Top speed 209 km/h Length 13 m Retired 1949 Manufacturer Saunders-Roe | Wingspan 15 m Introduced 1939 First flight October 1939 | |
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Saro shrimp half scale flying prototype
The Saunders Roe A.37 Shrimp was a 1930s British two-seat four-engined experimental flying boat built by Saunders-Roe Limited ("Saro") at Cowes.
Contents
Development
The Shrimp was designed by H Knowler in 1939 as a half-size research aircraft as part of a development programme for the Saunders-Roe S.38 a four-engined patrol flying-boat to Specification R.5/39 - a replacement for the Short Sunderland. The R.5/39 project was cancelled but the Shrimp was completed as a private venture. Registered as G-AFZS, it was first flown at Cowes in October 1939. It was based at Beaumaris, Anglesey where a slipway was built for it. The Ministry of Aircraft Production acquired it in 1944 with the serial TK580 for tests to help the design of the Short Shetland a successor to the R.5/39 project being developed jointly by Saro and Short Brothers. For this its twin rudder tail was swapped for a single fin and the hull was modified to represent that of the Shetland.
The Shrimp was scrapped at Felixstowe in 1949.
Operators
Specifications
Data from Warplanes of the Second World War, Volume 5: Flying Boats
General characteristics
Performance