Short Springbok

The Short Springbok was a two-seat, all-metal reconnaissance biplane produced for the British Air Ministry in the 1920s, a development of the pioneering all-metal Short Silver Streak. Short Brothers contracted to deliver two S.3 Springbok I reconnaissance biplanes under specification 19/21, and the second prototype crashed near Martlesham on 30 November 1923 when it spun in shortly after take-off. A new wing was prepared for the Springbok Mk. II, powered by a 400 hp Bristol Jupiter IV radial engine, and the fuselage was a streamlined duralumin monocoque. The crew of two sat in tandem open cockpits. Altogether six aircraft of the Springbok design were built, but none entered service with the armed forces.