I miss it so much when i see this. I lived abroad from 1980 to 2003 and flew back for visits - when we moved back to UK we drove our car and turned up at Calais looking for the Hovercraft - i was sooo disappointed.
fond memories of this mammoth beast.rode one in 1990 when I was 12.the family was on a tour of western Europe.Europe in the 90s was awesome.Wouldn't have been complete without a ride on this bad boy.really fun and the experience is unmatched and once in a lifetime.
Go and see them before they disappear forever at the hovercraft museum. You can go inside one still but they are deteriorating as they are outside. This underfunded, volunteer run museum is hard to find and receives little funding. Pity Britain does'nt appreciate their unique heritage more.
I will never forget the sound of these noisy things when laying to go to sleep in the town of Dover as a small boy, it was all most comforting as it echoed up the valleys of Dover. Nostalgia.
I crossed the Channel once in one of those things during a storm. It was very scary, the craft was bouncing and sliding every which way. An unforgettable experience :)
Alltogether - the Hovercraft was one of the safes transports at its time. Even the few accidents it had - the very same with a conventional ship is expected to cause more trouble and fatalities. I had a smooth ride with the Princess Margaret, cool ride. Even if the channel was not like a bath tub..
Mum & I went on the Hovercraft in 1988 it was brilliant as we were visiting the UK & Europe for 2 month holiday from Australia . Luckily we chose the hovercraft as there was a ferry strike & it didn't affect us. I wished they kept them running it was an experience of a life time.
Who cares if it was noisy so are aircrafts when they take off or land no different. You get it when you have Hoons doing burnouts in their high powered motorbikes & cars late at night or anytime during the day.
I took the Hovercraft once from Calais to Dover back in the 70's. It was fast but not pleasant. The vibration was such you couldn't get out of your seat. On the regular ferries, you could pass the time by strolling around on deck or sitting in a bar or restaurant. Very pleasant.
There is still a regular hovercraft service from Portsmouth to Ryde on the Isle of Wight. I went on it for the first time in years this summer with my daughter.
I have being hovering 4 times in my life. It was fantastic. I will never forget. So fast, so super. Sad, to see them never again. Flying with plane or helicopter is not the same!😢😢
Me and my family ended up having a ride on the Hovercraft from Dover to Calais back at April 2000. We were booked on the Seacat but it got cancelled due to bad weather and we were moved to the Hovercraft instead. Ride was extremely uncomfortable due to the rough seas and about 90% of the passengers were throwing up. Somehow none of us got affected by that.
First time i went to england. my parents took me and my brother to this beast. It has been the most awesome experience i've ever had in my life. Just the size, we drove our car in there and went to the seats. nearly crapped my self when it was rising up
I've been on a hovercraft doing that route at around midnight in a massive storm the hovercraft was full an me and my friend Maureen and the hostesses where the only ones not throwing up so we helped look after whoever we could. We'd been on a school trip the waves where do high at times it seemed they were jumping over us front to back and side to side also we were jumping the waves. The captain halfway to Dover had to decide whether to carry on or go back the decision was made carry on we were halfway and we all wanted to be back home in the UK. We arrived back at school to be met by our parents at around 3 in the morning. We were then told by the headteacher we weren't expected in the morning at school to which we told him in no uncertain terms that after what we'd been through we had no intention of being in school anyway. The head was informed by the staff that had been with us what Maureen and I had done to look after everyone and that the crew were really impressed and thankful to us.
I LOVED IT I USED TO TAKE IT I WAS 6 YEARS OLD VISIT MY FAMILY IN GORING BY SEE !!! ALSO THE JETFOIL AND MANY MORE !!! TKS A LOT AMAZING VIDEO TKS FOR THE BEST MEMORIES !!!
I crossed the English Channel 6 times a day on one of these magnificent beasts ! I was a “ Purserette “! What a job title ! Such great memories ❤️Princess Margaret and Princess Anne were powered by 4 Rolls Royce engines ( Rule Britannia!) and the cheap fuel was kerosene ❤️
These really were incredible machines. A shame they no longer operate. Crossing the channel was nowhere near as comfortable as the chunnel train service is today, but it was faster.
