Two SC.1 prototypes designated as XG900 and XG905 were built. The XG900 had a long career making numerous tests, but the XG905 suffered an accident in October 1963 causing the death of its pilot. The aircraft was able to recover and is displayed at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra, Northern Ireland.One of the main disadvantages of SC.1 was the location of the lift jets, which took up a lot of space within the fuselage and consumed a lot of fuel. But they were the most vital part of the aircraft, as they allowed vertical take-off and landing.The aircraft had installed five lightweight Rolls-Royce RB-108 turbojets, four of them drew air in the top of the fuselage and expelled it downwards to provide lift, and once in the air the tail’s engine provided the thrust to accelerate the SC.1 forwards.The sturdy landing gear was designed to withstand an aircraft descent of up to 5.5 meters per second, or about 109km/h. The rear undercarriage legs could move 15º forward for conventional takeoffs and backward for vertical ones.Short SC.1 participated in several Air shows doing flight demonstrations, for example It was at the 1958 and 1960 Farnborough Airshows and too at the 1961 Le Bourget Paris Airshow. This research aircraft opened the way to projects like the Hawker Siddeley P.1117 that would eventually lead to the most successful VTOL aircraft, the Harrier.
