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55-616: The Short Mayo Composite was a piggy-back long-range seaplane and flying boat combination produced by Short Brothers to provide a reliable long-range air transport service to North America and, potentially, to other distant places in the British Empire and the Commonwealth . Short Brothers had built the Empire flying boats which were capable of operating long range routes in the British Empire but could only attempt

110-446: A NASA engineer of the concept which enabled NASA to modify a second-hand Boeing 747 as the carrier aircraft accordingly. [REDACTED]   United Kingdom Data from General characteristics Performance Data from General characteristics Performance Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Piggy-back (transportation) Piggyback

165-454: A big satellite launch. However, this is usually at the cost of not being able to fly to their desired orbit and having to remain on a similar orbit to that of the big satellite. The metal caterpillar treads of a tank wear out quickly when travelling long distances on ordinary roads. Also, tracked vehicles seriously damage the tarmac layer of ordinary roads (unless the caterpillar treads are specially fitted with rubber pads to avoid this). It

220-634: A celebration of the skill and determination of these early aviators. Before the outbreak of war on 1 September 1939, the British government had already implemented the Air Navigation (Restriction in Time of War) Order 1939. That ordered military takeover of most civilian airfields in the UK, cessation of all private flying without individual flight permits, and other emergency measures. It was administered by

275-692: A hundred tons of mail had been delivered to India and a similar amount to Africa. In the same year, construction was started on the Empire Terminal in Victoria, London , designed by A. Lakeman and with a statue by Eric Broadbent, Speed Wings Over the World gracing the portal above the main entrance. From the terminal there were train connections to Imperial's flying boats at Southampton and coaches to its landplane base at Croydon Airport . The terminal operated as recently as 1980. To help promote use of

330-528: A location where the estuary and hills behind the take-off waters are seen. The plaque shows in raised relief the two aircraft still joined but reaching the altitude at which they would have separated. The plaque also contains wording including: - ″Commemoration of the 1938 flight of Captain Bennett from the Tay Estuary to South West Africa... The world record long-distance flight by a seaplane was achieved by

385-518: A position on the board of the company while these negotiations were in train. The government, including the Prime Minister, regretted the decision to dismiss him, later finding that, in fact, no corruption was alleged and sought Bullock's reinstatement which he declined. The Empire Air Mail Programme started in July 1937, delivering anywhere for 1 ⁠ 1 / 2 ⁠ d./oz. By mid-1938

440-644: A record flight for a seaplane of 6,045 miles (9,728 km) from Dundee in Scotland to Alexander Bay , in South Africa between 6 and 8 October 1938. Only one example of the Short-Mayo composite was built, the S.21 Maia with the registration G-ADHK and the S.20 Mercury G-ADHJ . The development of a more powerful and longer-range Empire boat (the Short S.26 ), the increase in allowable all-up weights with

495-401: A single pilot and a navigator, who sat in tandem in an enclosed cockpit. It could carry 1,000 lb (450 kg) of mail and 1,200 imp gal (5,500 L; 1,400 US gal) of fuel. Flight controls, except for elevator and rudder trim tabs, were locked in neutral until separation. Mercury's first flight, also piloted by Parker, was on 5 September 1937. The mechanism that held

550-492: A summer service from London–Paris–Basel–Zürich on 17 June 1924. The first new airliner ordered by Imperial Airways, was the Handley Page W8f City of Washington , delivered on 3 November 1924. In the first year of operation the company carried 11,395 passengers and 212,380 letters. In April 1925, the film The Lost World became the first film to be screened for passengers on a scheduled airliner flight when it

605-723: A train of flat wagons of another gauge. This was achieved by the Commonwealth Railways on the Marree railway line in South Australia between Telford Cut and Port Augusta in the mid-1950s. Japan Railways planned a similar " Train on Train " scheme, but at much higher speeds, to operate from 2016. Small ships of all kinds can be piggybacked on larger ships. Examples include lifeboats , landing craft , and minesweepers on motherships , as well as midget submarines on larger submarines , such as those used for

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660-540: A trestle or pylon on the top of the fuselage to support the Short S.20 Mercury ( G-ADHJ ). Although generally similar to the Empire boat, Maia differed considerably in detail: the hull sides were flared and had " tumblehome " rather than being vertical as on the Empire to increase the planing surface (necessary for the higher take-off weights); larger control surfaces; an increase in total wing area from 1,500 sq ft (140 m) to 1,750 sq ft (163 m);

