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{{Short description|1929–1964 aircraft manufacturer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox company
|name = Saunders-Roe Limited
|logo = Saunders-Roe (logo).png
|fate = Merged with [[Westland Aircraft]]
|trademark =
|foundation = 1929
|defunct = 1964
|location = [[East Cowes]], [[Isle of Wight]]
|industry = [[Aerospace]], [[Engineering]]
|key_people = Samuel Edgar Saunders [[Alliot Verdon Roe]] Francis Percy Beadle<ref>{{cite web|last1=Moss|first1=Roger|title=Francis Percy Hyde Beadle|url=http://britishaviation-ptp.com/fph_beadle.html|website=British Aviation – Projects to Production|access-date=10 February 2017|archive-date=11 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211155619/http://britishaviation-ptp.com/fph_beadle.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Maurice Brennan]] [[Ray Wheeler]]
|products = [[Aircraft]] [[Helicopter]]s [[Hovercraft]]
|num_employees =
|parent =
|subsid =
}}

'''Saunders-Roe Limited''', also known as '''Saro''', was a British aerospace and marine-engineering company based at Columbine Works, [[East Cowes]], [[Isle of Wight]].<ref>{{cite book |title=A Dictionary of Aviation |first=David W. |last=Wragg |isbn=9780850451634 |edition=first |publisher=[[Osprey Publishing]]|year=1973 |page=235}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Saro Princess G-ALUN Farnborough 1953.jpg|thumb|right|[[Saunders-Roe Princess]] G-ALUN displaying at the Farnborough SBAC Show in September 1953]]
The name was adopted in 1929 after [[Alliott Verdon Roe]] (see [[Avro]]) and John Lord took a controlling interest in the aircraft and boat-builders [[SE Saunders]]. Prior to this (excepting for the Sopwith/Saunders [[Sopwith Bat Boat|Bat Boat]]) the products were Saunders, the [[Saunders Medina|A4 Medina]] for example dating from 1926. Sam Saunders, the founder, developed the [[Consuta]] material used in marine and aviation craft.<ref>Details can be found in the hardcover ''A Solent Flight'' by Ivor J. Hilliker.</ref>

The Saunders-Roe interest in aviation didn’t prevent the firm from continuing with the boatbuilding activities associated with [[SE Saunders]].

Saunders Roe concentrated on producing [[flying-boat]]s, but none were produced in very large quantities – the longest run being 31 [[Saro London|London]]s. They also produced hulls for the [[Blackburn Aircraft|Blackburn Bluebird]]. During [[World War II]], Saro manufactured [[Supermarine Walrus]] and [[Supermarine Sea Otter]]s. Their works at [[Beaumaris]], [[Anglesey]], modified and serviced [[Consolidated Catalina|Catalinas]] for the [[Royal Air Force]].

In January 1931 ''[[Flight (magazine)|Flight]]'' magazine revealed that [[Whitehall Securities]]<ref>A company within the [[Pearson plc|Pearson Group]]</ref> acquired a substantial holding in Saunders Roe. Whitehall Securities was already a large shareholder in [[Spartan Aircraft]] of [[Southampton]], and arising out of this investment Spartan was effectively merged into Saunders Roe.

In 1938 Saunders-Roe undertook a re-organisation of the commercial and administrative sides of its business. First, the marine section, consisting of the shipyard and boat-building business, was transferred to a new company, Saunders Shipyard Ltd., all of the shares of which were owned by Saunders-Roe Ltd. Mr. C. Inglis was appointed shipyard manager. Secondly, the plywood section of the business carried on at the factory on the River Medina was transferred to a new company, Saro Laminated Wood Products Ltd., in consideration for a majority of the shares therein. Laminated Wood Products Ltd., which had marketed most of the plywood output, also merged its interests into the new company. Major Darwin, managing director, left the company. On the aircraft side of the business Mr. Broadsmith continued as director and general manager. All other senior posts in the executive staff remain unchanged.<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1936/1936%20-%201172.html Flightglobal.com]. Flightglobal.com. Retrieved on 18 August 2011.</ref>

