Flying Bout Fighter SR.A/1, Just because it was another one of a kind.

wasn’t ONE of a kind, they built two but one sank and was never recovered, can’t remember where though.
Greg

Correction , 3 built, one crashed, one dismantled, one surviving in Southampton Hall Of Aviation. Oops sorry, should have followed the thread right through before sticking my oar in. I knew there were three but I have no idea where I got the idea that one was dismantled from.

cheers for the info on the lost prototypes, i didn’t know there was three of them. it was the one in the solent i had heard about. incidentaly i was chatting about these aircraft on another forum and one of the guys on it described it as a “flying catfish” thought it was a pretty apt name myself.
Greg

I’ve got a DD video of Farnborough in the Fifties but I haven’t watched it for a few years.
I’ll see what’s on it in the next few days.

Cool 😎 , Thanks again dhfan 🙂 , It would have been great to see one at the airshows 😮 , Do you know if there is any pictures of the airshows still getting around :rolleyes: , I was born in the wrong time and space :p , Cheers everyone, Tally Ho! Phil. 😉

Thanks dhfan

Cool 😎 , Thanks again dhfan 🙂 , It would have been great to see one at the airshows 😮 , Do you know if there is any pictures of the airshows still getting around :rolleyes: , I was born in the wrong in the time and space :p , Cheers everyone, Tally Ho! Phil. 😉

The first prototype’s at Southampton, the second crashed into the sea at Felixstowe, killing the pilot, during practice for an air display and the third’s at the bottom of the Solent.

Number 3 ?

How Many Built

One of the books I have Mentions three prototypes :confused: , Each with more powerfull Metropolitan-Vickers F2/4 Beryl turbojet engines, First 3,250-lb(1474-kg), Second 3,500-lb(1588-kg), And third 3,850-lb(1746-kg) thrust respectively, Did the third get built :confused: , Cheers everyone, Tally Ho! Phil. 😉

It was the Solent, piloted by Eric “Winkle” Brown. He was trapped under the wing and dragged out by Geoffrey Tyson. The wind direction changed during the flight and he had to land on an area that hadn’t been checked for floating stuff. Apparently it hit a mast from a yacht, following a race the previous week.
As already stated, the aeroplane’s still down there, they couldn’t find it.

As Saunders Roe were based on the Isle of Wight I think it was lost in the Solent

As a child, I had a book with photos of the SR.A/1.
For some reason I found it vaguely disturbing. Still do. 🙂
It would have been a great scout plane for whaling fleets.

Isn’t it at Duxford?

wasn’t ONE of a kind, they built two but one sank and was never recovered, can’t remember where though.
Greg

I think I heard the SRA/1 had the best performance of any jet when it first flew.

The SRA/1 predated them by 15-20 years, that’s the difference

One of a kind?
What about Convair’s delta wing Sea Dart.