715-519: A £1m subsidy over ten years was offered to encourage the merger. Agreement was made between the President of the Air Council and the British, Foreign and Colonial Corporation on 3 December 1923 for the company, under the title of the 'Imperial Air Transport Company' to acquire existing air transport services in the UK. The agreement set out the government subsidies for the new company: £137,000 in

770-437: Is a corruption of pickaback , which is likely to be a folk etymology alteration of pick pack (1560s), which perhaps is from pick , a dialectal variant of the verb pitch . A person carrying someone else on their back is most commonly seen in the modern day in the form of a parent carrying an underage child , either for travelling or for children's games . It can involve the carrier crawling on hands and knees with

825-594: Is referred to as a rolling road, or rolling highway . A related transportation method is the rail transport of semi-trailers , without road tractors , sometimes referred to as "trailer on flatcar (TOFC)". In the United States, TOFC traffic grew from 1% of freight in 1957 to 5% in 1964 and 15% in 1986. A railway wagon of one track gauge can be carried on a flat wagon ( transporter wagon or rollbock ) of another gauge. In addition, an entire train of coupled wagons of one gauge can be carried on continuous rails on

880-583: Is therefore necessary to provide tank transporters , which have rubber tires, to the battlefield. Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was an early British commercial long-range airline , operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa , India , Australia and the Far East , including Malaya and Hong Kong . Passengers were typically businessmen or colonial administrators, and most flights carried about 20 passengers or fewer. Accidents were frequent: in

935-524: The 1942 Japanese submarine attack on Sydney . The 1930s British Short Mayo Composite , in which a smaller, four-engine floatplane aircraft named Mercury was carried aloft on the back of a larger four-engine flying boat named Maia, enabled the Mercury to achieve a greater range than would have been possible had it taken off under its own power. The American Space Shuttle was carried on top of specially-modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft when

990-663: The Atlantic and to New Zealand . By mid-1937 Imperial had completed its thousandth service to the Empire. Starting in 1938 Empire flying boats also flew between Britain and Australia via India and the Middle East. In March 1939 three Shorts a week left Southampton for Australia, reaching Sydney after ten days of flying and nine overnight stops. Three more left for South Africa, taking six flying days to Durban. Imperial's aircraft were small, most seating fewer than twenty passengers; about 50,000 passengers used Imperial Airways in

1045-749: The Space Shuttle between the Kennedy Space Center and Edwards Air Force Base between each mission, and to get the craft airborne for gliding tests. Jim McLaughlin, Chief Weights Engineer for Boeing 747 program, who was assisting NASA with the SCA Program, was previously the Chief Weights Engineer for Short Brothers and had been involved in the development of the Mayo Composite design at Shorts, and reminded

1100-542: The Supermarine flying-boat company), the Daimler Airway , under the management of George Edward Woods, and Handley Page Transport Co Ltd. , should be merged. It was hoped that this would create a company which could compete against French and German competition and would be strong enough to develop Britain's external air services while minimizing government subsidies for duplicated services. With this in view,

1155-424: The 1930s. Most passengers on intercontinental routes or on services within and between British colonies were men in colonial administration, business or research. To begin with only the wealthy could afford to fly, but passenger lists gradually diversified. Travel experiences related to flying low and slow, and were reported enthusiastically in newspapers, magazines and books. There was opportunity for sightseeing from

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1210-587: The Air Mail service, in June and July 1939, Imperial Airways participated with Pan American Airways in providing a special "around the world" service; Imperial carried the souvenir mail from Foynes , Ireland , to Hong Kong , out of the eastbound New York to New York route. Pan American provided service from New York to Foynes (departing 24 June, via the first flight of Northern FAM 18) and Hong Kong to San Francisco (via FAM 14), and United Airlines carried it on

1265-613: The British Empire. In 1934 the government began negotiations with Imperial Airways to establish a service ( Empire Air Mail Scheme ) to carry mail by air on routes served by the airline. Indirectly these negotiations led to the dismissal in 1936 of Sir Christopher Bullock , the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Air Ministry , who was found by a Board of Inquiry to have abused his position in seeking

