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The Princess

by | Sep 17, 2024 | Aviation History, Spotting

The Saunders-Roe Princess

The Princess – Luxury Travel

The Saunders-Roe (SR.45) was to have epitomised luxury travel, there had been a number of desing studies before and during the second world war. And in 1947 the Pricess design was effectively finalised. This would be the largest all metal flying boat ever built, it would carry 100 passengers in luxury from Southampton to New York.Power would be provided by 10 Bristol Proteus engines in six installations, four coupled and two single.

After significant delays with the engine and ballooning costs, the prototype G-ALUN took to the air. As to be expected there were teething troubles, but more of an issue was the way the expectations for air travel had changed. The De Havilland Comet was already in production, the Boeing 707 was in build – jet transportation had arrived.

An Aviation Lesson – Times Change

In the inter war years, long distance flying was luxurious and dominated by the flying boat. Nearly all intercontinental routes were flown by the flying boat, few realised that the second world war would change that for ever. The war time requirement for larger aircraft with longer ranges and heavier payloads, meant that the days of the flying boat were numbered.

All the way from the first world war to the end of the second world war, the flying boat had a leading role in aviation. From mail planes through, air sea rescue and maritime patrol the sea plane or flying boat was pre-eminent. But during the second world war, literally thousands of runways were laid down in all parts of the world, followed by a huge surplus of cheap and readilly available planes and pilots.

It should have been apparent that the writing was on the wall, but Saunders-Roe pushed ahead with the Princess in anticipation of the expected upturn in the luxury travel market.

The War Legacy

After the second world war Great Britain was to put it bluntly, broke. The cost of the war had been staggering, with Britain running up huge debts. The Government of the day was in no position to fund anything, let alone a flying boat with potentially no market and no customers. There was talk of trooping requirements at the time, but there were other means of moving troops.

There were post war flying boat services operated by BOAC, formed by the merger of Imperial and British Airways. These services didn’t continue for long after the war years. A number of other companies did operate flying boat services in South America and the Pacific, noteably PanAm. Although it was just a matter of time before nearly all commercial passenger traffic, would cease for the flying boats.

It was in this environment that Saunders-Roe decided to press ahead with the Princess, to give some context. The Princess was nearly as large as the early model Boeing 747’s, it had a range in excess of 5000 miles. Was capable of flying at 40,000 feet and at 380 Kts, but didn’t have any cofirmed customers. The development costs soared, from £2.6 Million to £10.5 Million.

There was support from the Ministry of Supply, but that was only for the initial build. The British aviation industry was at its zenith, the Princess is testimony to that being almost 100% indigenous.

The World Moved On

The world had moved on, the large flying boat was now in its swan song. Like the airship, the potential for the flying boat was for the most part gone. The customers who had expressed an interest, now focused on the newer jet aircraft. Most large cities had a local airport, the infrastructure was already there for the land planes and there was no need to invest in infrastructure for flying boats. And so it was that the Pricess was relegated to a could have been.

Although there were a number of attempts to make something of the one that had been built and the two near completion, corrosion got the better of them and they were all scrapped in the late 1960’s.

 

Hastings Arctic Crash

by | Sep 16, 2024 | Aviation History, Spotting, Wrecks and Relics

16th September 1952

An RAF Hastings operating out of Thule crashed today 72 years ago. The crash happened during a supply mission to the British North Greenland Expedition, during which the aircraft had to make a forced landing.

The aircraft a Handley Page Hastings C.2 was dropping supplies from 50ft when it entered white out conditions. During the run a wing stuck the ground at 125 Kts IAS, compelling the crew to make a forced landing. The aircraft remained mostly intact and all 12 crew survived but were standed some 500 miles from Thule. The members of the crew with injuries were medivaced on a specially adapted Grumman Albatross fitted with snow ski’s and RATO.

The aircrew of the Hastings had sufficient supplies for 10 day, the aircraft was assigned to 47 Squadron,

The extraction would be effected by the American 6th Air Rescue Squadron, based at Thule in Greenland.

