02/28/2014. Remarks by
Johan Visschedijk: "Having specialized in flying boats for a decade, in 1926 the S.E. Saunders Limited began the design of a land-based single-seat all-metal fighter sesquiplane. This, the A.10 proposal, was designed by Harry Knowler and featured what was, for its time, the unusually heavy armament of four 0.303 in (7.7 mm) machine guns, power being provided by a 480 hp Rolls-Royce F.XI twelve-cylinder V-engine. After revising the design in 1927 to comply with Specification F.20/27, Saunders built a prototype which, allotted the '
Class B' marking L-2, flew on January 27, 1929.
Possessing an all-metal structure with fabric covering and all four guns located in the fuselage, the A.10 suffered handling and performance shortcomings which led to numerous modifications, including fuselage lengthening. Under the military serial L1949 it was assessed at the
A&AEE against other F.20/27 contenders and also for F.10/27 (which called for six-gun armament), but it aroused little enthusiasm and was struck off Air Ministry charge in November 1933 – by which time its manufacturer had become Saunders-Roe Limited."
