Shortstown Online!

I have been asked to contribute some historical and hopefully interesting information to this website relating to the aviation themed street names.  I am a professional engineer by trade, an avid military aircraft enthusiast, and to complete the reader’s image I also go into ecstasy whenever I come into contact with a steam locomotive (as a child of the 50’s I am proud to admit to being a train spotter).  If that has not put you off read on;

Shortstown is not unique in having streets named in this fashion, as several locations within the UK that have past or present links to aviation have been accorded this privilege.  One example is the site of the old airfield of Martlesham Heath on the outskirts of Ipswich in Suffolk.  British Telecom occupies a large portion of what used to be the old base, and the rest of the area has been given over to housing.   Street names include Eagle Way, Gloster Road and Anson Road.  A public house that was built in the centre of the estate was named the Douglas Bader, and was opened by the great man himself not long before his death in 1982. 

From the fledgling years of powered flight, this country has been at the forefront of aviation, and this enviable position was eroded and eventually lost in the late 50’s and early 60’s by lack of investment and the short-sighted decisions of successive UK governments.  Although the Wright brothers are attributed with the first manned and controlled powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903 (the distances measured were of 120 feet and 175 feet which is less than the wingspan of a 747 jumbo jet), the first unmanned powered flight of a heavier than air craft was at Chard in Somerset in 1848.  This consisted of a 10 foot wingspan monoplane powered by a miniature steam engine fired by a spirit lamp.  The designer of the engine and aircraft was John Stringfellow who worked in the lace industry, and the flight was conducted within a long shed at a disused section of a lace mill.  John was an aviation designer far ahead of his time, as successful manned flight would not prove possible until the advent and adaption of the internal combustion engine as demonstrated by the Wright brothers 55 years later.

However, I digress, which I will probably do several times within this narrative

The aircraft and manufacturer’s names that form the street and place names of Shortstown are drawn from the greatest annals of aviation history.  Many of the aircraft were instrumental in achieving victory in World War II.  Others were involved in keeping the peace during the Cold War and at the forefront of the development of civilian jet passenger transport. 

I will attempt to inform the reader of little historical snippets of information that may not be widely known or appreciated, as the detailed history of individual aircraft and manufacturers is widely available in both written and video format, and I do not intend this narrative to be a duplicate of existing factual data.  I will digress often to demonstrate a link or consequence of some event, and will attempt to produce a narrative that is pleasing to the aviation enthusiast and informative to those that have little knowledge of the history that lies behind their street name.