Saunders-Roe SR.53

"SR 53" redirects here. For State Route 53 or State Road 53, see List of highways numbered 53 (disambiguation).

SR.53
The second SR.53 on display at the September 1957 Farnborough Air Show
General information
TypeInterceptor
ManufacturerSaunders-Roe
Designer
StatusExperimental
Primary userUnited Kingdom
Number built2
History
First flight16 May 1957
VariantsSaunders-Roe SR.177

The Saunders-Roe SR.53 was a British prototype interceptor aircraft of mixed jet and rocket propulsion developed for the Royal Air Force (RAF) by Saunders-Roe in the early 1950s.[2] As envisaged, the SR.53 would have been used as an interceptor aircraft, using its rocket propulsion to rapidly climb and approach incoming hostile bombers at high speeds; following its attack run, the aircraft would then return to its base using jet propulsion.

Although the SR.53 proved to have promising performance during test flights, the requirement for such an aircraft had been overtaken by rapid advances in surface-to-air missile technology, leading to reconsideration of the aircraft's purpose. In July 1960, the development programme was formally cancelled, by which time a total of 56 test flights had been performed.[3] A pair of prototype SR.53 aircraft had been completed and used during flight tests. The second prototype was destroyed during one such test flight in June 1958. The first prototype has been preserved to this day. It rests on public display at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford.[4]

  1. ^ Wood 1986, p. 57.
  2. ^ "Mixed Power Intercepter.", Flight, 71 (2522): 697–700, 24 May 1957
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference London p. 34 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Saunders-Roe SR53". RAF Museum Cosford. Retrieved 3 June 2019.