AZ Models AZ Model 1/72 Saunders-Roe SR.53T-1 ‘Rocketeer Trainer International’ # 7692

The Saunders-Roe SR.53 was a British prototype interceptor aircraft with a combined jet and rocket power system that Saunders-Roe built for the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the early 1950s.

The SR.53 was intended to be employed as an interceptor aircraft, with its rocket propulsion used to rapidly rise and approach incoming hostile bombers at high speeds; after the attack run, the aircraft would be able to return to its base using the secondary jet propulsion instead.

Despite the SR.53’s promising performance during test flights, the need for such an aircraft had been surpassed by rapid developments in surface-to-air missile technology, forcing the aircraft’s purpose to be reconsidered.

The development programme was formally terminated in July 1960, after a total of 56 test flights had been completed.

A pair of prototype SR.53 planes has been completed and tested in the air. In June 1958, one of these was damaged during a test flight.

The first prototype, on the other hand, was saved and is now on exhibit at the Royal Air Force Museum in Cosford.