Saunders-Roe SR.A/1

The Saunders-Roe SR.A/1 was a British prototype flying boat fighter, the first jet-propelled water-based aircraft in the world. Saunders-Roe saw in the new turbojet an answer to the performance penalties of floatplanes, because an engine with no propeller let the fuselage sit low in the water and use a flying boat hull. It first presented the idea as the SR.44 in 1943, and in April 1944 the Air Ministry issued Specification E.6/44 and a contract for three prototypes. The first made its maiden flight on 16 July 1947, piloted by Geoffrey Tyson. The Royal Air Force judged it unable to match land-based fighters, no orders came despite foreign interest, and the Beryl engine that powered it had gone out of production. It never entered volume production or service, and the prototype TG263 flew for the last time in June 1951.