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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 2835.PDF
FLIGHT, 26 September 1952 The Princess DESIGN DETAILS OF THE GREAT SAUNDERS-ROE FLYING-BOAT IN a recent debate on air-transport policy in the House of Lords, Lord De L'Isle and Dudley summed up by say ing that civil aviation had become, or was becoming, what sea power used to be, and it was the Government's desire to see that Great Britain had in this important and expanding field a share which was large, because that was our due. It is, however, noteworthy that during the same debate Lord Sempill said he was shocked that no reference had been made to flying-boats and declared that air transport must for technical and practical reasons be ever more concerned with this class of aircraft. Lord Sempill is a far-sighted man who is doing his country a service in keeping the flying-boat issue alive. For our part we make no apology for our advocacy of marine aircraft; on the contrary, Flight has always championed the cause of the flying-boat, and will continue so to do. This present un- interestedness on the part of operators toward the flying-boat is temporary, and the reasons for it are not difficult to see. Before the war, the great trunk routes of Imperial Airways were dominated by boats : they operated efficiently, econo mically, and to the great satisfaction of travellers. During the war, the world became spotted with thousands and thousands of acres of concrete, laid down so that military aircraft could operate from convenient bases. During the war, the perfor mance of all new aircraft, transports included, went up considerably. The war finished, airlines of all nations started to untangle their disrupted organizations and get back to competitive commercial operation. Almost exclusively, the only aircraft available to them were American and, of course, they were land-planes. To their credit, B.O.A.C. continued for a time to use boats, but despite the passenger appeal of the flying- boat, it was not able to compete with the much greater speed of the newer landplanes. Furthermore, whereas the main tenance of the marine bases was a direct charge on the operator, the land airports had largely been provided as a military necessity, and imposed no particular burden on the users. So the boat was forced out of the picture. Certainly, the pro-boat voices continued to urge their case —as they still do—and to the extent that the Saunders-Roe Princesses exist in varying states of completion, the voices must be accorded persuasiveness. But the hard fact is that so long as the landplane is subsidized by nationally provided airports no operator will willingly change over to boats if he has to bear the provisioning cost of the marine bases, com paratively slight as they are. In addition, the economic capability of an aircraft is a more or less direct function of its efficiency as a flying machine, and it is not until the really large sizes are reached that the flying-boat shows advantage over the landplane. Modern developments have altered the relationship somewhat, but not to an extent sufficient to invalidate the basic argument. What, then, is there to be said for the flying-boat s future ? Liners of two elements: The Sounders-Roe Princess, a ''marine airliner" in the truest sense of the term, passes R.M.S. "Mauretania" in the Solent. Chiefly two things. First, aircraft have steadily been getting bigger and bigger, and there is no evidence to show that a halt will be called in this trend. As size increases, the boat comes into its own. Second, throughout the 50 years of aviation history, military and civil aircraft have run on parallel courses, the military aircraft leading and the civilian machine following on. In fact, it is true to say that, in the main, commercial aircraft have been possible only because aeronautical development has been paid for as a military necessity. That condition still obtains, and is likely to con tinue for some little time. But it is now becoming increasingly apparent that the future paths of military and civil aviatiou will diverge. It is possible that, in not so very many years, there will no longer be a military requirement for gigantic runways; when and if such a time does come, the chief argu ment against the flying-boat will vanish. In the meantime, however, the authority which governs Britain's air interests is faced with a difficult problem. On the one hand, there exists neither civil nor military demand for boats at the moment; this, however, is not to say that such demand will never be made. There is, indeed, even now a military necessity for the flying-boat as a fighting and trans port vehicle which can operate at short notice to and from unprepared bases. On the other hand, the design skill and priceless know-how which this country possesses in the marine-aircraft field must not be allowed to become atrophied. The only way to stop such incipient decay is to keep boat building alive. But the Treasury of so penurious a country as Great Britain today is understandably reluctant to pay for the development and building of aircraft for which there exist no present or immediate future demand. One possible answer is that the large flying-boat ought properly to take the place of the troopship. An exceedingly cogent case can be made out for such a course, although this is not the time or place to examine it: be it sufficient to state that in terms of cost, of time, and of the fighting efficiency of its passengers, the flying troopship shows powerful advantages over its surface-going counterpart. Whether, in the final event, the Princesses will be operated
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