I have been lucky enough to hear a gentleman by the name of **** Straton talk about his time at Saunder’s Roe – he was the development flight engineer on the Princess and mentioned a few interesting facts i.e. the prop blades were bent on the first flight by water hitting them and as the replacement blades took a while to get, it flew with the bent ones for a while. I also seem to remember being told that the control surfaces were moved by a very simple ‘electro-hydraulic’ system – a early and successful attempe at ‘fly-by’wire’
D;ck Stratton is still going strong and his memories of his time as development engineer at Saro are amazing. He usually describes himself as ‘chief stoker’ on the Princess, as it was his job to keep all ten Proteus engines running!
While the pilot’s instrument panel was fairly simple, apparently the flight engineers panel was the exact opposite. Just imagine the instrumentation, throttles and fuel controls for ten engines! No wonder it was nicknamed the Hammond Organ!
Yes the Princess had one of the first hydraulic powered control systems, originally tested on a Sunderland. Another of D;ck’s stories is of how the aeroplane would occasionally return from Lands End to the Solent, flying and landing on the trim wheels alone!
If you ever get the chance to hear him speak, its well worth doing it. And that’s before he recounts tales of being development engineer on the SR.53 rocket interceptor project, then devising one of the world’s first gas turbine helicopters.
An amazing man! …….A story for KE and Flypast perhaps?
Sign In
