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I remember being very disappointed on my first trip to France in an SR-N4 in that the spray generated rendered it virtually imposible to see out of the window.
Not only that, but the Hoverport in Boulogne was so far out of the town, next to some horrendous, smelly sort of processing plant.
Still wish they were in operation, though.
I live in the seaside village where the hovercraft was predominantly tested and developed.I loved going down to the beach to see them operating across the Solent and I absolutely loved my first flight in a hovercraft and I am disappointed that this invention has never been as well developed as it could be.It is at present the fastest form of transport across to the Isle of Wight and was always the fastest way across the Channel.Why does no one see it's full potential?An amphibious form of transport that can travel both on water and land.It must have it's uses somewhere in the world?
I must confess to being a full supporter of hovercraft, and the main reason that now Seacats are run across the channel rather than hovercraft is because the Seacats were subsidised by the Australian government, and therefore cheaper, whereas British Hovercraft production has had no real investment in them. There seems to be increased interest in Canada for hovercraft nowadays, but little elsewhere.
But there's always hope.
As for ferries - I've yet to see any fast ferry, catamarans included, that can travel without producing at least some spray.
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Canada has done some fascinating things with timber harvesting blimps that hover along, instead of over a sea of water, but a sea of evergreen. They have amazingly fine control.
If they can haul huge loads of logs, maybe they already have something that could be realy useful as human transport, but possibly only the high value of the logs pays off, unless the load were military.
I have the pleasure of being able to go to the place that both Princess Margaret and Princess Anne are kept in extended readiness. I have so far had a couple of tours on both these craft over the last two years and i have a pretty much free run of Swift.
I am very dissapointed that these three craft have been taken out of service and i wish some one could have the poor business since and the large walet to buy these. (I say poor business sence because of the conditions placed upon any buyer by hoverspeed.)
All three are wonderful craft and it is a pity to see that swift has really died a horrible and nasty death. I do feel priviledge to have this access but i would have loved to have seen them flying.
It really is a shame that that is happening, but then it is inevitable that, when they're not in use, their condition is going to quickly deteriote. And now the hovercraft have been joined by concorde in the "fastest way to travel, but now redundant" category. I really don't understand the sense sometimes.
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hi
im interested in srn4 info
purchase ?? any stll running
I am canadian will they function -40 degrees
many more questions
I amm canadian
what do you know about hoverspeed re:sale srn4
also need LOTS of info
would like to speak to a pilot
Probably the best people to contact would be the Hovercraft Museum - see hovercraft-museum.org. They actually have an SRN-4 there.
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