@@fionnaaragazza7777loud, some said uncomfortable over waves, uses a lot of fuel and high maintenance costs. While it's still faster than the euro tunnel by 5~ minutes it didn't have the capacity to compete with the euro tunnel. There is a video documenting it on UA-cam if you are still interested in it.
Remember flying on one of these to Dover and back to Calais in the late nineties. So glad I have en joyed the flights across the channel, quite an experience!
My parents and I were living in St Margaret's Bay on the White Cliffs of Dover and it was possible to see these crossing, an amazing sight. On a clear summer day, one could see Calais Hoverport with a pair of Binoculars!
Could never forget the georneys i made from Dover to Calais when i was a child with my parents onboard the Princess Margaret. They were truely amazing.....
i drove from stuttgart germant to london in 9 hours using the Hovercraft in 1998 . they had a cabin to by a ticket didnt even have to get out if the car no queue at that time and straight into the hovercaft doors closed and off it went. i think it was like 35 minute crossing . no problem on English side as it was in the EU then and like a bat out of hell onto london to my parents. try that today !
I remember riding one of these in 1971. I was one of the last to get on and ended up sitting in an inner compartment. If I remember correctly, the seating in that compartment was at a somewhat lower level than the outside seats, and obviously there were no windows. The vibration was terrible and the noise was deafening.......
We used these almost every year when I was. Kid. Strange to think that something I took for granted was actually a rare and remarkable era in the history of my country. It's a poignant remind of Britain's decline.
I was on this in the early 80s on a bicycle. I had to go up the car ramp with 30 pounds of gear in my panniers. People watching were quite amused because I had to go back further to get a run up to the ramp. Just barely made it up. I nearly upchucked on board.
@andeegreen The last ones were moved to the Hovercraft Museum at Lee on Solent. Check their web site for details (just Google Hovercraft Museum to find it). They usually have a couple of 'Hover Show' open weekends each year, the next one is April 2012. Sadly they are now just static exhibits.
your post on st margarets bay brought back memories. I was on a two week camp with the school from Liverpool .heaps of crabs and a very yummy game bird pie,i was twelve at the time . it was 1960,where has it gone,but it was great. thanks for your post. tommy.
It would be very tempting to say that the "old" genation was the last with built-in organic computers inside their skulls. But I don't say that because that would be rude, wouldn't it?
A late comment for myself, but on the left side forward propellers? How come they're odd.. I thought this livery had white blades anyway rather than black with yellow tips? Just an observation 😄
Brilliant! Went on them several times from 1976 onwards, on both Hoverlloyd and Seaspeed. Also had a trip in the S.N.500 (the French naviplane). Those were the days, when British technology was so inspiring that the S.R.N. 4 was featuring in our English textbooks, alongside Concorde and other achievements of the U.K. It is really sad those beasts are no longer operating. I feel privileged having been able to do the odd the channel crossing on those craft.
REAL efficiency; the amount of Pay load and people it carries is for sale and ITS amazing; Washington D.C. should buy 2 of them because they ARE faster than most production yachts; and legal
There was a rumour that some one in the USA was thinking about buying them. Would have been difficult to get them their and with the craft being over thirty years old would have need a lot of work and even more money just to get them out of storage.
Experienced this epic event August 2000 - the summer they were retired. The ride is bumpy, very loud and the windows are long ago etched with wind spray - couldn't see anything outside. The lady assistants uniforms were pink and included a pillbox hat.
Well duh it's noisy. The design is from the 70s. Never listened to an old muscle car - they're noisy. It wasn't designed for comfort it was designed to complete a task. ............. Shame that we lost this effective mindset... most vehicles nowadays are more or less useless. Pickups too heavy to be real off roaders and CVUs which are just stupid overpriced minivans when you get right down to it... My mother's old 1990 SUNDANCE / Shadow took to off roading BETTER than my friend's 2014 truck. ...........................
If you were on the same Hovercraft that I was in August 1989, I remember that crossing well...I will never ever forget that! I have never seen waves that high in my life!
