Aviation History – August 22, 1952. On this Friday, August 22, 1952, the very first prototype of the SR.45, bearing the registration G-ALUN, namely the Saunders-Roe SR.45 Princess, will take off for a first flight whose press will echo. This first flight taking place under the leadership of aviator Geoffrey Tyson.
The aircraft in question is a real juggernaut for passenger transport, a hundred passengers can be accommodated on board this pressurized fuselage seaplane with two decks and numerous propellers: four double inboard propellers and two single propellers. Its engine is provided by ten turboprops signed Bristol Proteus, with a unit power of 3,780 horsepower.
Behind this aircraft project, supported by the British government, is the British Overseas Airways Corporation, an airline company which wants to have in its fleet a high-capacity seaplane that can cross the Atlantic and make the Southampton – New York connection.
