Saunders-Roe Queen

Even before the Second World War, the British aircraft manufacturer Saunders-Roe (often known as Saro) had considered the construction of seaplanes for the transatlantic service. In 1939 the firm planned a machine of 85 to 90 tons, but the plans were curtailed by the start of the war. Resumed in 1943, the study resulted in a design of 150 tons, which ultimately became the Saunders-Roe Princess, of which only three examples were manufactured.

Despite this failure, Saro was contacted by J. Dundas Meenan, consulting engineer from the firm Heenan, Winn & Steel,[1] on behalf of the Peninsular & Oriental (P & O) shipping company. He was interested in a plane that could carry at least 1,000 passengers under the conditions of comfort of a transatlantic ocean liner. Saro then proposed project P.192, a 670-ton seaplane powered by 24 Rolls-Royce RB.80 Conway jet engines with 18,500 lb (8,400 kg) of thrust each. The aircraft was designed to have flown at a cruising speed of 450 mph (720 km/h) and an altitude between 30,000 and 39,000 ft (9,000 and 12,000 m). Its range would have been 2,100 mi (3,400 km). The route between London and Sydney had already been planned, via Cairo, Karachi, Calcutta, Singapore and Darwin (Australia).

The fuselage would have been divided into 5 decks with the passengers divided into compartments of 6 places with convertible seats in berths for the night, in a similar fashion to railway carriages. First class passengers would have had their own bars, dining rooms and washrooms. An improved galley would have served all of the decks by freight elevators. The crew was to have consisted of 7 technical flight crews with their own rest quarters, and 40 cabin crew, as well as a steward as on a liner.

The engines were installed very far from the hull to avoid spray on takeoff. They would have been supplied with air by two sets of air inlets; one set above the wing when the aircraft was on the water, and another in the leading edge during the flight. Marine rudders would have facilitated maneuvers on the water. Neither P & O nor the British taxpayer were willing to finance such a project, it did not go beyond the stage of the drawing board.

Data from

General characteristics

• Crew: 7 crew and 40 cabin stewards
• Capacity: 1,000 passengers
• Length: 318 ft (97 m)
• Wingspan: 313 ft (95 m)
• Height: 55 ft 9 in (16.99 m)
• Wing area: 5,019 sq ft (466.3 m²)
• Max takeoff weight: 1,500,500 lb (680,615 kg)
• Powerplant: 24 × Rolls-Royce Conway turbofan engines, 18,500 lbf (82 kN) thrust each

Performance

• Cruise speed: 450 mph (720 km/h, 390 kn) at 9,000 m (30,000 ft)
• Range: 3,000 mi (4,800 km, 2,600 nmi)
• Service ceiling: 40,000 ft (12,200 m) absolute

• James Gilbert: Meistens flogen sie doch; Schweizer Verlagshaus Zürich 1978 (Seiten 221–223).

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