 

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Battle of Britain Day

by | Sep 15, 2024 | Aviation History, Spotting

15th September 2024

Today is Battle of Britain day, a commemoration of Winston Churchill’s the few. Many people more knowledgeable than me have hypothesized and theorised on the way that the Battle of Britain should have, could have or would have gone under other circumstances.

On the day in 1940 after almost 10 weeks of continual air combat over Great Britain, the battle came to a climax. Many of the claims made by both sides over the course of the battle were inaccurate or exagerated, but there is no doubt it is considered a British victory.

The battle delivered the required outcome, with the German Operation Sea Lion (the invasion of Britain) being postponed – as it turned out indefinately. But RAF fighter command was one component of the RAF, others were in action on this day in 1940.

Bomber Command VC

What follows is the citation for 18 year old Paisley man John Hannah, the youngest Victoria Cross of the second world war. For his actions on the 15th of September 1940, the day that RAF Fighter Command blunted the tip of the German spear.

 

The KING has been graciously pleased to confer the VICTORIA CROSS on the undermentioned officer in recognition of most conspicuous bravery :-

652918 Sergeant John Hannah :-

On the night of 15th September, 1940, Sergeant Hannah was the wireless operator/air gunner in an aircraft engaged in a successful attack on an enemy barge concentration at Antwerp. It was then subjected to intense anti-aircraft fire and received a direct hit from a projectile of an explosive and incendiary nature, which apparently burst inside the bomb compartment.

A fire started which quickly enveloped the wireless operators and rear gunners cockpits, and as both the port and starboard petrol tanks had been pierced, there was grave risk of the fire spreading. Sergeant Hannah forced his way through to obtain two extinguishers and discovered that the rear gunner had had to leave the aircraft. He could have acted likewise, through the bottom escape hatch or forward through the navigators hatch, but remained and fought the fire for ten minutes with the extinguishers, beating the flames with his log book when these were empty.

During this time thousands of rounds of ammunition exploded in all directions and he was almost blinded by the intense heat and fumes, but had the presence of mind to obtain relief by turning on his oxygen supply. Air admitted through the large holes caused by the projectile made the bomb compartment an inferno and all the aluminium sheet metal on the floor of this airman’s cockpit was melted away, leaving only the cross bearers.

Working under these conditions, which caused burns to his face and eyes, Sergeant Hannah succeeded in extinguishing the fire. He then crawled forward, ascertained that the navigator had left the aircraft, and passed the latter’s log and maps to the pilot. This airman displayed courage, coolness and devotion to duty of the highest order and by his action in remaining and successfully extinguishing the fire under conditions of the greatest danger and difficulty, enabled the pilot to bring the aircraft to its base.

London Gazette

1st October 1940

 

Of the first five Victoria Crosses awarded to members of the Royal Air Force, four were awarded to Bomber Command personnel.

There are too many stories like this in any war, where people are defending something they hold dear. The bravery and actions of the wartime generation are to be remembered, the people of that generation – nearly all gone now should be celebrated for what they were and the legacy that they left behind.

 

The Cash and Carry Air Force

by | Sep 11, 2024 | Aviation History, Spotting

Before Lend Lease

Before the Lend Lease Act was enacted in March 1941, Britain had purchased materials on a Cash and Carry basis. Just how much is hard to fathom, but everything was obtained under those terms. If you can pay for it, you can have it.

With the fall of Europe, the American aircraft manufacturers had major problems with inventory. Thousands of aircraft in various stages of production cluttered plants, with the buyers for these aircraft gone. The saving grace here was that Britain effectively agreed to take all the inventory, saving much of the aviation industry.

What types had the Europeans ordered, it is a varied lot. The French had significant orders for the B-24 Liberator and the Curtis 75 or Mohawk, the Belgians had ordered the Brewster Buffalo. The Swedish had ordered the Vultee 72 coming to the RAF as the Vanguard, after the order was redirected.

On the aircraft front, Britain had ordered and paid for some 26,000 aircraft from America. There were many other types rolling off the production lines for the RAF, all paid for with cash and technology. As at December 1940 there were a total of 51 types on order, some like the Mustang designed to a British specification.