I did travel on one or two..but they were.., for a passenger very noisy and a constant smell of fuel in the passenger cabin made a lot of people quite nauseous. She could not travel when seas where rough and regretfully she drank fuel like no tomorrow,hence her demise.But Christopher Cockerell was very proud and so he should be now, and in the past Regards Chris...East Sussex..England..UK
Watch the video - a fuel tanker arrives on the left very quickly after it arrives. LOVELY machines, very expensive to run, terrible to ride in, can't see anything out of the windows, but fantastically exciting. Wish I could go in one again - but it won't happen due to Brexit Gammons who hate Europe.
The high running cost is mainly due to the amount of energy needed to lift the whole weight of the craft, and the propulsion as well. But as long as the pressure beneath the craft is maintained at level, not much energy is needed. Well I think that if the pressure pump changed to electric type, will the hovercraft alive again? That transport should be the future transport, the only problem is the operational cost.
Been on this vessel many early 70ties with Beaufort 6. Wasn't a pleasure at all. Extreme bumpy ride, gushes of water on the side windows, bad sight and lots of people seasick with bags in their Hands, while sitting cramped. Trip Ramsgate Calais took 20 minutes more than usual. When I got out of the vessel lots of gasoline fumes in the center of the hovercraft because of all the cars on board starting their engines. So when not seasick already, you got sick waiting to go a shore.
The last two hovercraft were retired in the year 2000. They were going to be sold off but nobody was interested. So the hovercraft went to the hovercraft museum at the Lee-On-Solent in Hampshire. One of them did anyway, The Princess Margaret. However, the hovercraft are outside in the open and exposed to the weather so I think they are slowly deteriorating. I don't think there is any government funding for the people trying to look after them and so rely on donations.
i remember the noise when they started the engine while i was standing beside one of these giants. but then, when it started to lift and to move, it got even louder and louder, felt like someone displacing your bones.....like a door to hell is opened..... but inside, it was very comfortable: felt like flying above the waves at speed of about 110km per hour, looking down to all those slow moving ordinary ships and ferries..... very impressive experience....
I think the propellers went the speed of sound that created all that noise . Could hear the hovercraft a good few miles away from Dover. I genuinely think the hovercraft where more successful then the vomit commits catamarans that replaced the hovercraft , they did not last as long.
Had the pleasure of working on these for one season and oh what a laugh,,Never seen so much sick but then I was on the car deck and the poor Strewardesses that had to clean that up,,Best job I ever had
So many passengers still do when travelling in rough seas from Portsmouth to France, and screaming like kids. I find it so amusing, and fascinating to see the ship go down beneath the waves, and then up, and that feeling of just dropping into the ocean.
It was the fastest ever way to get your car from Englnd to France. Even the channel tunnel is slower as it has a speed restrictions for the trains which had to run from a train station to station while the hovercraft parked on a concrete beach. Problem was it always subject to cancellation in bad weather.
this is incorrect. the crossing time with a hovercraft was approximately 55mins whereas the channel tunnel takes approximately 35mins. also you don’t have to drive all the way to the port for the tunnel crossing. both have/had boarding procedures that take/took similar amounts of time.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I miss it so much when i see this. I lived abroad from 1980 to 2003 and flew back for visits - when we moved back to UK we drove our car and turned up at Calais looking for the Hovercraft - i was sooo disappointed.
fond memories of this mammoth beast.rode one in 1990 when I was 12.the family was on a tour of western Europe.Europe in the 90s was awesome.Wouldn't have been complete without a ride on this bad boy.really fun and the experience is unmatched and once in a lifetime.
Go and see them before they disappear forever at the hovercraft museum. You can go inside one still but they are deteriorating as they are outside. This underfunded, volunteer run museum is hard to find and receives little funding. Pity Britain does'nt appreciate their unique heritage more.
Do you not appreciate how MUCH heritage Britain has, go to Portsmouth they have a working hovercraft to the Isle of Wight
I will never forget the sound of these noisy things when laying to go to sleep in the town of Dover as a small boy, it was all most comforting as it echoed up the valleys of Dover. Nostalgia.
I crossed the Channel once in one of those things during a storm. It was very scary, the craft was bouncing and sliding every which way. An unforgettable experience :)
So did I back in August 1989....horrible storm with massive 30+ ft swells....I honestly thought I was going to die that day....
Yes it was absolutely terrifying and took ages to cross. I will never forget it!
