Saunders-Roe SR.45 Princess

I am sorry to spoil John Stroud's memories, but the man driving an old green Bently with straps over the bonnet was in fact The Flight Engineer of the Princess Dick Stratton. Geofrey Tyson drove an Armstrong Siddely Sapphire and believe me he would NEVER have given any one a lift.I knew him well as I worked on the Princess and operated the radio ground station and was in contact with him when he was flying the Princess also the SRA1 Squirt.

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I've a Saunders Princess Propliner in my Hanger right now, I fly it often too,, flys great, problem is - its in my microsoft flight simulator FSX Edition, and I can't actually fit inside the thing - its too small and i'm too big - the joys of flight simulator tho !!

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At the time I attended the East Cowes County Technical school, the Princess was flying over our school. A mate and I had to walk from Haylands and catch the school bus just outside Ryde. Often the SARO test pi;ot, Geoffrey Tyson would pull up in his green 3.5 litre 1930's Bentley.leather strap on the bonnet and all, and give us a lift to school. If he tried that today he'd probabaly get done for child molestation!!

I have to asmit that in the school lunch hour, I occasionally used to go down to the slipway and throw stones at the Princess as she stood there-I did grow up OK though!
To and I will always be proud and honoured that I saw the real thing in actionme, she was one of the most graceful and elegant aircraft ever in flight

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I recall being at the farnborough Air Show in 1952 or '53 - cannot remember which.
I saw the Princess do a fly-by - what a wonderful sight and sound to experience.
A real pity to have lost such a beauty.

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Like some other contributors I was a young boy on holiday on the Isle of Wight in the '60s and remember this massive
flying boat on a slip-way,still a memorale sight after all these years.

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My Father worked at saunders Roe, until he past away in 1958. I later worked there (BHC) I often wonder if he worked on the Princess.

Kim

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Reading these comments has solved a lifelong mystery for me. In 1957, at the age of 6 and on the eve of our family's immigration to New Zealand, my recently retired RAF Dad, took me to see what seemed, to a 6 year old, the largest aeroplane imaginable. I've often wondered where that was and why it was painted black. Now I'm happy to learn it was in Calshot and the reason for the unusual colour, was it's rubber preservative coating. I never would have known.... A 52 year old puzzle solved. Thank you all!

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Reading these comments has solved a lifelong mystery for me. In 1957, at the age of 6 and on the eve of our family's immigration to New Zealand, my recently retired RAF Dad, took me to see what seemed, to a 6 year old, the largest aeroplane imaginable. I've often wondered where that was and why it was painted black. Now I'm happy to learn it was in Calshot and the reason for the unusual colour, was it's rubber preservative coating. I never would have known.... A 52 year old puzzle solved. Thank you all!

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I was raised on the IOW and I remember vividly as a child hearing and watching one of these from Yarmouth beach. I could hear and see it from several miles away as it made its way out of Cowes.

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www.youtube.com /watch?v=CEcLE89XBis

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One of the main problems with flying boats was submerged logs, etc. A log that would just cause a bump on a ship's hull could (and sometimes did) sink a flying boat whose thin-skin hull was constructed for flying.

Also, rough water could through off flying boat's schedules, as passengers waited and fumed. When the US Boeing flying boats inauguratged the first scheduled commercial trans-Atlantic flights in 1939, often they were thrown off by rough water /weather on the Tagus River (Porugal).Often for so long that passengers would say "to hell with this!", book on, say,_Queen Mary_, and beat the Boeings across the pond.
Thank you.

Stanley Sandler, Ph.D.

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I'm with you Leo. In the golden days of the flying boat there was a certain romance about travel this way. Unfortunately, or fortunately,the masses now have access to air travel can you imagine them all scrambling on to a boat to embark or disembark from such a craft, especially in strong north easterly. You know in a sort of sadistic way I would like to see what Ryanair would make of a flying boat operation!

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At the end of the movie "Maltese Falcon",bogart said "It's the stuff that dreams are made of". Remember Newton's second law of thermodynamics. In my dreams, I never do maintenance and repair.

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I think that the Princess, ranks along with the Brabazon, and VC7, as one of the great civilian "lost-opportunities" in British aviation history. I was recently talking to a guy who felt that had he the money, he would have used 2 of the aircraft as charter 'planes, and used them to fly those on package holidays to the Med, keeping one as a spares
'plane, as package holidays had taken off around the time they were scrapped. Would have been a nice idea, just turning up to the hotel on the beach, and checking in.

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My mum used to work at Saunders Roe in the planning office at the time of the construction of the Princess and took the phone call to say that the princess was airborne even though it was not due to fly by the pilot Mr Tyson who she knew, she shouted out that it was airborne across the office and remembbers everyone running to the windows.She is still with us at the grand age of 84

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Does any one know of 3 view drawings both cut away and or deck plans available on line? I find the plane to be most interesting and wounder how it would have done, had it been completed just after the war, before jets became a viable alternitive?

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je trouve que cette avion est une mèrveille de la techonologie a cette époque car il est énormme et il pouvait transporter 200 passager.

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Given the comments of "t. jones, terencetjon(@)aol.com, 16.07.2008" and the grounds upon which Mr. Jones correctly suggests aircraft like the SR.45 should again be considered and with which others also concur, it is indeed time to do so. Simply, within the concept of the Advanced Hydraulic Engines (AHE) there is now the opportunity to build diesel aviation engines well in excess of the 3,780hp Bristol Proteus' power levels, with overall power weight ratios at least comparable to turbo-prop systems and when fuel load is considered, substantially better. Given these "AHE diesels" would provide better than three times the fuel efficiency of contemporary aviation diesel engines, the reduced fuel load and lack of a need to carry the weight of the undercarriage would result in highly fuel efficient airframes; however, the simple limiting factor remains the commercial practicality, would the flying passenger be willing to travel the great distances of modern aviation 200mph slower than they would do so in a jet, such as a Boeing 747-400? Perhaps many would, for a cheaper fare and the considerably reduced emissions impact of the type. Combined with a high speed rail link from nearby suitable water bodies to target cities, makes for an interesting tranpsortation system. Air-frieght operations could certainly benefit from the return of the large flying boats, with the accompanying reduced fuel costs and very much lower landing /ground fees, the costs of this aspect of aviation would be substantially reduced.
I'm also aware from earlier deiscussions with Indonesian interests, that in many less developed countries, supplies of jet-fuel are limited to a few localities, whereas diesel fuel is readily available almost anywhere.
Sincerely, Nigel Eric Rose

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now that we have a mindset towards ever wider bodied transport aircraft and no longer have a surplus of land and more opposition to runways and flights all the reasons for abandoning the princess have evaporated. A reappraisal and redevelopment of this concept is long 0ver overdue.

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There is a film on Youtube showing the maiden flight of the "Princess": www.youtube.com /watch?v=AV1eUeo27tc

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