The Short Crusader also called the Short-Bristow Crusader and Short-Bristol Crusader was a British racing seaplane of the 1920s, built by Short Brothers to compete in the 1927 Schneider Trophy race. Background Although inline engines had a clear advantage for high-speed aircraft due to the smaller frontal area, Roy Fedden, the engineer in charge of aero-engine development at Bristol Aircraft, was unwilling to let the initiative in engine development pass to Rolls-Royce and Napier, and managed to obtain a contract for an uprated version of the Mercury nine-cylinder radial engine. The early production versions of this engine produced , but the uprated engine produced in bench-testing, although for flight purposes it was limited to an output of The project for a racing aircraft using this engine was entrusted to Lieut.-Col. W. A. Bristow, a consultant aero-engineer, and W. G. Carter. Submitted to the Air Ministry in early 1926, the design was accepted and a contract for one prototype was awarded. Since it became apparent that the resources of a large aircraft manufacturer would be necessary, detail design and manufacture was assigned to Shorts, who had already been made responsible for the design and manufacture of the floats. Design and development The aircraft was a low-wing monoplane of mainly wooden construction. The wire-braced wings were of an unusual elliptical layout, with the maximum chord and thickness at mid-span on each side, tapering in towards the root. The two box-spars and the ribs were of spruce, covered with thin mahogany sheet overlaid with silk. The rear of the elliptical section fuselage was also wooden, being a monocoque construction with two layers of mahogany veneer applied over a frame of spruce formers and stringers. The forward section was built from steel tubing, covered with duralumin panels. The exposed cylinders were covered by streamlined helmets to minimise drag while admitting enough air to cool the engine, the helmet of the uppermost cylinder being continued back as a fairing which incorporated the windscreen and pilot's headrest. The twin floats, made of duralumin, were each carried on a pair of streamline section raked struts, braced by wires. Operational history The aircraft was completed by 18 April 1927, fitted with a derated engine producing and wooden propeller for initial testing. Flight testing at Rochester had been prohibited by the Air Ministry, so after taxying trials it was dismantled and taken to Felixstowe, where the RAF High Speed