"Принцесса"

The ten Proteus 600 turbines, providing 25,000 h.p., gave the Princess a cruising speed of 360 m.p.h.

What must be one of the most magnificent sights in British aviation - the Princess prototype in majestic flight over the Solent. The all-up weight of the Princess was about the same as that of a fully laden Boeing 707.

"... the very attractive ... Princess at the SBAC Show at Farnborough in 1953." Saunders-Roe, once world-famous for its flying boats, as the author here recalls, has "ended up moulding plastic packs for mushrooms".

The beautiful 150-ton Saunders-Roe Princess flying boat makes a regal pass down the Farnborough runway in September 1953, with Geoffrey Tyson at the controls. G-ALUN had been specially finished in an attractive paint scheme, though her two sisterships had already been cocooned. G-ALUN was scrapped along with the other two boats in 1967.

Late in its flying life G-ALUN was finished in a handsome paint scheme, and appeared in this form at the 1953 SBAC show.

The three-quarter rear view emphasizes the "double-bubble" hull and displays the Proteus tail-pipes above the partly-lowered flaps.

First takeoff of the first Princess, Geoffrey Tyson piloting, August 22, 1952. A crew of eleven was also aboard.

G-ALUN at the point of take-off.

An aerial view of the prototype Princess during high-speed runs on the Solent on August 22, 1952. Shortly after this photograph was taken test pilot Geoffrey Tyson lifted the Princess into the air for its maiden flight.

The prototype Princess G-ALUN on the Solent. Moving on the water was not an easy business despite the reverse thrust facility on the outer engines.

Taxying out for the maiden flight with wing-tip floats lowered.

Saunders-Roe’s S.R.45 Princess G-ALUN was an all-metal flying boat powered by ten 3,780 h.p. Bristol Proteus 600 engines. Brian Cox took a five-bob trip round Cowes harbour in September 1952 and took this pictures. The evening sunlight and the busy atmosphere make these photographs particularly pleasing. Fifteen years later, after years of speculation as to its future, G-ALUN was towed by tug to a breaker’s yard at Southampton, where the last of the line of great British flying boats was reduced to scrap.

20 августа 1952г.: в Коувс на воду спустили первую летающую лодку Saunders-Roe SR.45 Princess (G-ALUN), два дня спустя ее поднял в воздух Джеффри Тайсон.
Этот самолет G-ALUN был единственным SR.45 Princess, вышедшим на летные испытания, показавшие, что машина обладает высокими летными характеристиками и отличной управляемостью.

G-ALUN rests on her beaching gear on the Cowes slipway.

Two of the three Princesses, G-ALUN and G-ALUO on the Cowes slipway. In the background is G-ALUO, which was never completed. Only G-ALUN flew, amassing around 97hr before it was Cocooned with its two stablemates.

Saro test pilot Geoffrey Tyson gives scale to the Princess in August 1952.

Looking even larger out of water, the massive Princess prototype, G-ALUN, is seen at Cowes on August 19, 1952. The first flight was made on August 22. The SR.A/1 TG263 can be seen at left.

The first Princess is rolled out at Cowes, October 30, 1951.

Two Cocooned Princesses at Calshot, photographed from Flight’s Miles Gemini in June 1957, when one of the nuclear-power rumours was current.

In all, the Princess had 96 propeller blades - Geoffrey Tyson insisted that he could tell when an engine failed!

The prototype Princess's wingtip floats were flat-topped to align with the wing ribs when retracted.

The Princess was powered by ten Bristol Proteus 2 engines, each rated at 3,200 h.p. They were installed in four coupled pairs and two single outboard units. Pictured here is one of the coupled Proteus engines.

A view showing the rear pressure bulkheads, 1949.

Two views of the Princess fuselage being moved from its building stocks to the main Saro erection shop on July 26, 1949. The Editor’s father, E. J. Riding, can be seen walking stage right behind the line of onlookers.

Pioneering powered controls. The “bridge” of the first Princess, G-ALUN, showing the positions of pilot and copilot. A Mach meter is included in the instrumentation.

The full-size wooden mock­up of the 148ft-long fuselage in April 1949. By comparison, the length of Howard Hughes’s Hercules, the world’s largest ever flying-boat, was 218ft 6 1/4 in.

Wooden mock-up of the Princess’s flightdeck, giving some idea of the spacious cabin layout.

A cut-away diagram depicting the seating arrangement envisaged for the de luxe version.

The diagram shows the projected modification to the Princess hull in the landplane conversion. The fine dotted line marks the original hull, and the heavy lines show the new profile and the new loading ramp. Revised cross-sections at four points along the fuselage are shown above the side elevation.

A colour-reversed section of a 1958 Convair blueprint detailing the incorporation of a nuclear powerplant into a Saro Princess flying-boat. Convair was to provide the reactor and heat exchangers; the aircraft was to use Pratt & Whitney T57 engines, which could use either conventional fuel or heat from the reactor’s heat exchangers.

Saunders-Roe SR.45 Princess