Saunders-Roe Princess
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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, contra-rotating 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.
Specifications
General characteristics
- Crew:
- Capacity:
- Length: 42.1 m (148 ft)
- Wingspan: 66.9 m (219 ft 6 in)
- Height: 17 m (15 ft 3 in)
- Wing area: m² ( ft²)
- Empty: kg ( lb)
- Loaded: kg ( lb)
- Maximum takeoff: 156,500 kg (345025 lb)
- Powerplant: 10 × Bristol Proteus turboprop, 2386 kW (3200 hp)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 579 km/h ( 360 mi/h)
- Range: km ( statute miles)
- Service ceiling: m ( ft)
- Rate of climb: m/min ( ft/min)
- Wing loading: kg/m² ( lb/ft²)
- Power/mass:
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