Short Sherpa SB.4

The Short SB.4 Sherpa was a British experimental jet aircraft built by Short Brothers in the 1950s to test a novel wing known as the aero-isoclinic wing, which kept a constant angle of incidence from root to tip and used pivoting wing tips for control. It was rebuilt from the damaged SB.1 glider, whose wing and tail were repaired and fitted to a new fuselage carrying two small Turbomeca Palas turbojets and a fixed tricycle undercarriage. Only one was made. It made its first flight on 4 October 1953 with chief test pilot Tom Brooke-Smith, flew at 170 mph at most, and was among the slowest jet aircraft ever flown. Shorts did not pursue the wing further. The aircraft passed to the College of Aeronautics at Cranfield, flew until 1964 and is now preserved by the Ulster Aviation Society.