Short Brothers Mayo Composite which consisted of two aircraft. The lower aircraft G-ADHK named 'Maia' was built specifically to launch the upper component G-ADHJ named 'Mercury' into the air without Mercury using valuable fuel for the takeoff. These were used in 2 major experiments, the first when Mercury was launched from Foynes on the West Coast of Ireland and flew non-stop to Montreal and the second when Mercury was launched from Dundee in Scotland and landed 42 hours later on the delta of the Orange River on the border of SouthAfrica and Namibia having flown in excess of 5,600 miles.