In 1947 they flew the [[Saunders-Roe SR.A/1|SR.A/1]] fighter prototype, one of the world's first jet-powered flying boats, and in 1952 they flew the prototype [[Saunders-Roe Princess|Princess]] airliner, but the age of the flying-boat was over and the two further Princess examples to be completed were never flown. No further new seaplanes were produced here. Modification work on Short-built flying boats continued at [[Cowes]] until 1955.
[[File:Saro Princess G-ALUN Cowes 1954.jpg|thumb|right|Saro works at [[East Cowes]] in September 1954 with stored Princess G-ALUN]]

The last fixed-wing aircraft they built was the experimental [[Saunders-Roe SR.53|SR53]] mixed-power interceptor.

In 1951 Saunders-Roe took over the interests of the [[Cierva Autogiro Company]] at Eastleigh including the [[Saunders-Roe Skeeter|Skeeter]] helicopter project.
In September 1952 the company comprised:
* Saunders-Roe Ltd. with a Head Office in Osborne, [[East Cowes]], Isle of Wight with works at Columbine I.O.W. and [[Southampton Airport]].
There was a branch design office in London, during the 1950s. It was situated in Queens Square, overlooking the [[Great Ormond Street Hospital]] for Children
* Saunders-Roe ([[Anglesey]]) Ltd, Friars Works, Beaumaris, North Wales
* Saro Laminated Wood Products Ltd., Folly Works, [[Whippingham]], I.O.W.
* Princess Air Transport Co. Ltd of Osborne I.O.W. with an office in London at 45 Parliament Street

In 1959 it demonstrated the first practical [[hovercraft]] built under contract to the [[National Research Development Corporation]] to [[Christopher Cockerell]]'s design, the [[SR.N1]].

In the same year Saro's helicopter and hovercraft interests were taken over by [[Westland Aircraft]] which continued the Skeeter family with the [[Westland Scout|Scout]] and [[Westland Wasp|Wasp]]. In 1964 all the hovercraft businesses under Westland were merged with [[Vickers|Vickers-Armstrongs]] to form the [[British Hovercraft Corporation]]. This, in turn, was taken over by [[Westland Aircraft|Westland]] and was renamed Westland Aerospace in 1985, and hovercraft production was reduced to nearly nothing until the advent of the [[British Hovercraft Corporation AP1-88|AP1-88]]. The company produced sub contract work for [[Britten-Norman]], produced composites and component parts for the aircraft industry, especially engine [[nacelles]] for many aircraft including the [[DHC-8|De Havilland Canada "Dash 8"]], the [[Lockheed Hercules]], the [[Handley Page Jetstream|British Aerospace Jetstream]] and parts for the [[McDonnell-Douglas MD-11]]. By the mid-1990s, over 60% of the world's production of [[turboprop]] nacelles took place in the East Cowes works.

[[File:GlosterSaroMeteor-E95LDD.jpg|thumb|right|Gloster Saro Meteor light foam tender at Brooklands Museum]]

In the late 1960s/early 1970s the Saunders-Roe Folly Works, by then owned by [[Hawker Siddeley]] was merged with the [[Gloster Aircraft Company|Gloster]] works to form '''Gloster-Saro''' utilising both companies' expertise in aluminium forming to produce [[fire appliance]]s and tankers in the Gloster factory at [[Hucclecote]], mostly based on [[Reynolds-Boughton]] chassis. In 1984 Gloster Saro acquired the fire tender business of the [[Chubb (company)|Chubb]] with the company merging in 1987 with Simon Engineering to form '''Simon Gloster Saro'''.

In 1994 Westland was taken over by [[GKN]], and when GKN sold off its shares of Westland to form [[Agusta-Westland]], it retained the East Cowes works, where it continues aircraft component design and production.

