The Type 184 fought across all major fronts for the British during The Great War - ultimately utilized as a torpedo bomber, submarine hunter, observation platform, light bomber, and the like - and managed to see active service through to the end of the conflict; quite a feat for a combat warplane with origins back in 1915. Before its manufacturing run came to an end, production would reach 936 units and this total completed by no fewer than ten British aero-industry contributors. A land-based version of the Type 184 existed, this as the "Short Bomber" of 1916, and operated by both the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) as well as the RNAS.
The final Type 184 was retired from British service in 1920 and all were out of circulation by the beginning of 1923. Some went on to see continued service lives in the civilian marketplace during the post-war years. Foreign operators relied on the type into the early 1930s.
Beyond British operation of the Type 184 series, other supporters included the Royal Canadian Naval Air Service (RCNAS), the Chilean Air Force and Navy services (operated until 1933), the Estonian Air Force (operated until 1933), the French and Greek navies, and the Dutch Naval Aviation Service. The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) acquired a single example for testing and operated this unit as the "Short Reconnaissance Seaplane".
Some other notable variants of the series were the "Type D", a modification of the base design to operate as a single-seat bomber (carrying 9 x 65lb drop bombs), the "Dover Type 184", a modified floatplane operated by Dover Patrol out of Cherbourg and Newhaven, and the "Short Cut", a one-off unit with unequal span wings, revised tailplanes, and wingtip floats for the purposes of extracting more speed from the design.
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