The Technology Trade

Often overlooked when the transatlantic trade in armaments is considered, is what went the other way. The British had a number or world leading technologies, these were effectively gifted to America. In September 1940, during the Battle of Britain the British government sent the Tizard Mission to the United States. A sientific mission to ensure that existing research could continue and thus benefit the war effort.

The British shared technology included the cavity magnetron (needed for Radar), the design for the proximity fuse, design details of the jet engine and the memorandum describing the feasibility of an atomic bomb. Though these may be considered the most significant, many other items were also transported, including designs for rockets, superchargers, gyroscopic gunsights, submarine detection devices, self-sealing fuel tanks and plastic explosives.

The value of these technological gifts can’t really be estimated, but it was considerable – the Americans were far behind in many areas in 1940.

The Monetary Value of Cash and Carry

How much did Britain actuallt spend before Lend Lease came into effect? Well the figure that seems to be closest is £5 Billion, that is $20 Billion in dollars. This was in 1940, in 2024 dollars it is around $450 Billion. On December 28th 2006 Britain paid the final installment to the Unites States of America, some 64 years after the end of WWII.

September 70 Years Ago

by | Sep 10, 2024 | Aviation History, Spotting

Musings from History

A post covering some of the historical events from September 1954, when the British Aviation industry was at its Zenith.

Batlle of Britain Week

Remembering the Battle of Britain just 14 years earlier, a time where Britain and what is now the commonwealth stood completely alone. Had the country not held onto air superiority over mainland Britain, then it is likely that the Axis powers would have invaded and World War II would have taken a different course. On the 17th September the Royal Air Force held at home days at 56 RAF Bases.

 

The Victor and a production Valiant appeared at a number of stations in South East England; a Bristol Fighter and a Sopwith Pup staged a dog-fight at Biggin Hill; a large formation of Provosts toured various airfields; and a numbr of Sunderlands and formations from the Fleat Air Arm did likewise. Formations of many different kinds made tours, so that each station would be able to provide a view of the maximum variety aof aircraft types. Fighter Command alone provided no fewer than seventeen large formations.

A record total of 1,208,000 people attended the displays.

Flight and Aircraft Engineer

24th September 1954

Here are a few other snippets from the same magazine, these are just things that have taken my interest – the magazine is just a great read if you have an interest in aviation. There is as much to be gleaned from the classified section (all 30+ pages of it) as there is from the technical sections, I just love to look at these magazines when I have a chance.

Aircraft Prices

Seventy years ago aircraft were relatively cheaper, B.O.A.C traded seven model 049 Lockheed Constelations for model 749A’s, with a cash adjust ment of £1.75 million – the 049’s being valued ar £2 million. This gives a fly away price on a L.749A Lockheed Constllation of just over £535,000, some might say a bargain but an Auster with a full C of A was only £500.

This was a time where the war time inventory was still being cleard, R. A. Short were selling Mosquitos Mk 6, Mk 16, Mk Mk 33 and Mk 37 and advertising spares for all other marks.

Civil News

Airwork was awarded the UK Government troop contract, this involved transporting 7,000 troops a year to and from Singapore in Hermese aircraft with 68 rear facing seats rated at 9g.

Other News

Lockheed

Seaboard and Western received the first of their L.1049B Superconsellation freighters, capable of carrying some 18 Tons of cargo – clained by Lockheed to be the largest freight aircraft in the world. The R7V-2 derivative of the L.1249 Super Constellation with the new turbo prop engines (The same ones fitted to the C-133 Cargo Master) managed a sustained speed of 412 MPH, these were delivered to the US Navy on the 10th of September.

Fokker

The Fokker F.27 Friendship has moved to static test, where wing flexing test as developed at RAE Farnborought during the Commet investigation will be used to prove the soundness of the design.

Douglas

The Douglas DC-7C has gone into production, PanAm is to be the launch customer with deliveries to commence late 1955 or early 1956 with an expected range of 5,000 Nm.

Boeing

The Boeing 707 testing carries on, with the prototype having being fitted with air brakes and a drag chute, Boeing have stated that the testing will take the airliner closer to the speed of sound than any aircraft before it.