Saunders-Roe SR.53 "Rocketeer" F.Mk.1 - FINISHED

[nimrod54]

The Saunders-Roe SR.53 was a British prototype interceptor of mixed jet and rocket propulsion designed for the RAF by Saunders-Roe in the early 1950's. As envisaged the SR.53 would have used its rocket propulsion to rapidly climb and approach incoming and hostile bombers at high speed; following its attack run, the aircraft would have been able to return to its base by making use of its secondary jet propulsion.

 

This AZ Model kit is my entry for the Interceptor GB. There are not a lot of parts but I expect there will be extra work getting them to fit.

 

by John L, on Flickr

 

by John L, on Flickr

[Anatol Pigwa]

That is a really interesting plane you got there. I admit I have never heard about it, but it looks lije a development if tge Messerschmitt 163 concept. I wonder what the proposed armament was. Unguided missiles lijr in the F-89 D?

[PeterB]

Hi John,

 

I never did build the Airfix kit so this should be interesting. As I recall that was finished in white and represented one of the 2 prototypes so I guess the box art for your kit represents a "What If" service F. Mk I? Looks like it is fitted with "Blue Jay" aka Firestreak IR missiles on the wingtips - can't remember what was in the Airfix kit. Wiki says it was originally going to have 2" unguided rockets but then changed, I remember a documentary in the series "The planes that never flew" or words to that effect on the improved SR.177

 

Pete

Edited November 4, 2020 by PeterB

[nimrod54]

1 hour ago, Anatol Pigwa said:

I wonder what the proposed armament was. Unguided missiles lijr in the F-89 D?

 

The kit comes with a pair of Firestreak missiles, Anatol.

 

59 minutes ago, PeterB said:

Hi John,

 

I never did build the Airfix kit so this should be interesting. As I recall that was finished in white and represented one of the 2 prototypes so I guess the box art for your kit represents a "What If" service F. Mk I? Looks like it is fitted with "Blue Jay" aka Firestreak IR missiles on the wingtips - can't remember what was in the Airfix kit. Wiki says it was originally going to have 2" unguided rockets but then changed,

 

Pete

 

You are quite right Peter, the prototypes were painted white overall with black anti-glare panel, the sole surviving example (XD145) is sited at Cosford. Of the three fictional schemes for F.Mk.1 one is supposed to have taken part in the 20th Anniversary Battle of Britain display. I will look to finish mine as per the surviving prototype. 

 

John

[Col.]

Brilliant subject choice John and I'm keen to see how you get on with the kit.

[Aardvark]

Interesting subject. I have Poland version old Airfix, but in edition 90s with very cute boxart by contemporary Polish artist Vrybel.

Of course AZ model best than Airfix or his Poland copy.

 

B.R.

Serge

[stever219]

7 hours ago, Anatol Pigwa said:

That is a really interesting plane you got there. I admit I have never heard about it, but it looks lije a development if tge Messerschmitt 163 concept. I wonder what the proposed armament was. Unguided missiles lijr in the F-89 D?

The SR. 53 owes exactly nothing to the design of the Me163 apart from being a single-seater of mid-wing configuration.

[Aardvark]

4 minutes ago, stever219 said:

The SR. 53 owes exactly nothing to the design of the Me163 apart from being a single-seater of mid-wing configuration.

You don't understand....all this conspiracy theories as "What would we all do without all these drawings of Luft '46 painted on paper napkins by  german designers in internment camps after the 2WW?" speaks to the contrary! 😁😁😁

In fact, all attempts by the famous germans designers after the war to do something good and serious ( Pulki II, HF-24, HA-300*) just burst like a soap bubble, but conspiracy theorists usually prefer to ignore this!😉😁

 

B.R.

Serge

 

__________

* - this one would not have taken off at all if not for the Indian test pilot, who refused to fly on it until Professor Messerschmitt corrected all his remarks, of which there were about 50 (or 100, I don’t remember exactly).  Among the shortcomings were just sheer "trifles", like the fuel poured down from the aircraft tanks😁...e.t.c, of course Indian test pilot didn’t want to burn alive at work!

 

 

[stever219]

11 hours ago, Aardvark said:

You don't understand....all this conspiracy theories as "What would we all do without all these drawings of Luft '46 painted on paper napkins by  german designers in internment camps after the 2WW?" speaks to the contrary! 😁😁😁

In fact, all attempts by the famous germans designers after the war to do something good and serious ( Pulki II, HF-24, HA-300*) just burst like a soap bubble, but conspiracy theorists usually prefer to ignore this!😉😁

 

B.R.

