Short S-29

In 1970 Cole Palen acquired an original 60 HP ENV, Type F, Series 1, Serial #4 engine.  It was found in a coach-house tavern in England buried at the bottom of a pile of rubbish in 1964.  The engine found its way into the hands of A.E. Tagg, an aero enthusiast who restored it, researched it, and found it to be the same French-built ENV that Cecil Grace had removed from his ill-fated Short airplane.  Grace had removed it from his English-built Short S.29 to be eligible for the Baron de Forest prize for crossing the English Channel and traveling the longest distance inland of the continent.  The rules stipulated that the entire aircraft had to be of English origin to be eligible.  He replaced the new French ENV engine with an English-built 60HP Green engine and perished in his attempt for the prize.

This engine inspired Cole Palen to build a Short S-29 reproduction in which he could install the historical artifact.  In 1971, after considerable research he started building the Short from drawings, sketches and photographs from British magazines of the period such as FLIGHT and AERO.  The airplane flew in the seventies in a very limited fashion at the Aerodrome from one end of the runway to the other.