Laird (Anglesey) Ltd was formed in 1968 and incorporated the [[Beaumaris]] and [[Llangefni]] factories of Saunders-Roe and the engineering business of [[Birkenhead]] shipbuilders [[Cammell Laird]]. Laird developed the Centaur, which was half [[Land Rover]] and half [[light tank]]. The company is now known as FAUN Municipal Vehicles having been taken over yet again. Today, [[Tadano Faun|Faun]] manufactures portable aluminium roadways and runways at Llangefni under its TRACKWAY brand.<ref>[http://www.fauntrackway.co.uk Fauntrackway.co.uk]. Fauntrackway.co.uk. Retrieved on 18 August 2011.</ref>
[[File:MV Red Jet 3 berthed at East Cowes, 19 August 2018.jpg|thumb|''[[Red Jet 3]]'' docked at the Columbine, 19 August 2018]]

In 2015, the East Cowes Columbine Hangar, which later became notable for its large Union Jack painted on its doors, was leased from the Homes & Communities Agency to Shemara Refit, now known as [[Wight Shipyard]], to refit [[MY Shemara]]. They also constructed the catamaran ferry ''[[Red Jet 6]]'' inside the hangar for [[Red Funnel]], with the next in the series, ''[[Red Jet 7]]'', also built there. The GKN North site had been sold in 2002 for £8m to the [[South East England Development Agency]] (an English regional development agency closed by the UK government in 2012) for the regeneration of East Cowes. This stalled with the financial crash in 2008 and is set never to achieve the site's full potential as a deep water Prime Tier 1 Marine Industrial Site.<ref>{{Cite web | title=Archived copy | url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bbm:978-1-4614-0869-7/1.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200127011458/https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bbm:978-1-4614-0869-7%252F1.pdf | archive-date=2020-01-27}}</ref>

The docks at the Columbine Hangar have also been used by Red Funnel as berths for their ''Red Jet'' catamaran ferries when not in use; for example, ''Red Jet 6'' was berthed at the Columbine while undergoing system tests, while ''[[Red Jet 3]]'' was docked there while on sale awaiting a buyer during 2018.<ref>Jane's Surface Skimmers: Hovercraft and Hydrofoils 1980 by McLEAVY, Roy (ed) {{ISBN|9780710600066}} - Jane's Publishing Company, London - 1980</ref>

==Saunders and Saunders-Roe designs==

===Boatbuilding===
*Lifeboats for the [[Royal National Lifeboat Institution]] (RNLI) including the [[Liverpool-class lifeboat|Liverpool-class Motor Lifeboats]] and [[Barnett-class lifeboat|51ft Barnett-class]].
*[[Motorboats|Powerboats]] including the record breaking [[Miss England II]] in 1930 for [[Charles Wakefield, 1st Viscount Wakefield|Lord Wakefield]] and [[Blue Bird K3]] in 1937 for Sir [[Malcolm Campbell]].
*[[Dark-class patrol boat|Dark class]] [[patrol boat|fast patrol boats]] built for the [[United Kingdom]]'s [[Royal Navy]], the [[Myanmar Navy]], [[Finnish Navy]] and the [[Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force]]

