While they didn’t win many beauty prizes, the Shorts 330, Sherpa and 360 were one of the most successful British-built turboprop families of all time. Stephen Skinner chronicles their design, development and ultimate demise
After the launch of the Skyvan, with its limited appeal as an airliner, Shorts Brothers considered a commuter airliner development, better suited to the passenger market and with a greater passenger capacity to improve the company’s financial viability. It would compete with – and offer better standards of comfort – than the de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, Beech 99 and Swearingen Metro. The concept was to provide a passenger cabin with the comfort levels of an airliner, albeit without pressurisation.
To improve the sales prospects of the new aircraft, it was shrewdly priced at less than $1m. Initially Shorts began working on a 26-seater derivative of the Skyvan but a change in US commuter regulations opened up a market for an airliner seating up to 30 passengers. This shift in policy led to a more fundamental redesign of the Skyvan. Originally designated as the Shorts SD3-30, it later became known as the SD-330 and to clarify matters further, the Belfast manufacturer ultimately branded it as the Shor…
