Short 360 STOL Cargo Plane (Unusual Aircraft Collection)

The Short 360 is an airliner with very good short takeoff and landing (STOL) performance, allowing it to be used in places with very small runways.   The name Short wasn't given because of this, but because it was designed by Short Brothers, a company based in Northern Ireland which has been operating since 1908, making it the oldest aviation company in the world.   In fact, two of the three Short Brothers had been selling hot-air balloons since 1902, a year before the Wright Brothers made their first flight in a heavier-than-air plane.   The Short Brothers even built six copies of the originalWright Flyer under licence, and so became the first aircraft manufacturing company in the world.

The Short 360 can carry up to 39 passengers, but here it's being operated as a cargo plane for FedEx.   The boxy shape of the plane makes it very practical for airline and cargo operation, but it does look quite strange, and the wings look far too small to support the weight of the plane.   It's also very unusual in modern times to see a plane which has struts to brace the wings against the fuselage!   Nevertheless, this has been a very successful design, exported to many countries and a modified version is still operated by the US Army as the C-23B Sherpa.