Same experience.
Alltogether - the Hovercraft was one of the safes transports at its time. Even the few accidents it had - the very same with a conventional ship is expected to cause more trouble and fatalities. I had a smooth ride with the Princess Margaret, cool ride. Even if the channel was not like a bath tub..
Très contente de voir cette vidéo je suis de calais et c'était un vrai spectacle de montrer l'arrivée et le départ de lovercraft un réel plaisir Merci
Pourquoi ils l'ont arrêté ? 1h30 c'est long.
Why did they stop it ? 1h30 it is long.
Mum & I went on the Hovercraft in 1988 it was brilliant as we were visiting the UK & Europe for 2 month holiday from Australia . Luckily we chose the hovercraft as there was a ferry strike & it didn't affect us. I wished they kept them running it was an experience of a life time.
Who cares if it was noisy so are aircrafts when they take off or land no different. You get it when you have Hoons doing burnouts in their high powered motorbikes & cars late at night or anytime during the day.
I took the Hovercraft once from Calais to Dover back in the 70's. It was fast but not pleasant. The vibration was such you couldn't get out of your seat. On the regular ferries, you could pass the time by strolling around on deck or sitting in a bar or restaurant. Very pleasant.
There is still a regular hovercraft service from Portsmouth to Ryde on the Isle of Wight. I went on it for the first time in years this summer with my daughter.
I have being hovering 4 times in my life. It was fantastic. I will never forget. So fast, so super. Sad, to see them never again. Flying with plane or helicopter is not the same!😢😢
I travelled in this same hovercraft in August 1973 with my parents from Calais to Dover
This was one of the amazing parts of our trip... It was exciting.. and fun. I'm so thankful it was still in use when we went to England...
Wir vermissen es so sehr - oft sind wir damit von Calais nach Dover und zurück. Es war immer ein einmaliges Erlebnis. Schade!
I always enjoyed crossing the channel with these hovercrafts!
Me and my family ended up having a ride on the Hovercraft from Dover to Calais back at April 2000. We were booked on the Seacat but it got cancelled due to bad weather and we were moved to the Hovercraft instead.
Ride was extremely uncomfortable due to the rough seas and about 90% of the passengers were throwing up. Somehow none of us got affected by that.
Oh no compo claims and newspaper stories about how they ruined your life then? Weird.
First time i went to england. my parents took me and my brother to this beast.
It has been the most awesome experience i've ever had in my life.
Just the size, we drove our car in there and went to the seats. nearly crapped my self when it was rising up
Excellent stuff. Thanks for making the effort to get this online. Brings back great memories.
I've been on a hovercraft doing that route at around midnight in a massive storm the hovercraft was full an me and my friend Maureen and the hostesses where the only ones not throwing up so we helped look after whoever we could. We'd been on a school trip the waves where do high at times it seemed they were jumping over us front to back and side to side also we were jumping the waves. The captain halfway to Dover had to decide whether to carry on or go back the decision was made carry on we were halfway and we all wanted to be back home in the UK. We arrived back at school to be met by our parents at around 3 in the morning. We were then told by the headteacher we weren't expected in the morning at school to which we told him in no uncertain terms that after what we'd been through we had no intention of being in school anyway. The head was informed by the staff that had been with us what Maureen and I had done to look after everyone and that the crew were really impressed and thankful to us.
travelled on it once as a boy, also had the airfix model SRN4!! brilliant
wow! memories. thanks for sharing!
I 💘 loved the hovercraft great times x
80’s and 90’s best time to be alive 👍🏻
Banksters ruined everything w the great heist of 2008. 🙏🏼
I LOVED IT I USED TO TAKE IT I WAS 6 YEARS OLD VISIT MY FAMILY IN GORING BY SEE !!! ALSO THE JETFOIL AND MANY MORE !!! TKS A LOT AMAZING VIDEO TKS FOR THE BEST MEMORIES !!!
Incredible machine wish I could see one in action
It really was. I loved it when I was a kid, it was crazy to see it approaching. Kinda scary also. I wish they would find a way to use it again.
