Saro Princess a patrol bomber?
I'll be asking for advice re the Princess over the next few weeks, since I'm writing about it for Air & Space Smithsonian.
My first question: I just read that the airplane was originally intended to be "a patrol craft," which I assume would mean it was to have at least some weapons-carrying capability.
Assuming that statement is true--that it was originally intended to be a warplane--what on earth could have been the reasoning behind postulating that a long-range maritime patrol craft had to be that big and have that many engines? Catalinas and Mariners certainly seemed to do the job well for the U.S. and Sunderlands and Emilys elsewhere...
Any theories?