Saunders-Roe Princess

Saunders-Roe Princess
Saunders-Roe Princess G-ALUN (Saunders-Roe publicity picture)
Description
Role	Long range passenger flying boat
Crew
First Flight	1952
Manufacturer	Saunders-Roe
Dimensions
Length	148' 0"	42.1 m
Wingspan	219' 6"	66.9 m
Height	15' 3"	17 m
Wing area	ft²	m²
Weights
Empty	lbs	kg
Loaded	lbs	kg
Maximum takeoff	345025 lbs	156500 kg
Capacity	105 passengers
Powerplant
Engines	10 × Bristol Proteus turboprop
Power	3200 hp	2386 kW
Performance
Maximum speed	360 mph	579 km/h
Combat range	miles	km
Ferry range	miles	km
Service ceiling	ft	m
Rate of climb	ft/min	m/min
Wing loading	lb/ft²	kg/m²
Thrust/Weight
Power/Mass	hp/lb	kW/kg
Avionics
Avionics

The Saunders-Roe Princess was a very large flying boat aircraft built in the United Kingdom by Saunders-Roe, based in Cowes on the Isle of Wight.

At the time, the Saunders-Roe Princess was one of the largest aircraft in existence; unfortunately, by the 1950s, the concept of a passenger carrying flying boat was dead. Better runways and airports meant that future long-range airliners would be land-based aircraft, without the weight and drag of a boat hull.

The Princess was powered by ten Bristol Proteus turboprop engines, powering six propellers. The four inner propellers were double, contrarotating propellers driven by a twin version of the Proteus, the Bristol Coupled Proteus; each engine drove one of the propellers. The two outer propellers were single and powered by single engines.

The rounded, bulbous, 'double-bubble' fuselage contained two passenger decks, with room for 105 passengers in great comfort.

The prototype, G-ALUN, first flew on August 22, 1952. It was the only one to fly. Two others (G-ALUO & G-ALUP) were built, but they never flew. After spending a number of years in mothballs awaiting possible future use, two of them at Calshot Spit, all were broken up in the 1960s.

They were the last fixed-wing commercial aircraft produced by Saunders-Roe. The company built one more fixed-wing design, the Saunders-Roe SR.53 rocket-assisted experimental fighter; aside from that, the company concentrated on helicopters and hovercraft after this point.