1320-770: The London to Cape Town route. On 9 February 1936 the trans-Africa route was opened by Imperial Airways between Khartoum and Kano in Nigeria. This route was extended to Lagos on 15 October 1936. In 1937 with the introduction of Short Empire flying boats built at Short Brothers, Imperial Airways could offer a through-service from Southampton to the Empire. The journey to the Cape was via Marseille , Rome , Brindisi , Athens , Alexandria , Khartoum , Port Bell , Kisumu and onwards by land-based craft to Nairobi , Mbeya and eventually Cape Town . Survey flights were also made across

1375-557: The Persian authorities regarding overflight rights, a London to Karachi service started on 30 March 1929, taking seven days and consisting of a flight from London to Basel , a train to Genoa and a Short S.8 Calcutta flying boats to Alexandria, a train to Cairo and finally a DH.66 flight to Karachi. The route was extended as far as Delhi on 29 December 1929. The route across Europe and the Mediterranean changed many times over

1430-533: The Thames at Westminster on 1 October 1926. Cobham was met by the Secretary of State for Air, Sir Samuel Hoare , and was subsequently knighted by HM King George V . On 27 December 1926, Imperial Airways de Havilland DH.66 Hercules G-EBMX City of Delhi left Croydon for a survey flight to India. The flight reached Karachi on 6 January 1927 and Delhi on 8 January 1927. The aircraft was named by Lady Irwin, wife of

1485-525: The Viceroy, on 10 January 1927. The return flight left on 1 February 1927 and arrived at Heliopolis, Cairo on 7 February 1927. The flying time from Croydon to Delhi was 62 hours 27 minutes and Delhi to Heliopolis 32 hours 50 minutes. Regular services on the Cairo to Basra route began on 12 January 1927 using DH.66 aircraft, replacing the previous RAF mail flight . Following two years of negotiations with

1540-486: The advice of the government's Hambling Committee (formally known as the C.A.T Subsidies Committee) under Sir Herbert Hambling . The committee, set up on 2 January 1923, produced a report on 15 February 1923 recommending that four of the largest existing airlines, the Instone Air Line Company , owned by shipping magnate Samuel Instone , Noel Pemberton Billing 's British Marine Air Navigation (part of

1595-442: The air and at stops. Imperial Airways stationed its all-male flight deck crew, cabin crew and ground crew along the length of its routes. Specialist engineers and inspectors – and ground crew on rotation or leave – travelled on the airline without generating any seat revenue. Several air crew lost their lives in accidents. At the end of the 1930s crew numbers approximated 3,000. All crew were expected to be ambassadors for Britain and

1650-545: The aircraft "Mercury", the upper component of the Short Mayo... The two experimental planes ...were built by Short Brothers for Imperial Airways and designed to carry mail long distances without refueling... This tribute to the epic flight by Captain D.C.T. Bennett and First Officer Ian Harvey was unveiled by Captain Bennett's wife Mrs Ly Bennett and Lord Provost Mervyn Rollo on 4 October 1997.″ The concept also had an unusual legacy, since in 1976 NASA needed to transport

1705-551: The board with one director from each of the merged companies. The government had appointed two directors, Hambling (who was also President of the Institute of Bankers ) and Major John Hills , a former Treasury Financial Secretary. The land operations were based at Croydon Airport to the south of London . IAL immediately discontinued its predecessors' service to points north of London, the airline being focused on international and imperial service rather than domestic. Thereafter

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1760-435: The child straddling over the back like riding a horse , or with the carrier standing upright with the child hugging or cradled behind the back, often with the child's arms leaning over the carrier's shoulders and legs wrapping around the flanks . Piggybacking may also feature in the context of play or sport, and evidence of this dates back to Ancient Greece where games involving piggyback riding were combined with

1815-543: The colonies quicker than travel by ship. Air travel would speed up both colonial government and trade. The launch of the airline followed a burst of air route surveying in the British Empire after the First World War , and after some experimental (and often dangerous) long-distance flying to the margins of Empire. Imperial Airways was created against a background of stiff competition from French and German airlines that enjoyed heavy government subsidies and following

1870-435: The engines were mounted further from the wing root to clear Mercury's floats and the rear fuselage was swept up to raise the tailplane relative to the wing. Like the Empire boats, Maia could be equipped to carry 18 passengers. Maia first flew (without Mercury ) on 27 July 1937, piloted by Shorts' Chief Test Pilot , John Lankester Parker . The upper component, Mercury , was a twin-float, four-engine seaplane crewed by

