SRN4 Hovercraft at Work. Part 5: Retirement to Lee-on-the-Solent.
Вставка
- Опубліковано 16 сер 2017
- When the two SRN4 hovercraft had finished in service, they were retired to the former HMS Daedalus base at Lee-on-the-Solent. Hoverspeed hoped to find a buyer for them, or at least for their Rolls Royce Proteus gas turbine engines. This is the arrival of one of them, the footage of which I have left unedited in order to give the fullest experience of what happened that morning. Some of the sequences go on for some time; if you get bored, simply fast forward. Two fully-working hovercraft but no cabin announcements about lifejackets and duty free ever again. Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed it. Thank you.
- Наука та технологія
I can remember as a kid going on school trips to France. And going on a hover craft. Such a shame they don't do that anymore. Kids today would love it.
Amazing video, I too have often searched for SRN4 videos and this never came up - till now! What a wonderfully dignified retirement for her, arriving under her own power like that, and the skill - wowsers. Anyone who has not been to the hovercraft museum - do it!! I travelled there from Edinburgh and despite the fact it rained absolute monsoon the whole day I had an amazing time
Once upon a time when british engineering was unrivaled !
Really enjoyed these 4 videos. I'm not sure why I haven't seen them before as I often search for SRN4 hovercraft on youtube. I live in Portsmouth and have always had a strong affinity to the hovercraft. My mum took me on the SRN2 when I was about 6 years old and I was hooked ever since. I used to belong to the Hovercraft society and went on a some trips with them, one of which was chartering an SRN4 which got loaded up with small hovercraft and travelling out to Goodwin sands when the tide was out (Obviously). That was quite a surreal experience. I also got a look in the cockpit which was a great experience. I was also at Lee on Solent when they brought in the first SRN4 which I think was the unstretched Swift. It had no engines so they used a truck with a massive blower to partially inflate the skirt. Then they pulled it up with a number of recovery tow trucks. Boy, did they struggle. Those trucks were going up on 2 wheels and it took ages to get it up the ramp.
One thing to remind you of is that the ramp at Daedalus was built for Hovercraft back in the 70's. It was the Interservice hovercraft trials unit where testing was done on a number of different hovercraft for suitability for use in the forces. The SRN3, BHC BH7, SRN5,6, Vosper Thorneycroft VT1 and 2 were used in trials over a period of a number of years
Travelled 2 times with this incredible machine.
Wish I could have had a chance to ride one of these while they were still in service. Now, like Concorde, they're just a fantasy. Would be great if someone would restore one to service for excursion runs.
Shawn Carver I was lucky enough to go on one when I was a teenager, I remember it rattled and squeaked a lot, you would not see out the windows due to spray and it was very bumpy. Loved it though, amazing to see and hear in the flesh....
There is only one of these remaining, and it resides at the Hovercraft Museum, which is the location in Lee-on-the-Solent shown in this video. There used to be two of them here, but one was scrapped when the property owner did not renew the museum's lease on half of the property. I visited in May 2019 and was told that, technically, the landlord could evict the museum, which would probably result in scrapping the remaining one, but they are pursuing options to see how they can more permanently protect her. My advice, visit soon........
@@MrPants1970 same here in the early 90s i went on one from dover to calais it was a brilliant experiance though like you say you couldnt see much out of the windows other than mist and lots rainbows caused by the mist that weird feeling of one minute your on land then next your on water then one we went to france on the seacat that was aweful it bounced and swayed like crazy at one point i went to the loos and jesus christ trying to aim where you was pissing was impossible i guess thats why they had plastic cladding on the walls and walking down the isles bugger that it was that hard to keep your ballance that you made an alcoholic look sober one second you was thrown one way then the other then it bounced off the waves so your feet literally left the floor
Wonderful, my parents went on one of the Hoverlloyd SRN4'S at Ramsgate years ago, those Proteus engines are beautiful engines, what a machine.
Thank you for sharing this video! I was fortunate to have travelled on one of the large hovercraft that carried cars back in the 70's. Holiday in France with my parents! It was a bit bumpy, but a wonderful experience. Just like on the ferries, the cars were left on the car 'deck' and you had a seat in the passenger area. I enjoy watching the live cam from Hyde , seeing the hovercraft come and go!
It was almost like it knew it was never coming out of there in one piece.
What a pity these came out of service, used to love my channel crossings by SRN4,
only way to go! Tried the sea cat once, came back on the hovercraft! Don't like boats,
and don't fancy the tunnel either!
Great bit of film
a truly wonderful set of videos, brought back so many memories!!!!
Thank you. That was fascinating. Visited the museum in May.
I’ve got relatives who live in Lee-on-the-Solent. I remember my uncle telling us about the day in this video. The hovercraft could be heard from his house which is a reasonable distance from the museum. I’ve Been past the entrance a few times but have never visited the museum. Will take my wife there one day as she’s never been on a hovercraft like me. I’ve been on the one in the video plus the other one.
His last time flying big hover & he was going to enjoy it, so much so he didn't want to bring it in
Thank you for these 5 videos on the hovercraft.
A strange, almost "animal" specimen that traveled from beach to beach and added a lot of charm to the idea of going to England or France.
- Do you know what happened to the crew on these machines? Particularly those who were pilots, were they able to easily retrain elsewhere?
- Was the crew only English or were there as many English as French?
- Also, does anyone know if these big critters had nicknames?
Thank you again for these videos, a Frenchman who only went to England (I loved London) once in 2002 by plane (and not by Concorde of course, alas...).
Was wondering what happened with these crafts. Thanks for sharing!
As far as I read the comments in the past 4 videos, only one is let in the museum at that place. And look above where someone commented recently about the whereabouts of these crafts.
A very sad day the same as when i watched Concorde come back for the last time to Heathrow where i work. They should still be making these faster and cheaper than ferry OR Eurotunnel and a fraction of the cost 😢 As a country we have thrown away all out technology to USA,! THE Americans now have huge assault landing craft for the Marines 🤷🏻♂️
Thats the last time that beauty will ever go to sea again 😪😪
Thank you for the excellent and historical footage, Stephen. Could you please add the date the video was captured to your description? At the moment, it looks like it was on Aug 17, 2017.
Fascinating. Is he having trouble getting up the hill! Engine trouble or just not intended for that gradient?
have to remember that this is a huge machine designed in 1965 and flown by a crew of 3 humans with no modern control upgrades. if he goes up the hill too fast, he doesn't really have brakes....he can kill the forward thrust and deflate the skirt, but issuing these commands takes time, which you don't have in a situation like this with a high-mass machine... so he has to take multiple tries at it until he gets the power right. a hovercraft on water is predictable because water is, more or less, a flat surface. land is a totally different situation because land is never flat, so control becomes a big problem in an all-manual machine with no computerized control systems and 3 ordinary humans trying to stay alive.
It’s almost like she knew it was a one way trip, and wasn’t ready to go. Amazing machines.
@@marzsit9833 I missed this when you posted it. Lot's of sensible info. Thank you. They really threw everything at that last big push!
Imagine if you were a fish or small octopus underneath that
The fish and small octopuses amalgamated their trades unions to fight this terrible infringement on their right to a peaceful life. It didn't work.
why were they retired iam from new zealand and don't no but would like to no why they stopped great shame
Ultimately cost, Harry. Strong competition from the Channel Tunnel opening meant reduced passenger numbers for the main Channel route. As much as I love these machines, I can't see them coming back into any major form of service. Shame.
The channel tunnel sent prices down and the demise of Duty Free Sales which made more profit than tickets saw off these magnificent machines, well publicly at least. Armed forces still use them and rescue services.