45 replies to this topic

[Charlieman]

It's off topic, but it's retro and Owen Maddock of Cooper hopped off to play with them. Do any other motor sport people have an association with hovercraft?

 

The BBC news web site asked: "What happened to passenger hovercraft?" 

 

"Can you shout a bit louder, please!", I instinctively responded.

 

There was a cross estuary hovercraft link between St Annes and Southport in the 1970s, around about the time they were both in Lancashire. Holiday makers could go to one town and use the new form of transport for a day trip -- minutes across the bay or 35 miles by road. My home was about a mile from the hovercraft landing point in St Annes. You just had to open a window to hear whether the service was operating.

 

BBC Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk...gazine-34658386 -- that link may not work internationally so search for "hovercraft" on your version of BBC news.

[BRG]

They still whizz across to the Isle of WIght every half hour and carry plenty of passengers - school kids, shoppers, commuters, day trippers, festival goers and holidayers.

 

As the IoW is famously a bit of a time warp, perhaps a 1960s transport mode is in keeping with its image!

[elansprint72]

Don't forget the Isle of Wight's ex- London Underground trains which not only entirely over the ground, they run over the sea! Time-warp indeed.

 

https://en.wikipedia..._Rail_Class_483

[E1pix]

Do they still run under water (so to speak...), Pete?

[P.Dron]

The engineering of those cross-Channel machines was fascinating, with a clever blend of components from various sources that worked really well. The cockpit was more like that of a World War II bomber than a contemporary airliner and it was all hands-on - none of your automatic pilot. Nevertheless, it was a very refined and complex machine. Subtle adjustments of the swivelling pylons and of the angle and the pitch of the propellers (driven by enormously long propshafts with vast bearings) were required even on a calm sea.There was a trick they used to smooth things out (to some extent) in relatively rough seas by anticipating the approaching waves. I did a "Christmas road test" for Motor magazine in the early 1980s and went out into the Channel on a test flight; I think that was the expression used. At one point, the captain/pilot switched everything off and the huge machine settled on the surface. There was complete silence for a while, apart from the lapping of the waves. Then he started everything up and demonstrated the extraordinary manoeuvrability.

 

A few years later my wife and I, on a sunny summer's day, were leaning against the car while waiting to board to go on holiday when a chap in uniform passed by. It was that captain/pilot. He suddenly stopped, having recognized me. We had a brief chat and then boarded. We had just sat down when a stewardess came over and said that the captain had invited us to spend the voyage with him. Yahoo! What fabulous machines those things were, created by outstandingly gifted engineers and operated by people of exceptional skill. 

[Charlieman]

What fabulous machines those things were, created by outstandingly gifted engineers and operated by people of exceptional skill. 

They were so brilliant that you only had to be a mile away to hear them.

[Terry Walker]

On my various trips to UK I have crossed the channel by air, by hovercraft, by ferry, and underneath by the tunnel. Only thing left is to swim it (or walk across it)..

 

The Hovercraft was quite an experience, but I hadn't expected the spray which blocked the view.  The next time I returned to UK the cross-channel hovercraft were gone.

[DogEarred]

I recently visited a restaurant at Audeghen, near cap Gris Nez, right next to the sea in a small cove (La Sirene - try it!). One of the photos on the restaurant wall was of a full cross channel SRN4, taken back in the 70s or 80s. It had landed there, for some unknown reason (maybe a charter?) I normally hate this word  - but cool...

 

I did many Dover - Calais crossings - yes noisy. They could be bumpy in bad seas & had to keep adjusted speed to try & minimize the discomfort. They would cancel flights quite frequently. It took quite a few vehicles & even trucks if I remember.

 

The feeling when skirts filled with air & everything rose up (as the actress said....) then yawed around & slid down the ramp onto the water was always an attention grabber.

 

Tricky to manoeuvre in rough water, I was once on one that lightly clipped the harbour wall at Dover. I seem to recall also there was a more serious, possibly fatal accident of a similar kind there.

