With the end of the war in the Pacific production of the aircraft carriers from which the Sturgeon was intended to operate was suspended and the original reconnaissance bomber specification was cancelled.

On 19 October 1943, Shorts received the "Instruction to Proceed" and an order for three prototypes designated Sturgeon S.1, with military serials RK787, RK791 and RK794 assigned.

The navigator and radio operator entered through a door, which acted as a ladder when opened, in the starboard side with their seats being offset to port.

[9] The first Short Sturgeon I RK787 flew at Rochester Airport on 7 June 1946, proving to have excellent handling and appearing at Farnborough in July.

The production order for 30 aircraft was reduced to 23 and changed to a variant reworked under Q.1/46 to accommodate a largely shore-based target tug role as the S.39 (later re-indexed as the S.A.2) Sturgeon TT.2.

The TT.2 was a large, but clean-looking twin-engined, mid-wing cantilever monoplane design with a distinctively elongated glazed nose in its target tug configuration.

The all-metal monocoque fuselage was built in four sections ending at a cantilever tailplane with single fin and rudder.

The Sturgeon's post-war role began as a naval liaison and target tug aircraft with modifications to the nose, lengthened to provide a manned camera position forward of the propeller arcs, and a winch system.

The penultimate and last Sturgeons were rebuilt in 1949 as prototypes for the S.B.3, a proposed anti-submarine aircraft to M.6/49, powered by two Armstrong Siddeley Mamba AS Ma3 turboprops of 1,147 shaft horsepower (855 kW) driving two four-bladed propellers.

Acute problems arising from the modifications led to the demise of the project, namely, "the efflux from the Mamba turboprops seriously destabilized the aircraft at some power settings and destroyed the good handling characteristics.

The design proved extremely difficult to trim when flying on one engine and so unstable that no effort was made to resolve these problems; consequently, the project was cancelled before the second prototype, WF636 flew.

With the change from carrier operations to ground bases, all deck-landing equipment was also eliminated as well as the wing being modified to have a manual folding gear in place of the TT.2's hydraulic system.

This experimental "tailless" glider, designed by David Keith-Lucas and Professor Geoffrey T. R. Hill, was built by Shorts as a private research venture to test the concept of the aero-isoclinic wing.

Brooke-Smith had to cast off at low altitude and while attempting to side-slip out of the wake, struck the ground "nose-down" at 90 mph, injuring himself seriously and damaging the aircraft.