1925-558: The final leg from San Francisco to New York, arriving on 28 July. Captain H. W. C. Alger was the pilot for the inaugural air mail flight carrying mail from England to Australia for the first time on the Short Empire flyingboat Castor for Imperial Airways' Empires Air Routes, in 1937. In November 2016, 80 years later, the Crete2Cape Vintage Air Rally flew this old route with fifteen vintage aeroplanes –

1980-618: The first six years, 32 people died in seven incidents. Imperial Airways never achieved the levels of technological innovation of its competitors and was merged into the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) in 1939. BOAC in turn merged with the British European Airways (BEA) in 1974 to form British Airways . The establishment of Imperial Airways occurred in the context of facilitating British colonialism by making travel to and from

2035-541: The first year diminishing to £32,000 in the tenth year as well as minimum mileages to be achieved and penalties if these weren't met. Imperial Airways Limited was formed on 31 March 1924 with equipment from each contributing concern: British Marine Air Navigation Company Ltd, the Daimler Airway, Handley Page Transport Ltd and the Instone Air Line Ltd. Sir Eric Geddes was appointed the chairman of

2090-612: The launch aircraft Maia was also carrying 10 passengers and luggage. Mercury separated from her carrier at 8 pm to continue what was to become the first commercial non-stop East-to-West transatlantic flight by a heavier-than-air machine. This initial journey took 20 h 21 min at an average ground speed of 144 miles per hour (232 km/h). The Maia - Mercury composite continued in use with Imperial Airways , including Mercury flying to Alexandria, Egypt , in December 1938. After modifications to extend Mercury' s range, it established

2145-643: The next few years but almost always involved a rail journey. In April 1931 an experimental London- Australia air mail flight took place; the mail was transferred at the Dutch East Indies , after the DH66 City of Cairo crashed landed in Timor, on the 19th April, having run out of fuel, and took 26 days in total to reach Sydney . For the passenger flight leaving London on 1 October 1932, the Eastern route

2200-490: The only IAL aircraft operating 'North of Watford' were charter flights. Industrial troubles with the pilots delayed the start of services until 26 April 1924, when a daily London–Paris route was opened with a de Havilland DH.34 . Thereafter the task of expanding the routes between England and the Continent began, with Southampton–Guernsey on 1 May 1924, London-Brussels–Cologne on 3 May, London–Amsterdam on 2 June 1924, and

2255-628: The requirement of catching or throwing a ball. In the modern era, wife carrying competitions, where the female participants ride on the back of their male partners running the race, are popular in some countries. In rail transport, the practice of carrying trailers or semi-trailers in a train atop a flatcar is referred to as "piggybacking". Early drawings of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway c1830 show road coaches being piggybacked on railway flat wagons. The rail service provided for trucks which are carried on trains for part of their journey

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2310-426: The shuttle landed at places other than Kennedy Space Center. In space transportation systems, a smaller satellite that is carried as a secondary payload on a launch is said to be "piggybacked" on the main launch. It is often the case of small satellites and cubesats , since they can not usually afford accessing space on a dedicated launch and they choose instead to take profit of the remaining payload capacity in

2365-713: The standard "C-Class", the further development of in-flight refuelling and the outbreak of the Second World War combined to render the approach obsolete. Maia was destroyed in Poole Harbour by German bombers on 11 May 1941. Mercury was flown to Felixstowe for use by 320 (Netherlands) Squadron RAF , a unit of the Royal Air Force formed from the personnel of the Royal Netherlands Naval Air Service . This squadron

2420-533: The trans-Atlantic route by replacing passenger and mail-carrying space with extra fuel. It was known that aircraft could maintain flight with a greater payload than that possible during take-off. Major Robert Mayo, the Technical General Manager at Imperial Airways , proposed mounting a small, long-range seaplane on top of a larger carrier aircraft, using the combined power of both to bring the smaller aircraft to operational height, at which time

2475-501: The two aircraft together allowed for a small degree of movement. Lights indicated when the upper component was in fore-aft balance so trim could be adjusted prior to release. The pilots could then release their respective locks. At this point the two aircraft remained held together by a third lock which released automatically at 3,000 lbf (13,000 N). The design was such that at separation Maia would tend to drop while Mercury would climb. The first successful in-flight separation

2530-415: The two aircraft would separate, the carrier aircraft returning to base while the other flew on to its destination. The British Air Ministry issued Specification "13/33" to cover this project. The Short-Mayo composite project, co-designed by Mayo and Shorts chief designer Arthur Gouge , comprised the Short S.21 Maia , ( G-ADHK ) which was a variant of the Short "C-Class" Empire flying-boat, fitted with

