Rochester in September 1931 after flying 12,300 miles. The aircraft last flew as a floatplane in November 1931 and was converted in a landplane. It then under went trials with Imperial Airways and the Air Ministry before being withdrawn from use and used by the Royal Air Force as an instructional aircraft at RAF Halton.

Specifications (floatplane)

Data from

General characteristics

Crew: 2
Capacity: 16 passengers
Length: 70 ft 5 in (21.47 m)
Wingspan: 107 ft 0 in (32.62 m)
Empty weight: 14535 lb (6593 kg)
Gross weight: 23000 lb (10433 kg)
Powerplant: 3 x— Bristol Jupiter XIF, 525 hp (392 kW) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 135 mph (217 km/h)

Jackson, A.J. (1974). British Civil Aircraft since 1919 Volume 3. London: Putnam. ISBN 0 370 10014 X.

Short Valetta Pictures

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Source: WikiPedia