 

The French terminal near Calais was left abandoned for a long time but could be seen from road out from the port. It may be gone or converted now.

[john winfield]

On my various trips to UK I have crossed the channel by air, by hovercraft, by ferry, and underneath by the tunnel. Only thing left is to swim it (or walk across it)..

 

The Hovercraft was quite an experience, but I hadn't expected the spray which blocked the view.  The next time I returned to UK the cross-channel hovercraft were gone.

Yes, Terry, the spray!  I was a frequent cross-channel traveller in the late 1970s and recall being quite excited on seeing the big Hoverlloyd / HoverSpeed (?) for the first time. I tried it two or three times.  The whole journey was slightly quicker, slightly more expensive but, after the initial excitement, rather disappointing, due to poor visibility (from the passenger compartment) and the noise. Even today I much prefer the ferry to the tunnel.  Rather than save a few minutes I like to stroll around the deck in the warm sunshine / howling gale.

 

They were impressive beasts, the hovercrafts, but not that much fun for a passenger.

Edited by john winfield, 10 November 2015 - 08:23.

[Dipster]

They were impressive beasts, the hovercrafts, but not that much fun for a passenger.

 

And that, plus what I imagine were high maintenance costs for the operator, surely killed it off on passenger routes of more than a few minutes duration. Remember they are still used by various military forces around the world, where the passengers do not have much choice! 

[DogEarred]

Definitely ferry over tunnel. - No arguments!

[Stephen W]

I think that the Southport to Lytham Hover Craft service was the first hover craft passenger service in the UK. They were not that big though - 25 to 50 seats?

[Odseybod]

I think they still have an SR.N4 on display at the Hovercraft Museum at Lee-on-Solent (just checked - yes they have but the Museum's reopening in 2016 after a major refurb). I first went on one in 1969, soon after they came into service with Hoverlloyd - as mentioned, passengers couldn't see much because of the spray, though you did catch occasional glimpses of sandbanks whizzing by underneath. On this trip. ours also had a little pause mid-Channel after a fire warning light came up on the dashboard but continued after they persuaded the light to go out (or removed the bulb). Probably the next best way to cross the Channel after the Bristol Freighters and Carvairs of Silver City/Channel Air Bridge/BAF/ whatever became extinct.

 

The pic shows our intrepid British Expeditionary Force about to embark at Pegwell Bay near Ramsgate in the (t)rusty Hillman Minx that would carry self plus 3 bulky school chums plus camping equipment around Europe for a 3-week jaunt - I think they must have been doing special introductory fares on the hover, as we were definitely on a no-frills budget.  The Minx incidentally behaved impeccably, despite being considered a funny old car as it was around 7 years old then (my youngest everyday car nowadays celebrated its 15th birthday this year, so there has been some progress). And spurred on to greater things, the Minx's proud keeper subsequently owned a Facel Vega Excellence, also a little crusty around the edges. 

 

[Allan Lupton]

Never did like travelling by ship - Fleetwood to IoM in 1946 was the cause - and have always tried to use something else when going to continental Europe.

Silver City was excellent in 1959 and 1962 but then my trips had to be by ship until the Hoovercraft service appeared. The SR.N4 ride was rough but non-wallowing so not seasickness-inducing and we used it from and to both Dover and Pegwell Bay until the service was withdrawn.

Then there was the so-called "Sea-Cat" which again was faster and a better ride than the ship, provided you sat in the middle.

Since the tunnel opened for vehicle transport I have used nothing else and the only fault I can find is that the pricing policy means that we proper holiday-makers are subsidising the day-trip booze-cruisers.

