Saunders-Roe Limited, also known as Saro, was a British aerospace and marine-engineering company based at Columbine Works, East Cowes, Isle of Wight.
History
The name was adopted in 1929 after Alliott Verdon Roe (see Avro) and John Lord took a controlling interest in the aircraft and boat-builders SE Saunders. Prior to this (excepting for the Sopwith/Saunders Bat Boat) the products were Saunders, the A4 Medina for example dating from 1926. Sam Saunders, the founder, developed the Consuta material used in marine and aviation craft. The Saunders-Roe interest in aviation didn’t prevent the firm from continuing with the boatbuilding activities associated with SE Saunders. Saunders Roe concentrated on producing flying-boats, but none were produced in very large quantities – the longest run being 31 Londons. They also produced hulls for the Blackburn Bluebird. During World War II, Saro manufactured Supermarine Walrus and Supermarine Sea Otters. Their works at Beaumaris, Anglesey, modified and serviced Catalinas for the Royal Air Force. In January 1931 Flight magazine revealed that Whitehall Securities acquired a substantial holding in Saunders Roe. Whitehall Securities was already a large shareholder in Spartan Aircraft of Southampton, and arising out of this investment Spartan was effectively merged into Saunders Roe. In 1938 Saunders-Roe undertook a re-organisation of the commercial and administrative sides of its business. First, the marine section, consisting of the shipyard and boat-building business, was transferred to a new company, Saunders Shipyard Ltd., all of the shares of which were owned by Saunders-Roe Ltd. Mr. C. Inglis was appointed shipyard manager. Secondly, the plywood section of the business carried on at the factory on the River Medina was transferred to a new company, Saro Laminated Wood Products Ltd., in consideration for a majority of the shares therein. Laminated Wood Products Ltd., which had marketed most of the plywood output, also merged its interests into the new company. Major Darwin, managing director, left the company. On the aircraft side of the business Mr. Broadsmith continued as director and general manager. All other senior posts in the executive staff remain unchanged. In 1947 they flew the SR.A/1 fighter prototype, one of the world's first jet-powered flying boats, and in 1952 they flew the prototype Princess airliner, but the age of the flying-boat was over and the two further Princess examples to be completed were never flown. No further new seaplanes were produced here. Modification work on Short-built flying boats continued at Cowes until 1955.
The last fixed-wing aircraft they built was the experimental SR53 mixed-power interceptor. In 1951 Saunders-Roe took over the interests of the Cierva Autogiro Company at Eastleigh including the Skeeter helicopter project. In September 1952 the company comprised:
Saunders-Roe Ltd. with a Head Office in Osborne, East Cowes, Isle of Wight with works at Columbine I.O.W. and Southampton Airport. There was a branch design office in London, during the 1950s. It was situated in Queens Square, overlooking the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children
Saunders-Roe (Anglesey) Ltd, Friars Works, Beaumaris, North Wales Saro Laminated Wood Products Ltd., Folly Works, Whippingham, I.O.W. Princess Air Transport Co. Ltd of Osborne I.O.W. with an office in London at 45 Parliament Street In 1959 it demonstrated the first practical hovercraft built under contract to the National Research Development Corporation to Christopher Cockerell's design, the SR.N1. In the same year Saro's helicopter and hovercraft interests were taken over by Westland Aircraft which continued the Skeeter family with the Scout and Wasp. In 1964 all the hovercraft businesses under Westland were merged with Vickers-Armstrongs to form the British Hovercraft Corporation. This, in turn, was taken over by Westland and was renamed Westland Aerospace in 1985, and hovercraft production was reduced to nearly nothing until the advent of the AP1-88. The company produced sub contract work for Britten-Norman, produced composites and component parts for the aircraft industry, especially engine nacelles for many aircraft including the De Havilland Canada "Dash 8", the Lockheed Hercules, the British Aerospace Jetstream and parts for the McDonnell-Douglas MD-11. By the mid-1990s, over 60% of the world's production of turboprop nacelles took place in the East Cowes works.
In the late 1960s/early 1970s the Saunders-Roe Folly Works, by then owned by Hawker Siddeley was merged with the Gloster works to form Gloster-Saro utilising both companies' expertise in aluminium forming to produce fire appliances and tankers in the Gloster factory at Hucclecote, mostly based on Reynolds-Boughton chassis. In 1984 Gloster Saro acquired the fire tender business of the Chubb with the company merging in 1987 with Simon Engineering to form Simon Gloster Saro. In 1994 Westland was taken over by GKN, and when GKN sold off its shares of Westland to form Agusta-Westland, it retained the East Cowes works, where it continues aircraft component design and production. Laird (Anglesey) Ltd was formed in 1968 and incorporated the Beaumaris and Llangefni factories of Saunders-Roe and the engineering business of Birkenhead shipbuilders Cammell Laird. Laird developed the Centaur, which was half Land Rover and half light tank. Laird also manufactured dustcart bodies - principally a licence-built version of the German KUKA "Shark" (Rotopress) rotating drum compactor. Following KUKA's waste collection vehicle business being diverted to FAUN, the company is now known as FAUN Municipal Vehicles having been taken over yet again. Today, Faun manufactures portable aluminium roadways and runways at Llangefni under its TRACKWAY brand.
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