Saunders Roe SR.A/1: Әлемдегі алғашқы реактивті гидросамолет қырушысы

The Saunders Roe SR. A/1 was a prototype flying boat fighter aircraft designed and built by British seaplane manufacturer Saunders Roe. It was the first jet propelled water based aircraft in the world. In theory, seaplanes were ideally suited to conditions in the Pacific theatre of the Second World War, and could turn any relatively calm area of coast into an airbase. Their main disadvantage came from the way in which the bulk of their flotation gear penalised their performance compared to other fighters. Both immediately prior to and during the war, Britain made very little use of seaplane fighters, instead relying upon aircraft carriers and land based fighters as the basis of their military operations, despite the concept having remained popular with other powers, including Japan, Italy, and France. It was in this backdrop that British seaplane manufacturer Saunders Roe recognised that the newly developed turbojet engine presented an opportunity to overcome the traditional performance drawbacks and design limitations of floatplanes. By not requiring clearance for a propeller, the fuselage could sit lower in the water and use a flying boat type hull. The prospective aircraft's performance when powered by Halford H.1 engines was projected to be 520 mph at 40,000 ft.

Saunders Roe first presented their idea, then designated as the SR.44, to the Air Ministry during mid 1943. Criticisms of the design were produced by Ministry officials, included the observation that the wing thickness/chord ratio was considered to be too high for a high speed fighter when operating at a high altitude. In response to these criticisms, the seaplane's design was modified and refined. During April 1944, the Air Ministry issued Specification E.6/44 in direct response to the modified design. At this point, there were intentions for the SR. A/1 to be used in the Pacific theatre against Japan; as such, there were measures taken even at an early stage of development to support immediate quantity production. However, shortly following the end of the Pacific War in August 1945, Saunders Roe opted to concentrate its efforts on the Saunders Roe Princess, a long range civilian flying boat project, a choice which caused development of the fighter to slip behind. Due to the war's end, pressure for the commencement of the type's production had lessened significantly. Barely two weeks later, Tyson flew the fifth flight for a crowd of officials representing multiple organisations, including the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force, the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Saunders Roe, Metropolitan Vickers and at least one unidentified foreign government. Subsequent flight testing with the prototypes revealed that the SR. A/1 possessed a relatively good level of performance and handling. Its agility was publicly displayed when Tyson performed a demonstration of high speed aerobatics and inverted flight above an international audience at the 1948 Farnborough Airshow while piloting the type. During the flight test programme, two of the three prototypes suffered accidents, leading to an interruption in the trials and modifications being made to the remaining intact aircraft. TG271 appeared in a BBC Newsreel in August 1948. The SR. A/1 possessed a somewhat small and heavily framed cockpit canopy, which provided the pilot with a poor view outside the aircraft, a particularly negative feature for a prospective fighter aircraft. Despite this, the pressurised cockpit was relatively spacious, providing enough room to accommodate an additional crew member potentially; an observer could also have been seated in a more rearward position. As a measure to increase survivability, two of the SR. A/1 prototypes were fitted with the first two production Martin Baker ejection seats to be built. An automatic mooring system was incorporated, allowing the pilot to moor the aircraft without any external aids or even having to leave the cockpit. The air intake for the engines was extendable to minimise the ingestion of seawater during takeoffs, although testing revealed only minor performance decreases due to this factor. To reduce drag, the floats could be retracted during flight. A fundamental problem that emerged during development was that the Beryl engine, which powered the type, had ceased production when British manufacturing conglomerate Metropolitan Vickers had decided to withdraw from jet engine development, leaving only a limited number of engines available. Due to a lack of orders, work on the project was suspended, leading to the remaining prototype being placed into storage in early 1950. During November 1950, shortly after the outbreak of the Korean War, interest in the SR. A/1 programme was briefly resurrected. This interest was not just confined to Britain; data on the project was also passed onto the United States. It is now in the Solent Sky Museum in Southampton, UK. Although the aircraft never received an official name, it was commonly referred to by company workers as "Squirt".

The first prototype, serial number TG263, has been preserved and is on display at Solent Sky aviation museum in Southampton. Both other aircraft (TG267 and TG271) were lost in accidents during the four year flight test programme.