The two brothers formed a partnership to design and manufacture balloons for fairground businesses, and made a joint visit to the 1900 Paris Exposition ('World's Fair').

[1][2] In 1908, Aero Club members including Charles Rolls, described accounts of the Wright Brothers' demonstrations of their aircraft at Le Mans in France.

Oswald Short reportedly said to Eustace "This is the finish of ballooning: we must begin building aeroplanes at once, and we can't do that without Horace!"

They soon started building two aeroplanes, for Charles Rolls and for Francis McClean, then they established an additional factory at Leysdown, Isle of Sheppey, later relocated to Eastchurch.

In the 1920s, Short Brothers manufactured thousands of lightweight bodies for omnibuses, until Oswald's monocoque and stressed skin methods became more widely acceptable to aircraft customers.

[1][5] In 1943, and in poor health, he resigned his posts when the company was nationalised, but accepted the honorary title of life president.