Saro A.33

National origin: United Kingdom
Manufacturer: Saunders-Roe Limited
First flight: 14 October 1938
Status: Destroyed
Number built: 1

The Saro A.33 was a British prototype flying boat built by Saunders-Roe Limited in response to a British Air Ministry Specification R.2/33 and in competition with the Short Sunderland.

Design and development

The A.33 was a four-engined flying-boat with a parasol monospar wing, the wing was supported by two angled N-struts which connected the wing to hull-mounted sponsons. The hull-mounted sponsons were used rather than wing tip floats and were also used as fuel tanks. A Saro Cloud was modified with a monospar wing and sponsons to test the design concepts. The A.33 serial number K4773 first flew on 14 October 1938. Unfortunately, the A33 prototype was written off after structural failure sustained during high speed taxi trials on 25 October 1938 and development was abandoned. A production contract for eleven aircraft was cancelled.

Specifications

Data from British Flying Boats

General characteristics

Length: 75 ft 0 in (22.87 m)
Wingspan: 95 ft 0 in (28.96 m)
Height: 22 ft 8½ in (6.92 m)
Wing area: 1,194 ft² (111.0 m²)
Empty weight: 31,500 lb (14,320 kg)
Loaded weight: 41,500 lb (18,864 kg)
Powerplant: 4x— Bristol Perseus XII 9-cylinder air-cooled radial engine, 830 hp (619 kW) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 174 knots (200 mph, 322 km/h)
Cruise speed: 151 knots (174 mph, 280 km/h)
Service ceiling: 14,280 ft (4,350 m)
Wing loading: 34.8 lb/ft² (170 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.08 hp/lb (0.13 kW/kg)
Endurance: 12 hr

Armament

Guns: Machine guns in bow and tail turrets and two beam positions
Bombs: 2,000 lb (909 kg) bombs

Comparable aircraft

Short Sunderland

London, Peter. British Flying Boats. Stroud, UK:Sutton Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0-7509-2695-3.

Saro A.33 Pictures

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Source: WikiPedia