[retriever]

Sadly the SRN1 - the first practical hovercraft is locked away by the Science Museum in it's outstore at Wroughton near Swindon. This plus numerous aircraft, commercial vehicles, buses, polar equipment and all things mechanical including a massive farm implement collection sit silently in WWII hangers now hardly ever seen. A former curator calls the current Science Museum management elitist and London-centric.  It was a wonderful place to visit in the 1980s and 1990s but there are now no proper open days or open weekends. It is appalling that the general public no longer have any chance to see such a massive and wonderful collection.

 

As for the cross-channel hovercraft service - was the loss of income from duty-free sales the last nail in the coffin of the service.

[Mallory Dan]

Blimey, I never knew about the Southport-St Annes trips. Must have been a nice quick and relaxing trip, and great to watch. I did the Cross-Channel crossing once, day after '74 British GP, and concur with others re the spray and noise.

 

Nice shorts by the way, Odesybod!!

[kayemod]

As for the cross-channel hovercraft service - was the loss of income from duty-free sales the last nail in the coffin of the service.

 

I doubt it ever made any profit, a bit like BA running their "free" Concordes and telling everyone what a wonderfully profitable sevice it was.

 

One fine sunny day about to leave Dover, I can remember taking the air on the deck of our P&O ferry. A hovercraft arrived and landed on that concrete slipway across the main harbour. The noise was terrible, almost a mile away we had to shout to make ourselves heard. I never travelled on one, but were they that noisy inside? On the duty-free thing, it amuses me how P&O, Brittany Ferries etc still claim that their on-board shops are "duty-free", but of course they're no such thing. The prices are supposed to be the same as French mainland shop prices, but you can buy almost everything they stock cheaper in Monsieur LeClerc, Carrefour, Intermarche etc.

[Charlieman]

I think that the Southport to Lytham Hover Craft service was the first hover craft passenger service in the UK. They were not that big though - 25 to 50 seats?

St Annes, Stephen, not Lytham. Us sandgrowners are fussy about things like that.

 

I was a nipper when the service ran so my memory is rusty. The hovercraft were small -- passengers and light freight. The landing point in St Annes, IIRC, was the hard sandy beach to the north of the pier. I think it would be close to the Sand Yacht club. Lytham would have been much too muddy (mud or something else) for a landing point.

 

Bizarrely, there are proposals to set up a new service over the Ribble to Southport. 

 

The local library had a few books about hovercraft at the time. If you had the energy, you could follow DIY instructions to build your own, inevitably using a VW air cooled engine. Licensing was liberal in those days.

[Jager]

Surely the real question is why didn't Hovercraft racing rise up to challenge F1 :

 

[Derwent Motorsport]

We had a service across the Solway, Silloth to Southerness I think for a few summers. There was also a hovercraft factory in Millom set up by Tony Benn when he was trying to get new industry into deprived areas.

[B Squared]

I've always thought the Hovercraft to be an intriguing machine, but have yet to experience one; possibly my best chance will be this golf cart model that has been pioneered by Master's champion, Bubba Watson.

 

http://www.golf.com/...buys-hovercraft

[Vitesse2]

There was also a hovercraft factory in Millom set up by Tony Benn when he was trying to get new industry into deprived areas.

Ah, yes - Sealand. Lasted all of four years.

 

http://test.cnmedia....askam-1.1104948

 

Even a Graham Hill connection!

[elansprint72]

 

Postcard of hovercraft at Southport. I remember getting sand-blasted as one departed.

 

I took some young guys from work across to the Isle of Wight from Portsmouth a few years ago and we rode on the "underground" train too! Much better than crunching numbers in a dreary office, they said.

No Eric, the route is all above ground but they run over the sea to a station at the end of Ryde pier.

 

There used to be a service from Heswall on the Wirral to Rhyl in North Wales but I don't know how long it lasted.

 

[BRG]

.

No Eric, the route is all above ground but they run over the sea to a station at the end of Ryde pier.

On a point of information, there is actually a tunnel from the Ryde Esplanade through to the next station at St John's.  And it is the low clearance in this tunnel which means that regular surface rolling stock will not fit, hence the use of 75 year old former London Underground tube trains.  

