The Greatest Flying Boat That Never Was - Saunders-Roe SR.45 Princess

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When released in 1952, the Saunders-Roe SR.45 Princess was one of the largest aircraft ever to fly at that time, and was by far the heaviest and most powerful flying boat created, its intention being to provide a flagship service on both the transatlantic and Empire routes in conjunction with international carrier BOAC.

Unfortunately, the Princess was essentially an exercise in futility, as while many figures within the aviation industry and the government considered that the airliner might have a place in the market of the 1950s, the machine undertook its first flight the same year that the De Havilland Comet jet entered commercial service, a clear illustration of what the future and the past of the airliner world was, with the Princess falling firmly into the latter.

Chapters:

0:00 - Preamble
0:52 - Entering a Disappearing Market
2:20 - Bigger is Better
4:13 - Technical Tour de Force
6:33 - Fit and Finish
8:50 - Powerplant Problems
10:15 - Into Flight
12:00 - BOAC Backs Off
14:55 - Variations and Variations
18:13 - Corroded and Condemned
21:10 - Conclusion

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References:
- Air Space Magazine (and their respective references)
- Wikipedia (and its respective references)