===Flying boats===
*[[Saunders Kittiwake]]
*[[Saunders Valkyrie|Saunders A.3 Valkyrie]]
*[[Saunders Medina|Saunders A.4 Medina]]
*[[Saunders A.14]]
*[[Saunders Severn|Saunders/Saro A.7 Severn]]
*[[Saro Cutty Sark|Saro A.17 Cutty Sark]]
*[[Saro Cloud|Saro A.19 Cloud]]
*[[Saro Windhover|Saro A.21 Windhover]]
*[[Saro London|Saro A.27 London]]
*[[Saro Cloud|Saro A.29 Cloud Monospar]]
*[[Saro A.33]]
*[[Saro Lerwick|Saro A.36 Lerwick]]
*[[Saro Shrimp|Saro A.37 Shrimp]]
*[[Saunders-Roe SR.A/1]]
*[[Saunders-Roe Princess|Saunders-Roe SR.45 Princess]]
*[[Saunders-Roe Jet Princess]] (paper project only)
*[[Saunders-Roe Duchess]] (paper project only)
*[[Saunders-Roe Queen]]  – concept only for a 24 jet engine, 313 ft wingspan flying boat for [[P&O]] with accommodation for 1,000 passengers.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Yenne|first1= Bill|editor1-first= John |editor1-last= Kirk |title= The World's Worst Aircraft |year= 1993|orig-year= 1990|publisher=Dorset Press|isbn= 0-88029-490-6 |pages= 121, 159 }}</ref>

===Land-based aircraft===
*[[Saunders T.1]]
*[[Blackburn Segrave|A.22 Segrave Meteor]] – Designed by [[Henry Segrave|Sir Henry Segrave]]
*[[Saunders A.10|Saunders/Saro A.10 "Multigun"]] – 1928
*[[Spartan Cruiser|Saro-Percival Mailplane]] also known as A.24 Mailplane – designed by [[Edgar Percival]], – 1931
*[[Spartan Cruiser|A.24M (Spartan Cruiser)]] – derived from Saro Mailplane. Built by [[Spartan Aircraft Ltd|Spartan Aircraft Limited]] – 1932
*[[Saunders-Roe SR.53]] – mixed power interceptor
*[[Saunders-Roe SR.177]] – mixed power interceptor (cancelled before completion)

===Helicopters===
*[[Cierva Air Horse]], taken over from Cierva company
*[[Saunders Helicogyre]]
*[[Saunders-Roe Skeeter]]
*[[Saro P.531]] – development of Skeeter, led to Westland Scout and Wasp
*[[Hiller ROE Rotorcycle]]

===Hovercraft===
*[[SR.N1]] ("Saunders Roe Nautical 1"): First modern hovercraft
*[[SR.N2]] First to operate a commercial service
*[[SR.N3]] First designed for military use
*[[SR.N4]] or ''Mountbatten'' class – large 4 prop ferry
*[[SR.N5]] Also Bell SK-5, as [[PACV]] used in Vietnam
*[[SR.N6]] Longer SR.N5 38 passengers
*Aircraft carrier Surface Effect Ship (SES)<ref>The Decline of British Seapower, by Desmond Wettern, page 241</ref><ref>Rebuilding the Royal Navy, D K Brown</ref><ref>From River To Sea: The Marine Heritage of Sam Saunders</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/3.48209 | doi=10.2514/3.48209 | title=Aircraft carrier-surface effect ship | date=1983 | last1=Germeraad | first1=Donald P. | journal=[[Journal of Aircraft]]| volume=20 | issue=12 | pages=1037–1042 | url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Spacecraft===
With the [[Royal Aircraft Establishment]]
*[[Black Knight (rocket)|Black Knight]]
*[[Black Arrow]]
*[[Black Prince (rocket)|Black Prince]]
The Rocket Development Division was formed in 1956 and the Rocket Test site at Highdown started functioning exactly one year later. The division was headquartered at [[Yeovil]]. It was this division, in conjunction with the Royal Aircraft Establishment, that was responsible for the design, manufacture and static testing of the [[Black Knight (rocket)|Black Knight]] Rocket, the first of which was successfully fired at [[Woomera Prohibited Area|Woomera]], South Australia, on 7 September 1958.

