In May 1946, work began on Saunders-Roe’s largest flying boat, the Princess. She was a two-decked, ten-engined flying boat, weighing 154 tons, and three were built. She was designed to carry a maximum of 220 passengers, and in August, 1952, she flew for the first time.

She was supposed to just undergo taxiing trials that day, yet the test pilot took off after a very short run-up’. The Princess was the largest metal flying boat ever made and it flew on numerous occasions, including the Farnborough air display of 1952. However, BOAC, the intended customer, did not want them as its flying boat services had ended in 1950. Another problem were the engines, which were not as efficient as they could be. All of the three Princess flying boats were scrapped in Southampton.

Following are photos (click on image to see larger version):

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3view drawing by Josef Hueber / Airborne Grafix, enlarged version.