Category:Mayo Composite Aircraft (Dinky Toys 63)

Exhibit
Mayo Composite Aircraft (Dinky Toys 63) (i)
location:
Arch Two , Area 22 The Hatley Early Dinky Collection (display) 1939 - 1941

A boxed set of the Mayo Composite Aircraft Dinky Toys 63, consisting of a pair of silver four-engined propellor-driven seaplanes,

• G-ADHK Maia (Dinky Toys 63a)
• G-ADHJ Mercury (Dinky Toys 63b)

1939 catalogue image

box lid lineart

The end of the composite aircraft

The Mayo composite two-stage aircraft remained experimental, with no further examples built after Maia and Mercury. Since the smaller Mercury seaplane wasn't able to mae the return journey on its own while carrying a payload, to operate it properly would have needed two of the larger lifting aircraft, one at each end of the route, along with a second hoist to put Mercury on top of the second lifting plane.

With only a single lifting craft, once Mercury had reached its destination, it had to suffer the indignity of being returned to base onboard a ship.

With the advent of World War Two, military R&D spending improved the efficiency of larger planes (for long-range bombing missions), and military investment also resulted in the perfection of mid-air refuelling, making the two-plane solution redundant.

External links

• The Short-Mayo Aircraft (wondersofworldaviation.com)
• Short Mayo Composite (wikipedia.org)
• Major Robert H Mayo (aircraftdesigners.blogspot.com)