Short Satellite

The Short S.4 Satellite was a small British two-seater sporting monoplane built by Short Brothers in 1924 to enter the Air Ministry two-seater light aeroplane competition at Lympne on 27 September that year. Design began in July, only weeks before the competition, so the monocoque fuselage was conventional with wooden box spars, while the ribs, tailplane, fin and rudder were duralumin and the cantilever wings had a span of 34 feet. Flown by the company chief test pilot J. Lankester Parker with an ungeared Bristol Cherub engine, it could not fly with a passenger and failed the competition criteria. A tuned Cherub took it to seventh place in the Grosvenor Cup race, and later a geared Cherub II and an ABC Scorpion improved it. Wing flutter at 90 mph led to a shorter span, and Parker affectionately called it his tin kettle.