Well friends, another assembly diary on top of a build test for Draco Models.
This time we are going to talk about the SARO London, a large English patrol seaplane, contemporary of the Supermarine Stranraer that we have already demonstrated the construction here.
The acronym SARO stands for Saunders Roe who developed a series of seaplanes in the 1930s with limited success. The London of all these designs was the most successful, built on the Air Ministry's R24/31 specification which called for a large, general purpose seaplane. The London was developed from the SARO A7 Serven and entered service with the RAF in 1936 in two squadrons, replacing other obsolete seaplanes like the Blackburn Iris and even very old types like the Supermarine Southampton and Scapa. When World War II broke out, the Londons equipped two RAF squadrons in Metropolis and Gibraltar. Due to its fragility, poor defensive armament, it was quickly replaced by more modern types like the PBY Catalina and Lockheed Hudson. Still, it's an interesting plane showing very clearly the ultimate transition from the biplane hulled seaplane to the ultimate modern monoplane airboat.
Next post: analysis of model.