 

There is currently some dispute about the future of the IoW line as the tube trains are really time expired.

[FrankB]

I travelled on the SRN4 Mountbatten class hovercraft services in the late 60s / early 70s as Page and Moy used them for some of their European motor racing trips. As has already been mentioned the view out was almost non-existent once the bottom of the ramp was reached due to spray.

A friend of mine at the time worked for the RAE as a photographer and made a few channel crossings strapped to the outside, trying to film the behaviour of the skirt in varying wave conditions. I should imagine the spray would also have compromised any results that he may have recorded.

[elansprint72]

On a point of information, there is actually a tunnel from the Ryde Esplanade through to the next station at St John's.  And it is the low clearance in this tunnel which means that regular surface rolling stock will not fit, hence the use of 75 year old former London Underground tube trains.  

 

There is currently some dispute about the future of the IoW line as the tube trains are really time expired.

Heck; and me the only recipient of two C&SC "Pedant of the Month" caps (so far)...

[plannerpower]

I still have a Hovercraft luggage sticker from 1971 when I was doing the classic Colonial visit to the Mother Country;

 

 

Odd that I still have it really, as I'm not the souvenir/collector type; perhaps I kept it in memory of the noise & spray!

[Nick Savage]

Sadly the SRN1 - the first practical hovercraft is locked away by the Science Museum in it's outstore at Wroughton near Swindon. This plus numerous aircraft, commercial vehicles, buses, polar equipment and all things mechanical including a massive farm implement collection sit silently in WWII hangers now hardly ever seen. A former curator calls the current Science Museum management elitist and London-centric.  It was a wonderful place to visit in the 1980s and 1990s but there are now no proper open days or open weekends. It is appalling that the general public no longer have any chance to see such a massive and wonderful collection.

 

As for the cross-channel hovercraft service - was the loss of income from duty-free sales the last nail in the coffin of the service.

I managed to bluff my way in about 12 months ago on a 'researcher access visit' ticket. They don't make access easy and the conditions are restrictive  -  max. one hour; specify what you want to see etc. That is, when they know what they have got, which in the case of aero engines  -  they don't.

SRN1 sits in a gloomy hanger looking slightly other-worldly amongst the aeroplanes, aged computers and so on. The conditions in the hangers are not at all good -  water leaks  etc and some of the exhibits are now in considerably worse condition than when they were donated to the Science Museum for safe keeping.

Nick

[jcbc3]

How can this thread go on for so long without any mention of eels?

[DogEarred]

Don't be silly - what have eels to do with motor sport nostalgia?....

[Odseybod]

Naturally my hovercraft is full of them. And surely you've heard of eel and toe?

[DogEarred]

Does that mean that the hovercraft pilots had to double de-clutch (neatly back to motoring nostalgia) when they slowed down?...

[kayemod]

Does that mean that the hovercraft pilots had to double de-clutch (neatly back to motoring nostalgia) when they slowed down?...

 

No, working over water as they did, they'd have had a paddle-shift.

[ErleMin]

I went across by hovercraft (as a family treat) Dover-Calais circa 1962 - you can still see the Calais "HoverPort". Strangely, one of our passengers was rumba band leader Edmundo Ross! I remember it being very bumpy(juddery). If my memory serves, it was Sealink before HoverLloyd took over and maybe called Princess Margaret (Mountbatten class?). Living in Portchester with a seaview to the castle we would often see smaller prototypes by local builders, Thorneycroft - I remember one stuggling back to its hangar (from sea trials), skirt flapping.

[elansprint72]

Naturally my hovercraft is full of them. And surely you've heard of eel and toe?

You are Alexander Yacht and I claim my five pounds............

[GMACKIE]

No, working over water as they did, they'd have had a paddle-shift.

And hydraulic brakes.

[E1pix]

Wasn't the Brabham fan-car considered a hovercraft?

 

Or would that be an anti-hovercraft?

