Saro A.33

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 wingtip 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.^[1] A production contract for eleven aircraft was cancelled.

Specifications

Data from British Flying Boats ^[2]

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: 4 × 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

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Short Sunderland

Related lists

• List of seaplanes and flying boats

References

Notes

Bibliography

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

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saunders-Roe.

• History of War article