===Military canoes, assault boats and load carriers (World War II)===
Designed by Fred Goatley# Marine designer
Mark 2 Canoe – 1941–1942 (used on the Cockleshell Heroes "Frankton Raid")
Mk 2** Canoe – 1943 ( used in Leros – various, incl. Sunbeam Raids )
12-man Assault craft c. 1940–1942
8 ton load carrier. c. 1942–1943<ref>Cockleshell Canoes, Quentin Rees</ref><ref>Cockleshell Heroes-The Final Witness, Quentin Rees</ref>

==Electronics==
The Electronics Division was formed in 1948. Its progress was rapid and the division also designed and manufactured such diverse specialist equipment as Analogue Computers, Control Simulators and a variety of Electronic Equipment and Electronic Test sets associated with Guided Weapons. When using [[strain gauge]]s of the normal wire type in the dynamic testing of helicopter components, notably rotor blades, Saunders-Roe found that such a high proportion of the gauges were failing that development was considerably retarded. The Electronics Division was therefore asked to devise an improved gauge and, in collaboration with Messrs. Technograph Printed Circuits Ltd.,<ref>[http://www.technographmicro.com/history.php Technographmicro.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080607050549/http://www.technographmicro.com/history.php |date=7 June 2008 }}. Technographmicro.com. Retrieved on 18 August 2011.</ref> produced the foil strain gauge.

== Hydrofoil ==
* [[Bras d'Or (R-103)|R-103 ]]– a 17-ton [[hydrofoil]] for [[Royal Canadian Navy]], known as "Bras d'Or". Built in 1956 by Saunders-Roe (Anglesey) Ltd. (This should not be confused with [[HMCS Bras d'Or (FHE 400)|HMCS ''Bras d'Or'']], a 240 tonne hydrofoil patrol vessel, which was the result of the tests performed by the R-103.)

==Illuminated signs==
Early in aviation, it was difficult – if not impossible – to supply uninterrupted power in aircraft. Saunders-Roe solved this problem by putting an ionising gas ([[tritium]]; 3H) in small tubes. Tritium was discovered in 1934 by [[Lord Rutherford]]. The tubes ("Betalights") are made of [[borosilicate glass]]. The inside of the tubes is coated with a fluorescent powder, which glows as a result of the ionizing radiation of the tritium gas. Such a tube emits light for 15 years. Betalights were used to illuminate the flight instruments, exit signs and corridors of the aircraft produced by Saunders-Roe. When Saunders-Roe was acquired by [[Westland Helicopters]] production continued via Saunders-Roe Developments Ltd of North Hyde Road, [[Hayes, Hillingdon|Hayes, Middlesex]] (the former [[Fairey Aviation]] Head office). [[Betalight]] production was made independent under the name SRBT (Saunders-Roe Betalight Technology). A factory was established in Pembroke, Ontario, Canada, where tritium supplies are readily available. Today betalights are used in self luminous escape-route signs, under the product name Betalux.

==Mark 3 airborne lifeboat==
[[File:Avro Shackleton with Saunders-Roe airborne lifeboat.jpg|thumb|Mark 3 [[airborne lifeboat]] fitted underneath an [[Avro Shackleton]]]]

In early 1953, Saunders-Roe at Anglesey completed the Mark 3 [[airborne lifeboat]] to be fitted underneath the [[Avro Shackleton]] maritime reconnaissance aircraft. This model was made entirely of aluminium, previous marks being made of timber. Parachuted at a rate of 20 feet per second into the rescue zone, the craft was powered by a [[Vincent motorcycles]] HRD T5 15 hp engine; sails and a fishing kit were also provided. The Mark 3 measured {{convert|31|ft|0}} from bow to stern and {{convert|7|ft|0}} across the beam and held enough to supply 10 people with food and water for 14 days.<ref>''Flight'', 13 February 1953. [http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1953/1953%20-%200212.html "Service Aviation: New Airborne Lifeboat."] Retrieved on 21 September 2009.</ref>