[DogEarred]

I see you've been sucked in to mentioning the Brabham fan car.......

Edited by DogEarred, 12 November 2015 - 08:22.

[Alan Baker]

ErleMin, on 11 Nov 2015 - 15:06, said:

I went across by hovercraft (as a family treat) Dover-Calais circa 1962 - you can still see the Calais "HoverPort". Strangely, one of our passengers was rumba band leader Edmundo Ross! I remember it being very bumpy(juddery). If my memory serves, it was Sealink before HoverLloyd took over and maybe called Princess Margaret (Mountbatten class?). Living in Portchester with a seaview to the castle we would often see smaller prototypes by local builders, Thorneycroft - I remember one stuggling back to its hangar (from sea trials), skirt flapping.

Not 1962! The SRN4 (or Mountbatten class) entered service in 1968. The operator was Seaspeed, a joint operation of British Rail and SNCF. Hoverlloyd did not take over, they merged with Seaspeed to form Hoverspeed.

[DogEarred]

If my memory serves me right, back in the late 1700s or around that period, when I was a child, Airfix did a model kit of the SR.N1. Pretty much my first model. Either that or the Spitfire of course.

[elansprint72]

If my memory serves me right, Cockerell copied an idea of Leonardo Da Vinci (who invented almost as many things as Frederick Lanchester).

[E1pix]

I see you've been sucked in to mentioning the Brabham fan car.......

 Just a fan talking and blowing hot air… 

[oldclassiccar]

I'd forgotten all about this postcard that I posted up online a few years back, of the Rhyl-Wallasey service, until I read the mention of it in an earlier post.

 

As seen in 1962:

 

 

RJ

Edited by oldclassiccar, 12 November 2015 - 19:23.

[Allan Lupton]

In that photo VA-3 is still wearing a Vickers-Supermarine "G-15" Test Registration so should not have been in service.

Those Registrations were used for testing experimental aircraft or modifications or pre-delivery flights for foreign customers - I don't know if it ever got a proper British Civil Registration which were of the GH-[4 digits] format as hoovercraft are not (quite) aeroplanes (which have G-[4 letters] format).

Edited by Allan Lupton, 12 November 2015 - 19:51.

[Macca]

Ah, hovercraft - as a boy in the '60s they were the future, and my late dad (a naval officer) was interested too so took me and my mate to the 'Hovershow' at Stokes Bay in June 1966 where we saw everything there was then (including models of a proposed 'hovertrain'), short of the SRN4 which hadn't been built yet.

 

Then when there was a brief passenger service in 1968 using the Hovermarine HM2 sidewall type between Portsmouth Harbour Station and Ryde pier we had a trip - because it had rigid sidewalls containing the air cushion at the sides it wasn't amphibious and couldn't ride up beaches like the long-lived Hovertravel service; also although it was faster than a planing boat it felt the seas a bit, and I can still remember it rolling somewhat....

 

http://www.bartieswo...hovermarine.htm

 

I travelled on the Dover-Calais SRN4 only once, not long before it stopped, but have been across from Southsea to Ryde many times. The BBC report failed to mention that, while that is the only remaining scheduled passenger service, certainly in Europe and maybe the world, many hovercraft are still built for work and not just play - they mention hovercraft in military and coastguard/rescue service but there are a surprisingly large number around the world.

 

Also there was a TV documentary recently about a British-built hovercraft being shipped to Canada where it was to provide an all-year-round service, including carrying passengers as required, to a remote and frequently ice-bound estuary town. It was built near where I work, in Southampton, and I sometimes see some of the company's products being tested on Southampton Water:

 

 

 

Paul M

Edited by Macca, 18 November 2015 - 17:48.

[Robin Fairservice]

For some years there have been Hovercraft stationed near to the Vancouver airport, and they are often  seen in TV news reports undertaking rescue work in Georgia Strait.  They have the speed to get to marine incidents much quicker than other vessels.