Across the Channel on a cushion of air

On 25 July 1959, fifty years to the day after Louis Blériot flew the Channel, a strange flat craft crossed from Calais to Dover in just over two hours, riding on a cushion of air. Aboard the SR.N1 were the pilot Peter Lamb, the navigator John Chaplin and the inventor Christopher Cockerell. It had been built at East Cowes by Saunders-Roe, under contract to the National Research Development Corporation, and it was the first practical hovercraft. That same year Saro’s helicopter and hovercraft businesses passed to Westland, and the company’s independent life ended.

Boats, ply and flying boats

The firm went back to S. E. Saunders, an Isle of Wight boatbuilder whose founder Sam Saunders developed Consuta, a sewn plywood used in boats and aircraft. In 1929 the aircraft pioneer Alliott Verdon Roe, founder of Avro, and John Lord took control, and the company became Saunders-Roe, or Saro. It kept building boats, including lifeboats, Malcolm Campbell’s Blue Bird K3 and the canoes of the Cockleshell Heroes raid, while specialising in flying boats; the longest run was 31 Londons. In the war it built Supermarine Walruses and Sea Otters and serviced Catalinas at Beaumaris on Anglesey.

The Princess and the rocket fighter

After 1945 Saro aimed high. The SR.A/1 of 16 July 1947 was the world’s first jet-propelled water-based aircraft. The SR.45 Princess, flown on 22 August 1952, remains the largest all-metal flying boat ever built, but only one of three flew. The SR.53 mixed rocket-and-jet interceptor flew on 16 May 1957; a year later the second prototype crashed at Boscombe Down, killing Squadron Leader John Booth. Saro also took over the Cierva Skeeter helicopter, 64 of which went to the Army Air Corps, and designed the Black Knight rocket, first fired at Woomera in 1958, and later Black Arrow.

Factories

• Columbine Works · East Cowes, Isle of Wight — Headquarters and main works
• Friars Works · Beaumaris, Anglesey — Catalina modification in WWII
• Eastleigh · Southampton Airport — Ex-Cierva helicopter works

People

• Sam Saunders · founder of S. E. Saunders — Developed Consuta plywood
• Alliott Verdon Roe · co-owner from 1929 — Founder of Avro
• Geoffrey Tyson · test pilot — Flew the SR.A/1 and Princess
• Christopher Cockerell · hovercraft inventor — Aboard the SR.N1’s Channel crossing

Records and firsts

• World’s first jet-propelled water-based aircraft, SR.A/1, 1947
• Largest all-metal flying boat ever built, SR.45 Princess, 1952
• First hovercraft to cross the English Channel, SR.N1, 25 July 1959