2585-591: Was awarded the Air Force Cross for his services to aviation. On 30 June 1926, Cobham took off from the River Medway at Rochester in G-EBFO to make an Imperial Airways route survey for a service to Melbourne, arriving on 15 August 1926. He left Melbourne on 29 August 1926, and, after completing 28,000 nautical miles (32,000 mi; 52,000 km) in 320 hours flying time over 78 days, he alighted on

2640-551: Was based at the time at RAF Pembroke Dock . When this squadron was re-equipped with Lockheed Hudsons , Mercury was returned to Shorts at Rochester on 9 August 1941 and broken up so that its aluminium could be recycled for use in the war effort. On the Tay Embankment close to the RRS ; Discovery there is a bronze plaque attached to the seawall. This commemorates the world record long-distance seaplane flight, at

2695-724: Was carried out from the Shorts works at Borstal, near Rochester, Medway , on 6 February 1938, Maia piloted by Parker and Mercury by Harold Piper. Following further successful tests, the first transatlantic flight was made on 21 July 1938 from Foynes , on the Shannon Estuary , west coast of Ireland, to Boucherville , near Montreal , Quebec , Canada , a flight of 2,930 miles (4,720 km). Maia , flown by Captain A.S. Wilcockson, took off from Southampton carrying Mercury piloted by Captain Don Bennett . As well as Mercury ,

2750-565: Was extended experimentally to Cape Town for the carriage of Christmas mail. The aircraft used on the last sector, DH66 G-AARY City of Karachi arrived in Cape Town on 21 December 1931. On 20 January 1932 a mail-only route to London to Cape Town was opened. On 27 April this route was opened to passengers and took 10 days. In early 1933 Atalantas replaced the DH.66s on the Kisumu to Cape Town sector of

2805-557: Was for mail; passenger flights to Brisbane began the following April.) The first London to Hong Kong passengers departed London on 14 March 1936 following the establishment of a branch from Penang to Hong Kong. On 28 February 1931 a weekly service began between London and Mwanza on Lake Victoria in Tanganyika as part of the proposed route to Cape Town . On 9 December 1931 the Imperial Airways' service for Central Africa

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2860-476: Was in charge of the flight. Astraea flew Croydon - Paris - Lyon - Rome - Brindisi - Athens - Alexandria - Cairo where it followed the normal route to Karachi then onwards to Jodhpur - Delhi - Calcutta - Akyab - Rangoon - Bangkok - Prachuab - Alor Setar - Singapore - Palembang - Batavia - Sourabaya - Bima - Koepang - Bathurst Island - Darwin - Newcastle Waters - Camooweal - Cloncurry - Longreach - Roma - Toowoomba reaching Eagle Farm, Brisbane on 23 June. Sydney

2915-738: Was shown on the London-Paris route. Between 16 November 1925 and 13 March 1926, Alan Cobham made an Imperial Airways' route survey flight from the UK to Cape Town and back in the Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar –powered de Havilland DH.50J floatplane G-EBFO . The outward route was London – Paris – Marseille – Pisa – Taranto – Athens – Sollum – Cairo – Luxor – Aswan – Wadi Halfa – Atbara – Khartoum – Malakal – Mongalla – Jinja – Kisumu – Tabora – Abercorn – Ndola – Broken Hill – Livingstone – Bulawayo – Pretoria – Johannesburg – Kimberley – Bloemfontein – Cape Town . On his return Cobham

2970-812: Was switched from the Persian to the Arabian side of the Persian Gulf, and Handley Page HP 42 airliners were introduced on the Cairo to Karachi sector. The move saw the establishment of an airport and rest house, Mahatta Fort , in the Trucial State of Sharjah now part of the United Arab Emirates . On 29 May 1933 an England to Australia survey flight took off, operated by Imperial Airways Armstrong Whitworth Atalanta G-ABTL Astraea . Major H. G. Brackley, Imperial Airways' Air Superintendent,

3025-498: Was visited on 26 June, Canberra on 28 June and Melbourne on 29 June. There followed a rapid eastern extension. The first London to Calcutta service departed on 1 July 1933, the first London to Rangoon service on 23 September 1933, the first London to Singapore service on 9 December 1933, and the first London to Brisbane service on 8 December 1934, with Qantas responsible for the Singapore to Brisbane sector. (The 1934 start

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