Saunders-Roe Duchess

Duchess
Role	Flying boat airliner
Manufacturer	Saunders-Roe
Status	cancelled

The Saunders-Roe Duchess also known as the model P.131 was a British design for a large jet-powered flying boat from Saunders-Roe, based in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. The Duchess was designed to follow the propeller-driven Princess. The Duchess would have been a high-wing cantiliver monoplane with a conventional tail and a full-length planing bottom. It also had retractable stabiliser floats at each wingtip. It was to have had a pressurised and air-conditioned cabin for 74 passengers in two compartments with a freight hold in the centre. The six de Havilland Ghost turbojets were to have been mounted inside the wing roots. The company displayed a model of the aircraft at the 1950 Farnborough Air Show. Tasman Empire Airways considered ordering the aircraft for journeys between Australia and New Zealand but the aircraft was cancelled.

Specifications

Data from Saunders and Saro Aircraft since 1917^[1]

General characteristics

• Crew: four and two cabin crew
• Capacity: 74 passengers and 600 cu ft (17,000 L) of cargo
  (66 lb luggage per passenger and 3,500 lb cargo)
• Length: 124 ft 6 in (37.96 m)
• Wingspan: 129 ft (39.33 m)
• Height: ()
• Wing area: 2364 sq ft (219.7 m²)
• Loaded weight: 130,000 lb (59,100 kg)
• Powerplant: 6 × de Havilland Ghost turbojet engine, 5,000 lb (22.2 kN) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 550 mph (478 knots, 880 km/h)
• Cruise speed: 468 mph (407 knots, 753 km/h) for maximum economy
• Range: 2,600 mi (2,261 nmi (4,187 km)) with 21,000 lb cargo
• Rate of climb: 2,900 ft/min (14.7 m/s)

See also

Related lists

• List of seaplanes and flying boats

References

1. London 1988, p. 316.

• London, Peter. Saunders and Saro Aircraft since 1917. London:Putnam, 1988. ISBN 0-85177-814-3.
• Flight 4 May 1950 Enter the Duchess