 Two diminutive engines (Turbomeca Palas) were buried in the upper fuselage with a NACA flush inlet on the top of the fuselage and toed-out exhausts located at the wing roots.Blackburn, who produced the Palas under licence, hoping to market these engines as a new product line, supplied the powerplants for the Sherpa programme.The Sherpa's first flight, piloted by Shorts' Chief Test Pilot, Tom Brooke-Smith, was on 4 October 1953.