I crossed the English Channel 6 times a day on one of these magnificent beasts ! I was a “ Purserette “! What a job title ! Such great memories ❤️Princess Margaret and Princess Anne were powered by 4 Rolls Royce engines ( Rule Britannia!) and the cheap fuel was kerosene ❤️
These really were incredible machines. A shame they no longer operate. Crossing the channel was nowhere near as comfortable as the chunnel train service is today, but it was faster.
It's very sad when the future becomes the past.
frglee Just like Concorde or Space Shuttle
Travelled on these on a school holiday to France in the 70s.
Never felt so sick in my life!
Hoverspeed did a fantastic job! Really good workforce , probably the fastest way from Dover to Calais.
It was always a spectacle to see it. I miss it
It was cancelled just before my school trip to France. Why was that then?
I'm French, and wonder why they stopped using it.
@@fionnaaragazza7777loud, some said uncomfortable over waves, uses a lot of fuel and high maintenance costs. While it's still faster than the euro tunnel by 5~ minutes it didn't have the capacity to compete with the euro tunnel. There is a video documenting it on UA-cam if you are still interested in it.
Remember flying on one of these to Dover and back to Calais in the late nineties. So glad I have en joyed the flights across the channel, quite an experience!
My parents and I were living in St Margaret's Bay on the White Cliffs of Dover and it was possible to see these crossing, an amazing sight. On a clear summer day, one could see Calais Hoverport with a pair of Binoculars!
Could never forget the georneys i made from Dover to Calais when i was a child with my parents onboard the Princess Margaret. They were truely amazing.....
I miss the old hovercrafts :( great video thanks :)
IKS Exxxvbo
ploration
Hi
@@musakarimsodamisskarimsoda2839 ......
I went to France by Hovercraft in the 90s.
However coming back it was a bit rough.
What they don't tell you: that in rough seas it acts like a boat!
i drove from stuttgart germant to london in 9 hours using the Hovercraft
in 1998 . they had a cabin to by a ticket didnt even have to get out if the car no queue at that time and straight into the hovercaft doors closed and off it went. i think it was like 35 minute crossing . no problem on English side as it was in the EU then and like a bat out of hell onto london to my parents. try that today !
Every summer on vacation to France. On a camping on the top of the rocks we had a beautifull view on the passing ships and hovercraft. Good memmories.
I remember riding one of these in 1971. I was one of the last to get on and ended up sitting in an inner compartment. If I remember correctly, the seating in that compartment was at a somewhat lower level than the outside seats, and obviously there were no windows. The vibration was terrible and the noise was deafening.......
,I live in 30 km of CALAIS and I could hear him(it) when he left France with maximun power!!! I am sad that these machines left to the museum
Eine super Technik...auch heute noch...👍📹👍👋👋👏👏
What does 08 stand for? The month?
So glad I saw this thing live once as a child.
We used these almost every year when I was. Kid. Strange to think that something I took for granted was actually a rare and remarkable era in the history of my country. It's a poignant remind of Britain's decline.
+JasonJason210 Same thing Here. Greets from belgium
JasonJason210 much less bovver. x
Great pity they decided it was uneconomical to replace the turboprops
Nothing to do with decline. Ever heard of the groundbreaking (excuse the pun) channel tunnel?
You fail to recognize that channel tunnel is the largest tunnel in the world and the most expensive single construction in the world
Brings back memories :-)
I was on this in the early 80s on a bicycle. I had to go up the car ramp with 30 pounds of gear in my panniers. People watching were quite amused because I had to go back further to get a run up to the ramp. Just barely made it up. I nearly upchucked on board.
Raw Inefficiency, it's so amazing! :D ♥
its purpose was it was awesome
j'en ai pris un en 1974. Monstrueux et impressionnant ,très bruyant mais rapide.
@andeegreen The last ones were moved to the Hovercraft Museum at Lee on Solent. Check their web site for details (just Google Hovercraft Museum to find it). They usually have a couple of 'Hover Show' open weekends each year, the next one is April 2012. Sadly they are now just static exhibits.
Heb ik ingezeten. Wil. Geweldig
They are sitting at the Hovercraft museum, Lee On Solent near Fareham. You can spot them on google maps.
