# Shorts Brothers Seaplane Factory & Public Shelters - Rochester (March 2011)



## sYnc_below

Founded in 1908, Shorts was the first company in the world to make production aircraft and was a manufacturer of flying boats during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s and Royal Air Force bombers throughout the Second World War.

Due to the success at the time of Seaplanes Shorts Brothers required a bigger site than their existing Shellbeach Aerodrome site on the Isle of Sheppey (opened 1909) and also one that had direct access to the sea so in 1913 they bought an 8 acre plot in Rochester.

By 1915 the first factory opened on the site, No.1 Erecting Shop. Soon after No.2 and No.3 Erecting Shops were built and a concrete slipway from the factory was built from No.3 Erecting Shop onto the Medway so they could launch planes straight onto the river.

During WW1 over 900 [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Type_184"]Short Admiralty Type 184 (S.184)[/ame] were built and it became their most successful aircraft. Also during this time they built over 50 flying boats. Between the wars Shorts were awarded the British Government defence contract for the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Sunderland"]Sunderland Flying Boat[/ame] (The Flying Porcupine) and it became one of the most effective long-range seaplanes, eventually seeing heavy use in WW2 as an anti-submarine patrol bomber.

By the time the Second World War came along they had run out of space at Rochester so Shorts requested permission from the Ministry of Aircraft Production to build an underground factory to accommodate new machine tools. The request was approved and two parallel tunnels were created, linked by four 75 meter adits that ran out to the back of the existing factory. Added to this were two ventilation shafts going directly to the surface. After the factory was built Shorts Brothers then constructed a huge network of Public Air Raid Shelters which consisted of two 300 yard tunnels with 14 crosscuts, connected to the Shorts Factory by a single 400 meter tunnel. There were entrance adits at various points along the tunnel as well as three ventilation shafts which doubled as emergency exits.

Due to the success of the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Sunderland"]Sunderland Flying Boat[/ame] it won them the contract for the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Stirling"]Shorts Stirling[/ame], the RAF's first four-engine bomber and in addition to this A high-speed, long-range, four-engined flying-boat, the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Shetland"]Short Shetland[/ame]. During WW2 the Rochester site was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe resulting in many planes such as the Stirling being destroyed.

The demand for Seaplanes waned and by 1947 all of the Shorts Brothers Seaplane factories had been closed and in 1948 the Rochester factory finally closed and Shorts moved to Belfast. In November 1947 the site was purchased and conveyed to The Ministry of Supply on 12th April 1948.

The site was then used by various companies over the following decades (the most notable being Blaw Knox) and different parts of the site were leased to numerous different engineering companies until the site began to be sold off in sections.

CAV Ltd - Juy 1954
Blaw Knox Ltd - Dec 1955
Ozonair Engineering. Ltd - Oct 1958
Wm Palfrey Ltd - Nov 1960
City of Rochester Highway - March 1961
CAV Ltd - Nov 1963
Berry Ede & White - Sep 1975
Medway Borough Council - Feb 1978

By the 1990's the Blaw Knox buildings started to get demolished and luxury housing was built in its place with the tunnel site remaining (but with some serious structural reinforcements in places!!).

Thanks for looking 

*Shorts Empire Canopus*











*Shorts Empire Flying Boat*





*Shorts Mayo Composite*





*Shorts Mussell II Monoplane*





*Shorts Factory 1950*





*Seaplane Factory*








































*Ventilation Plant Room*










*Location of the 'big' fire*





*Entrance to Public Shelters from Seaplane Factory*










*Public Shelters*





*Lazy Wall*










*Brick Arch Porn*


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## hamishsfriend

Very interesting, thanks!


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## Winch It In

Cool Pic's Hal, looks like you had a interesting explore.


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## DigitalNoise

Great shots there of a great location. Nice.


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## fluffy5518

Mate what a seriously good thread, i cant believe more peeps haven't thanked you. The lighting in the piccies is spot on !! This place has been bugging me for a while now and is probably top of my to do list (especially after seeing your thread !!) 
PS A friend of mine who lives in Faversham was only talking about this the other day as one of his mothers friends (who is now 92) used to work there during WWII and used the air raid shelters on a number of occasions to avoid the bombs !!


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## Curious Dragon

What an amazing site!! It looks like it would be easy to get lost down there!

It looks so untouched too. a great report and photos. Thanks


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## sYnc_below

fluffy5518 said:


> Mate what a seriously good thread, i cant believe more peeps haven't thanked you. The lighting in the piccies is spot on !!




Thank you , still getting used to this camera though so I'm not happy yet. 

Nice relative story of yours


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## Vertex

Brilliant report and great pictures too. Love it!


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## hydealfred

Very nice TB - was this the ARG trip ?


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## professor frink

I am with Fluffy on this, those images are superbly lit.

Nice old pictures of the planes too.


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## tommo

great set of pics, shorts tunnels are wicked and some great history there( the whole shorts industry is fasinating) and i really like the old pics u dug up


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## Foxylady

Fabulous images, Hal. I'd forgotten how interesting this site is...cheers for posting, excellent stuff.


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## Walrus75

Great set of pictures, certainly rate up there amongst the best I've seen over the years.


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## Bunker Bill

A great find, and really good pic's, the place is still in very good condition by the looks of it.


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## gushysfella

Cracking report T-B!

Another example why I’ve been hanging around this forum for so long with no reports of my own, nothing I got from the island (which the moles not all ready covered lol) would meet the standard! 

I’ve also just realised that i’m a member of the “brick arch porn club” love the photos!


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## Tstranger1066

Brilliant report and pics, thanks for sharing. I could quite happily get lost down there


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## sYnc_below

Tstranger1066 said:


> I could quite happily get lost down there



That's e-x-t-r-e-m-e-l-y easy, believe me  Particularly amongst all the crosscuts in the Public Shelter area as it all looks the same.....and I had a detailed map


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## cogito

Probably the best lit and most detailed shots that I've seen come out of here, this place usually seems to just swallow light with how vast and long some of the tunnels are!

Was this an arranged visit or has it been opened up again since that incident 18 months ago?


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## tom46

Fantastic. Always wanted to see this. Swear it was sealed last time we looked.


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## Snips86x

WOW! This is seriously cool! Cant believe how clean this place is and so well preserved. The history behind this place is facinating and was a great read. Superb pic here mate, you found a gem of a location. Did you get lost with all these tunnels?


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