Saunders T.1

The Saunders T.1 was the first aircraft built by the Saunders Company, a two-seat single-engined biplane with an unusual monocoque fuselage. Before the First World War the Cowes firm of S. E. Saunders was well known for motor boats and for Sam Saunders' patented method of sewing plywood sheets together with copper wire, sold as Consuta. The T.1, named for its designer Henry Haberfield Thomas, appeared in 1917 as the first all-Saunders aircraft, with a wooden frame fuselage covered in Consuta plywood panels, one of the earliest monocoque aircraft structures. It was meant to use a Hispano-Suiza engine, but those went to the S.E.5a, so a water-cooled 150 horsepower Sunbeam Nubian was fitted instead. It flew quite well, with only a tendency to engine overheating. Only one was built, its intended role is unclear, and development ended when Thomas died in the 1918-19 influenza epidemic.