Short Shirl The Short N . 1B Shirl was a British single seat biplane intended to carry heavy torpedo es from early aircraft carrier s late in World War I . It met its specifications but planned production was ended with the Armistice of 1918 . The design was developed further for an attempt to cross the Atlantic non - stop for the first time , but this was not successful . Development . The first ship - borne torpedo bomber , the Sopwith Cuckoo had been well received but was unable to carry the Royal Navy ' s 1 , 423 lb ( 645 kg ) Mark VIII torpedo that was required to destroy the largest warships . The Admiralty issued a Specification ( N . 1B ) in late 1917 for an aircraft that could carry this torpedo , and Short Brothers and Blackburn submitted proposals , Short ' s with the Shirl and Blackburn with the Blackburd . Both manufacturers were asked to provide three prototypes using the 385 hp ( 290 kW ) Rolls - Royce Eagle VIII water - cooled engine . The Shirl was a two bay biplane with foldable fabric covered wings without stagger and of equal span carrying two pairs of ailerons . The fuselage was rectangular in cross - section and plywood covered in anticipation of ditching at the end of the mission , since deck landing was not yet practicable . The split axle undercarriage could be jettisoned for the same situation . The engine was cooled with a honeycomb radiator immediately behind a two - blade propeller . Operational history . After initial tests the first Shirl was given slight sweepback to allow for a shift in the centre of gravity caused by the addition of flotation bags . The undercarriage was also modified : the early single axle version was jettisoned after take - off to allow for torpedo release and ditching , but now , with a split axle , the torpedo or the undercarriage could be released separately or not at all . The new undercarriage had a pair of skids , each with a pair of wheels . With this arrangement the first aircraft satisfactorily underwent ditching trials in July 1918 . This aircraft briefly used a four - bladed propeller , but soon reverted to the original two - bladed airscrew . The second Shirl had larger ailerons and no tailplane incidence adjustment , which made it hard to trim for flight both with and without the torpedo . The third and final aircraft , delivered in December 1918 regained tailplane adjustment and had a further revised undercarriage . Trials showed the aircraft could deliver the torpedo , though it lacked the Cuckoo ' s evasive agility after the burden of the torpedo was relieved . An order for 100 was placed , and quotations for more invited ; but in early 1919 the Navy decided not to go ahead , ordering more Cuckoos instead . The Shirl was regarded as a stable ( in civilian life a virtue ) aircraft with good fuel economy and weightlifting abilities . Mail - carrying was seen as a possible way of exploiting these characteristics , and the third Shirl was fitted with a large plywood container in the torpedo bay . A number of trial flights were made but no commercial service followed . Variants . Because of its weightlifting ability and fuel economy , the Shirl was considered as the basis of a long range aircraft to vie for the " Daily Mail " £10 , 000 prize for the first heavier - than - air transatlantic flight . For this attempt Short Brothers built a heavily revised Shirl , nicknamed the " Shamrock " . It had its span increased by 10 ft 2 in ( 3 . 1 m ) to 62 ft 2 in ( 18 . 95 m ) with a three - bay wing giving a wing area of 1 , 015 ft² ( 94 . 3 m² ) . Empty weight increased by 662 lb ( 300 kg ) to 3 , 962 lb ( 1 , 798 kg ) . A second seat set staggered side by side for the navigator was provided . A very large tubular fuel tank attached to the torpedo - rack increased the total fuel load to 435 Imp gal ( 1 , 980 l ) which would have given a 3 , 200 mi ( 5 , 120 km ) still air range ( or 40 hours at 80 mph ( 128 km / h ) . Very surprisingly , an East - West flight was chosen , very much against the prevailing winds and something not achieved until the flight of the Junkers W . 33 " Bremen " in April 1928 . The Curragh plain in Ireland was chosen as the departure point , but the " Shamrock " never got that far , ditching in the Irish Sea due to engine failure on the way to Ireland on 18 April 1919 . The aircraft was recovered and might have made another attempt , but in July 1919 Alcock and Brown won the prize in the Vickers Vimy , flying West to East . The name . Shirl is not a common English word . The Oxford English Dictionary gives four meanings . Two of these , " shrill " and " rough " , re hair are very old and seem to have fallen out of use in Elizabethan times . Two usages remained extant at the beginning of the 20th century : " a trimming " ( of hair , wool etc . ) and a " slide on ice " . Both are given as dialect , though the first was not always so . The second is a northern usage . Either might perhaps describe a torpedo attack ; the Short family was from the north of England .