Editing Short Brothers (section)

==== Expansion at Rochester ====
[[File:Short 184.jpg|thumb|Short 184 floatplane]]
Due to the company's success, and the increasing number of seaplanes being produced, larger premises with ready access to the sea were needed. At that time, seaplanes were taken by road to Queenborough, then loaded onto [[Lighter (barge)|lighters]] to be taken to the [[Royal Naval Air Service|RNAS]] seaplane station on [[Isle of Grain]] to be launched and tested.<ref name=Hanson>Hanson, Richard. ''Borstal: Short Brothers''.[http://www.borstal.org.uk] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050802104641/http://www.borstal.org.uk/ |date=2 August 2005 }} {{cite web |url=http://www.borstal.org.uk/history/shorts.shtml |title=Short Brothers by Richard Hanson |access-date=2009-05-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081118194510/http://www.borstal.org.uk/history/shorts.shtml |archive-date=18 November 2008 |df=dmy-all }} Access date: 15 January 2007.</ref> In 1913, an 8.4 acre (3.4 hectare) plot of land by the [[river Medway]] about 20&nbsp;miles (32&nbsp;km) away at [[Borstal, Kent|Borstal]],<ref name=Hanson/> near [[Rochester, Kent]], was purchased from Charles Willis (a local [[councillor]]), and the planning and construction work started.<ref name=Cassidy>Cassidy, Brian. Flying Empires: Short "C" class Empire flying boats. Queens Parade Press, 2004. [http://www.users.waitrose.com/~mbcass/Flying%20Empires.pdf] Access date: 15 January 2007.</ref> By early 1915, the first facility of what was to become known as the Seaplane Works was completed: No.1 Erecting Shop. As this and the No.2 and No.3 shops became available, the workforce moved from the Eastchurch factory. No.3 shop was completed in 1917. A long concrete [[slipway]] was constructed from the centre-line of No.3 Erecting Shop to enable aircraft of up to 20 tons weight to be launched even at low tide.<ref name=Cassidy/>