Serge

 

__________

* - this one would not have taken off at all if not for the Indian test pilot, who refused to fly on it until Professor Messerschmitt corrected all his remarks, of which there were about 50 (or 100, I don’t remember exactly).  Among the shortcomings were just sheer "trifles", like the fuel poured down from the aircraft tanks😁...e.t.c, of course Indian test pilot didn’t want to burn alive at work!

 

 

Please do not presume to tell me what I do or do not understand.  British designers had been working on advanced designs throughout World War II, for example a highly-swept, prone pilot, skid undercarriage equipped, v-tailed Mach 1+ research programme that was killed off by politicians (sound familiar?) and we were also "persuaded" by our self-styled, so-called "greatest ally" to gift them the variable incidence tailplanefrom the Miles M.52 which they then applied to the Bell X-1 which would probably have been lethal without it.  Other advanced, wholly home grown designs, appeared after the War, perhaps the best known being the V-bombers, English Electric P.1, AW.52 flying wing (and Miles Libellula (sp?)) to mention only a few.

[Aardvark]

19 minutes ago, stever219 said:

Please do not presume to tell me what I do or do not understand.  British designers had been working on advanced designs throughout World War II, for example a highly-swept, prone pilot, skid undercarriage equipped, v-tailed Mach 1+ research programme that was killed off by politicians (sound familiar?) and we were also "persuaded" by our self-styled, so-called "greatest ally" to gift them the variable incidence tailplanefrom the Miles M.52 which they then applied to the Bell X-1 which would probably have been lethal without it.  Other advanced, wholly home grown designs, appeared after the War, perhaps the best known being the V-bombers, English Electric P.1, AW.52 flying wing (and Miles Libellula (sp?)) to mention only a few.

@stever219 my previous 

posting  was sarcastic.  There are many funny emoticons at the end of the  

 sentence. 😉

And the main thesis of my previous posting is just this one:

11 hours ago, Aardvark said:

In fact, all attempts by the famous germans designers after the war .... just burst like a soap bubble

Therefore, all attempts (not Yours!) to pull the Me-163 (completely rocket fighter) by the ears to S.R.  53 (an aircraft  with a turbojet engine and an additional rocket engine!) looks very funny to me and does not cause anything except sarcasm (directed not at You) on my part.

 

I am well aware within the framework of the available information on the Internet about the work on the S.P.53 long before the appearance of the model from AZ model:

http://scalemodels.ru/modules/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12065&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

 

B.w. on second page topic on the link box my S.R.53:

 

And of course I know  about sad story Miles M.52 from Discovery channel film "Planes that never flew" which was shown in the 90s and in which, by the way, there was a series about the development of S.R.53 - S.R.  177.😉

 

B.R.

Serge

[Anatol Pigwa]

Since I caused all the confusion regading Me 163 - SR.53 i'd like to reiterate that I didn't mean that these aircraft were somehow connected construction-wise.

I was only refering to nimrods operational use idea as a point defence interceptor zooming in on attacking bombers on it's rocket engine.

[Col.]

5 hours ago, Anatol Pigwa said:

Since I caused all the confusion regading Me 163 - SR.53 i'd like to reiterate that I didn't mean that these aircraft were somehow connected construction-wise.

I was only refering to nimrods operational use idea as a point defence interceptor zooming in on attacking bombers on it's rocket engine.

I'm sure, as adults, we can all play along nicely and read the posts with an open mind rather than resort to name-calling, hissy fits, or any other behaviours that require the moderating teams attention  so you're fine Anatol. In fact it may be a learning opportunity for some of us to learn more about the type - now that's always a good thing in my opinion  

[nimrod54]

As @Col. has said chaps, let us try to behave like adults and get along. This is my build thread and as such I would like it to be a pleasant experience for all involved, whether that be by passing on subject knowledge or the odd witty comment. Remember this hobby is meant to be relaxing and FUN.

 

I hope that you all enjoy following the build, I know that I will enjoy putting it together. 

 

Cheers

John

[John_W]

I have one of these on the Shelf of doom at the moment. Be cautious when fitting the wings. Mine are level but they should have an anhedral 😖

[nimrod54]

1 minute ago, John_W said:

Be cautious when fitting the wings. Mine are level but they should have an anhedral 😖

 

Thanks for the heads up John, I will keep an eye on that.