==Road vehicles==
During World War II, Saunders-Roe opened a factory at Fryars in Llanfaes, Anglesey, converting and maintaining Catalina flying boats. In the late 1940s and 1950s the [[Beaumaris]] factory began making bus bodies under the names Saunders, SEAS (Saunders Engineering & Shipbuilding) and SARO. When [[Associated Equipment Company|AEC]] took over [[Crossley Motors]], many of the design staff left and joined SARO. In pre-[[Leyland Atlantean|Atlantean]] days when [[Leyland Motors|Leyland]] began looking at low floor vehicles, the "Low Loader" (STF 90) bodied by SARO was similar in certain respects to the Crossley chassisless bus designs. Bodies were manufactured at Beaumaris for installing on [[Leyland Royal Tiger#1950s Royal Tiger|Leyland Royal Tiger]] and [[Leyland Tiger Cub]] chassis; SARO bodied 250 [[AEC Regent III RT]]s for [[London Transport Executive|London Transport]] between 1948 and 1950 (RT 1152–1401), which were almost indistinguishable from the standard Weymann/Park Royal products; and some double-deck buses for Liverpool Corporation. 620 prefabricated Rivalloy (the brand name comes from '''riv'''etted (aluminium) '''alloy''') single deck buses components for local assembly were sold to Autobuses Modernos SA, Cuba which later became Omnibus Metropolitanos, S.A. Another large customer was Auckland Regional Transport in New Zealand who took the Rivalloy body on 90 [[Daimler Freeline]] chassis. In 1948 the only double deck bodies to be exported were 20 ordered by South African operator Durban Motor Transport which were mounted on [[AEC Regent III]] chassis.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Truran |first1=Gerald |title=Saunders-Roe Anglesey Ltd |date=2009 |publisher=Bryngold Books}}</ref>
In the UK large numbers of SARO bodies were specified by the [[British Electric Traction]] group on Leyland Tiger Cub chassis, operators including Trent, East Midland, Ribble, Yorkshire Traction and the Northern General Group. An integral version of the body design powered by a [[L Gardner & Sons|Gardner]] 5HLW engine was bought by Maidstone & District.

The factory later passed to [[Cammell Laird]] who mainly used it for producing refuse-collection vehicles, but when [[Metro Cammell Weymann]] had a production backlog, they completed a batch of MCW-style double deck forward-entrance highbridge bodies on [[Leyland Titan (front-engined double-decker)|Leyland Titan]] PD3 for Brighton Corporation, these were numbered 31–5, registered LUF131-5F and delivered in June and July 1968, they were unusual as front engined half-cab buses built to be driver operated.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bus Lists on the Web|url=https://www.buslistsontheweb.co.uk}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom]]
*[[Goatley boat]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
*Peter London, ''Saunders and Saro Aircraft Since 1917'', Putnam ([[Conway Publishing]]), London, 1988
* The Cockleshell Canoes, Quentin Rees, {{ISBN|978-1-84868-065-4}} [[Amberley Publishing]], 2008, reprinted 2nd edition 2009
* The Cockleshell Heroes — The Final Witness,{{ISBN|978-1-84868-861-2}} Amberley Publishing, December 2010
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://www.bartiesworld.co.uk/hovercraft/saunders.php Hovercraft of Saunders-Roe, Westlands, and BHC]
* [https://www.bartiesworld.co.uk/hovercraft/srn/a_short_history_of_saunders-roe.pdf A Short History of Saunders Roe]

{{Saro aircraft}}
{{Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom}}

[[Category:Companies based on the Isle of Wight]]
[[Category:Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Defunct bus manufacturers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Defunct helicopter manufacturers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Defunct shipbuilding companies of England]]
[[Category:Hovercraft manufacturers]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1929]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1964]]
[[Category:Saunders-Roe| ]]
[[Category:1929 establishments in England]]
[[Category:1964 disestablishments in England]]

Saunders-Roe - Revision history

imported>Nimbus227: Undid revision 1318912937 by 2A00:23C8:A4DC:6301:511B:BA11:EC58:7271 (talk) Unexplained changes, restore header sentence case