The vomit comet!! We could hear the hovercraft coming into port from 7 miles away in eythorne….so nostalgic, but preferred the ferry service!
your post on st margarets bay brought back memories. I was on a two week camp with the school from Liverpool .heaps of crabs and a very yummy game bird pie,i was twelve at the time . it was 1960,where has it gone,but it was great. thanks for your post. tommy.
Can you imagine this was built using no computer whatsoever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! O.x
The old generation must've been fascinating.
It would be very tempting to say that the "old" genation was the last with built-in organic computers inside their skulls. But I don't say that because that would be rude, wouldn't it?
A late comment for myself, but on the left side forward propellers? How come they're odd.. I thought this livery had white blades anyway rather than black with yellow tips? Just an observation 😄
2024 still awesome
Went on this as a kid, I was only 3 and I can just barely remember it.
I spilled gingerale on myself on that ride! It was cool!
The ship is so strange, I've never seen it before ❤❤❤
Woooooow a hover craft!
Hovercraft Portelois ! ☺
Brilliant! Went on them several times from 1976 onwards, on both Hoverlloyd and Seaspeed. Also had a trip in the S.N.500 (the French naviplane). Those were the days, when British technology was so inspiring that the S.R.N. 4 was featuring in our English textbooks, alongside Concorde and other achievements of the U.K.
It is really sad those beasts are no longer operating. I feel privileged having been able to do the odd the channel crossing on those craft.
Excellent hovering
LOVED THEM!
Wow what a machine! Rode it once...loved it! My girlfriend threw up within 10 minutes!
Be a Muslim don't make girl friend
Huzai Gerden stfu
@@huzaigerden5011 Dafuq?
Uhhh.. Sorry about that haha, I guess muslims are different.
REAL efficiency; the amount of Pay load and people it carries is for sale and ITS amazing; Washington D.C. should buy 2 of them because they ARE faster than most production yachts; and legal
There was a rumour that some one in the USA was thinking about buying them. Would have been difficult to get them their and with the craft being over thirty years old would have need a lot of work and even more money just to get them out of storage.
Que de souvenir j'habite le Portel au niveau des quais on l'enttandais arriver ce monstre des mer a 11H00 du matin tapant!
Pourquoi ils ont arrêté avec ?
hovercraft is my favorite boat !!!
WHY they didnt build new models of these I dont know way faster than the channel tunnel or ferry!
why were they introduced ( what is their advantage over a ferry ? ) & why were they retired ?
much faster than a ferry. High costs, euro tunnel. UA-cam has a video about.
I've been on these as a kid. Ran by Hoverloyd
Pretty amazing.
Experienced this epic event August 2000 - the summer they were retired. The ride is bumpy, very loud and the windows are long ago etched with wind spray - couldn't see anything outside. The lady assistants uniforms were pink and included a pillbox hat.
Same here, I went summer of 2000 too, spent a week in France.
The Hovercraft was cool, but really noise on takeoff.
Well duh it's noisy. The design is from the 70s. Never listened to an old muscle car - they're noisy. It wasn't designed for comfort it was designed to complete a task. ............. Shame that we lost this effective mindset... most vehicles nowadays are more or less useless. Pickups too heavy to be real off roaders and CVUs which are just stupid overpriced minivans when you get right down to it... My mother's old 1990 SUNDANCE / Shadow took to off roading BETTER than my friend's 2014 truck. ...........................
Where do they keep the horses?
These were built on the Isle of Wight at BHC in East Cowes
There was no real danger of capsizing, despite the huge waves, but some people were panicking. It was a wild ride. Kinda fun, actually :)
If you were on the same Hovercraft that I was in August 1989, I remember that crossing well...I will never ever forget that! I have never seen waves that high in my life!
I did travel on one or two..but they were.., for a passenger very noisy and a constant smell of fuel in the passenger cabin made a lot of people quite nauseous. She could not travel when seas where rough and regretfully she drank fuel like no tomorrow,hence her demise.But Christopher Cockerell was very proud and so he should be now, and in the past
Regards Chris...East Sussex..England..UK
I did hear that it drank a serious amount of fuel and wasnt cost effective
You heard correctly
Jim Goose
Fuel efficiency depends largely on the price of fuel, I guess.
