Saunders-Roe SR.A/1

Once could say that the jet-powered floatplane fighter concept was a bit of a dead-end :-)

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My father was engineer on one of the RAF Marine Craft section boats and was based at Felixstowe. He told me that one of the craft was sent to locate the crashed SRA1 and dropped the anchor which amazing actually hooked into, presumably part the airframe, of the aircraft.

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I was an apprentice at Saunders Roe in 1946. Along with some other youths we made a series of "chine gauges used in construction. I still don't know what they were. We just made them but I was inside the hull before the engines were installed. I remember lying on my belly looking out of the air intake. Also worked on functional display model to show float to Tati on and retraction. Powered by a 1 /4 hP drill motor! Wonder where it ended up.

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Recently seen it at SolentSky in Southampton from balcony you can even look into cockpit really interesting museum

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For such an innovative design there is remarkably little information to be found on the web. It was after all the fastest jet seaplane in the world for a while. This is the first place I have found that gives details of the crash in Harwich Harbour.
My interest in the case - as a 5 year old boy I was watching the flight with my father from the balcony of our flat in Dovercourt but had become bored and gone back inside shortly before the crash.
My father supplied the authorities a compass bearing to try to help the search for the wreck but I do not know whether they found it useful.

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Another of the strange post-war British jet designs, great to have even just a photo of it!

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The SRA /1 Auto Observer
It was of interest to note that before the Black Box data recorders were introduced the system of instument monitoring on the SRA /1 was made in what was called the "Auto Observer", this took the form of a duplication of essential metering in an enclosed secure box which was recorded by a cine camera during the flight testing period.This involved work intensive rerouting of many services, pipe work, and electrical wiring through the box situated between the two engines.

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I worked on these planes at Saunders- Roe and went to the Festival of Britain in 1951 with 263 when Tyson landed it on the Thames, I was the radio man and have pictures of the plane landing and being towed up to Tower brdge.

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This aircraft was intended for service in the Far East, to be operated against the Japanese from rivers and lagoons in Burma and Malaya. However, by the time it was completed, the war was over and it was no longer required.

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There is an example of this aircraft at the Imperial War Museum Duxford!.

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I happened to be doing my National Service as a truck driver at Felixstowe when the Squirt as it was known was being flown. It is my understanding that I drove the hearse at the funeral of a pilot whose SRA! crashed. I was at Felixstow when TG267 was lost The only other aircraft flying at Felixstowe at that time were Sunderlands none of which crashed



10be doing my National Service a Felixstowe when the Squirt as it was known was being flown
How many SRA1 were there?
I have always believed that I drove the hearse for one of the pilots lost when

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My father was the pilot of TG 267 which crashed at Felixstowe in 1949.I have found this website by accident as I have been trying to find info on my Dad.

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for: Derek Horsey: the TG263 eas displayed on the Thames during the Festival of Britain celebrations in June 1951, with class B registration G-12-1.

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Does anyone know the registration of, and date the one came up the River Thames and moored in the Pool of London.
Assume it was 1951 but.....?

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Chief Naval Test Pilot Lt Cmdr Eric "Winkle" Brown flew the third SR A /1, TG271, for the first and only time on 12 Aug 1949 at the behest of Saunders-Roe. He wrung out the tubby little 'boat, reaching Mach .82, pretty much the top speed of the SR A /1, in a dive. On landing, a submerged log holed the front hull and ripped off the starboard stabilizing float. Despite his best efforts, Brown could not keep the starboard wing from digging in and cartwheeling TG271 onto its back. Struggling free underwater, Brown almost succumbed, but was held up by Geoffrey Tyson, the Saro test pilot responsible for the majority of the SR A /1 testing, who had leapt off the supporting launch when he saw Brown in trouble. Despite extensive searching, the sunken third SR A /1 prototype was never located.

TG267, the second SR A /1 prototype, was lost on 17 September 1949, a public "At Home" day for RAF Felixstowe. Squadron Leader 'Pete' Major took TG267 up that morning to prepare for the aerobatic routine he planned to perform for the public that afternoon. During a slow roll, he let the nose slip down while inverted, then instinctively pulled on the stick rather than pushing out from his upside-down position. The aircraft broke up on impact, and no trace of Major was found; much of the aircraft was salvaged over the next ten days.

The completely restored first prototype, TG263, resides today at the Southampton Hall of Aviation, along with an example of its ejection seat (the first delivered by Martin-Baker to an aircraft manufacturer) and a MetroVick Beryl pwerplant, both exhibited outside the airframe.

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i know that eric brown the test pilot flew one and on landing on the river median? hit a large log floating in the water.he survived but only after geoffrey tyson dived in fully clothed and rescured him.

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At an 'aviation day' in Felixstowe, I witnessed the crash of an SRA1. After several passes along the shore front, it dived gently into the sea with no apparent prior problem. What was the cause?

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What was the size of this plane?

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The last remaining SRA-1 is still in perfect condition and survives in Solentsky Museum in Southampton UK.

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