The Shorts 300 was an ungainly looking airplane. Passengers could see into the cockpit and when the captain announced his name as Dick and the first officer's as Tom, you wondered just how old these children were who were flying the plane.

At least that was my wife's reaction when we flew one years ago from Rockford to Chicago. Note they were built like trucks and there was never a fatality from a crash with one of these planes in spite of the fuel tank being over the top of the passenger compartment. They were also notoriously uncomfortable for the pilots, cold in the winter and hot in the summer.

They also engendered numerous jokes. "Sorry, Tower, we lost sight of the Shorts when it flew over the trailer park." Or the pilots being asked by the controller, "Will you be able to make an intersection takeoff or do you have a full load in your Shorts." Not to mention, it was the only aircraft that could suffer a bird strike from behind.