 

John

[Hockeyboy76]

A cracking build ahead. Looking forward to this one dude. 

[Retired Bob]

12 hours ago, John_W said:

Be cautious when fitting the wings. Mine are level but they should have an anhedral 😖

 

12 hours ago, nimrod54 said:

Thanks for the heads up John, I will keep an eye on that.

Here is a photo of the surviving airframe at the Cosford Museum, it shows the amount of anhedral required on the wings. 

I have one of these kits in the stash so I'll be interested in your build.   I would join in but I'm up to my armpits with clanky things in the Panther tank GB 

[nimrod54]

Thanks for providing the photo RB, it will be very useful. I have just popped one of the wings off the sprue and had a dry fit against the fuselage half. The way that it has been moulded would easily lead to it being incorrectly fitted, but adopting a tight fit on the underside wing/fuse join should give a suitable angle of dangle. That will leave a gap on the upper surface join, but some strip/stretch sprue and filler should sort that out.

 

12 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

I would join in but I'm up to my armpits with clanky things in the Panther tank GB 

 

I know what you mean about being up to your 'armpits', the year started out busily for me and the end is looking just as frenetic. Thankfully this one does not finished until early March.

 

Good luck with your Panther tank build.

 

John

[PeterB]

Hi John,

 

Bob's pic reminded me that I have one taken about 15 years ago - they have moved it since then by the look of it.

Not sure what the red thing behind the canopy is - some sort of cover over the intakes I guess?

 

Pete

[nimrod54]

1 hour ago, PeterB said:

Not sure what the red thing behind the canopy is - some sort of cover over the intakes I guess?

 

Thanks for the image Pete, it looks good sat alongside the TSR2, and is that the nose of a Fairey Delta in the foreground? The red thing is indeed a FOD cover for the intake.

 

Cheers

John

[PeterB]

Hi John,

 

Yes, AFIK that is an unmodified FD.2 in blue - the other one modified with a Concorde style wing and renamed BAC 221, together with the HP. 115 Delta is I believe still down at Yeovilton as part of their Concorde Display - one for investigating high speed handling and the other low speed as I am sure you know. In the pic it looks as if the FD.2 nose probe has been bent down, though presumably it is meant to be at that angle - the nose being drooped makes it look worse I guess. Can't remember which TSR 2 that is as both the ones on display have the same serial I beleive. I saw one of them close up on a visit to Cranfield College back in  around 1969/1970 but then it either went to Duxford or Cosford as I understand it. Of course both of them are composites as they were incomplete.originally -

Difficult lighting conditions for my old manual camera, but you can see what I mean.

 

Pete

[Retired Bob]

10 hours ago, nimrod54 said:

Good luck with your Panther tank build.

Thanks John, I need it, so far this year I haven't finished anything, started lots, but this year for some reason I have lost my interest with projects half way through.

I took my photos at Cosford last November, just after Modelworld at Telford.  The TSR2 has serial number XR220.

10 hours ago, PeterB said:

Bob's pic reminded me that I have one taken about 15 years ago - they have moved it since then by the look of it.

They have moved it to the back corner and removed the intake cover.

The red pods that were to the rear of the SR.53 in Pete's photo are now under the wing.

These pods were early telemetry recorders. the sign below details what they did.

I hope these are of interest.

[Col.]

6 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

...I hope these are of interest.

They certainly are to me and I'm not building the kit!  Do have an old Eastern European copy of the Airfix kit in the stash though so this information will prove useful for the future  

[nimrod54]

14 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

I hope these are of interest.

 

They certainly are Bob. The data-link pods are included in the kit and the camera housing explains mysterious lump on one of them. All I need to do now is remember not to take it off.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to provide the photos.

 

Cheers

John

[PeterB]

Just to complete the story, the TSR 2 at Cranfield College of Aeronautics as it was when I visited, was apparently the incomplete 4th prototype and was transferred to Duxford later when the College disposed of its museum exhibits. It may be their CF-100 that is also at Duxford, and their BP P.111 was at the Midland Air Museum last time I saw it. They also had an AW Sea Hawk and a Me 163, but I have no idea where they ended up. I will leave you in peace now John and let you get on with your build thread!

 

Pete

Edited November 9, 2020 by PeterB