Not quite... fuel efficiency is how much work gets done, for the amount of fuel put in. The price of fuel would determine the running costs.
Watch the video - a fuel tanker arrives on the left very quickly after it arrives. LOVELY machines, very expensive to run, terrible to ride in, can't see anything out of the windows, but fantastically exciting. Wish I could go in one again - but it won't happen due to Brexit Gammons who hate Europe.
Why it's called Concorde of the sea
Maybe run this through the stabilization algorithm?
yes I agree should have done it in 1991 , bit late now
OK, who came here from "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown?"
Could cars go as freight???
Pourquoi ils l'ont arrêté ? 1h30 c'est long.
Why did they stop it ? 1h30 it is long.
The high running cost is mainly due to the amount of energy needed to lift the whole weight of the craft, and the propulsion as well. But as long as the pressure beneath the craft is maintained at level, not much energy is needed. Well I think that if the pressure pump changed to electric type, will the hovercraft alive again? That transport should be the future transport, the only problem is the operational cost.
are those propellers even closed in!?
Liam Harris No they were open and 19 feet diameter so you wouldn't want to be standing on the top of it.
Been on this vessel many early 70ties with Beaufort 6. Wasn't a pleasure at all. Extreme bumpy ride, gushes of water on the side windows, bad sight and lots of people seasick with bags in their Hands, while sitting cramped. Trip Ramsgate Calais took 20 minutes more than usual. When I got out of the vessel lots of gasoline fumes in the center of the hovercraft because of all the cars on board starting their engines.
So when not seasick already, you got sick waiting to go a shore.
i was just on the L.C.A.C today it was so awesome
The last two hovercraft were retired in the year 2000. They were going to be sold off but nobody was interested. So the hovercraft went to the hovercraft museum at the Lee-On-Solent in Hampshire. One of them did anyway, The Princess Margaret. However, the hovercraft are outside in the open and exposed to the weather so I think they are slowly deteriorating. I don't think there is any government funding for the people trying to look after them and so rely on donations.
i remember the noise when they started the engine while i was standing beside one of these giants. but then, when it started to lift and to move, it got even louder and louder, felt like someone displacing your bones.....like a door to hell is opened.....
but inside, it was very comfortable: felt like flying above the waves at speed of about 110km per hour, looking down to all those slow moving ordinary ships and ferries.....
very impressive experience....
So Cool!
who built this beast?
Saunders Roe, its initials give the game away instantly Clobby :)
SRN.4
(Saunders Roe Nautical.4)
Saunders Roe ,East Cowes, Isle of Wight, England. Some times known as BHC (British Hovercraft Corporation)
I think the propellers went the speed of sound that created all that noise .
Could hear the hovercraft a good few miles away from Dover.
I genuinely think the hovercraft where more successful then the vomit commits catamarans that replaced the hovercraft , they did not last as long.
If replace air with water then it would lift higher and carry more load and making customer love it
Today no Hovercraft, no Concorde anymore. We are moving backwards.
I worked on this fantastic machine, you try serving orange juice on a tray, sadly it was the cigarette and cheap seat flyers that kept it going.
Amazing
Done that trip twice 👍
Had the pleasure of working on these for one season and oh what a laugh,,Never seen so much sick but then I was on the car deck and the poor Strewardesses that had to clean that up,,Best job I ever had
So many passengers still do when travelling in rough seas from Portsmouth to France, and screaming like kids. I find it so amusing, and fascinating to see the ship go down beneath the waves, and then up, and that feeling of just dropping into the ocean.
SHAME THEY WERE TOO COSTLY. DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THEY ALL GOT SCRAPPED OR ARE THERE SOME IN A MUSEUM OR SOMEWHERE?
लाजवाब है।
It was the fastest ever way to get your car from Englnd to France. Even the channel tunnel is slower as it has a speed restrictions for the trains which had to run from a train station to station while the hovercraft parked on a concrete beach.
Problem was it always subject to cancellation in bad weather.
this is incorrect. the crossing time with a hovercraft was approximately 55mins whereas the channel tunnel takes approximately 35mins. also you don’t have to drive all the way to the port for the tunnel crossing. both have/had boarding procedures that take/took similar amounts of time.
Could you take the car on the hovercraft?