Saro Princess

[Garry Russell]

Interesting link on PPrune about Saunders -Roe Princess

http://www.fzt.haw-hamburg.de/pers/Scho ... incess.pdf

[cstorey]

Absolutely fascinating, and so sad . With hindsight, the failure was inevitable , I suppose, but really it was not until the axial flow turbojet and subsequently the high bypass ratio fan jet became a reality in commercial rather than military service that the load carrying capabilities of the Princess were surpassed . Like the Brabazon , the march of technology was more rapid than the development of the particular aircraft

[Garry Russell]

During the war adnancement was immense

Just before the war it was HP.42 and the like with monoplanes just getting a hold on land and flying boats served many Empire routes. Not long afterwards saw the Viscount and Comet.

The machinery advance was easy to see, but less obvious was the way the market had changed. By the time the dust settled and the civilian airline scene got into gear it became obvious the market was very different to some of the designs being developed.

The Flying boat was dead and the landplane would not, in the future just cater for very few in luxury.

Still, as with the Brabazon, to have built and flown it was an achievement in itself.

Not really a failure as both types were built to a requirement which had changed by the time thy were riveting plates together.

[Chris558]

I've just discovered the proposed 'Duchess', and that it seems they were desperate to keep the Princess design alive in a land-based version. Scroll down following link...

http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php?topic=18014.0