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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 1198.PDF
Air-Cushion Vehicles SUPPLEMENT FLIGHT International, 19 July 1%: Quotes . . . to take place and at the same time to regulate safety. In this task we naturally turned to the Air Registration Board as our advisers in matters of construction, and we have what are I think satisfactory arrangements from the national point of view, using the Board's expertise and bringing in the Ministry of Transport who are of course concerned with marine traffic problems. These arrangements enable development work to go ahead with the minimum interference, and at the same time safely.'" MR c. s. COCKERELL, speaking at the luncheon of the Worshipful Company of Carmen on July 26, 1961 (Mr Cockerell was receiving the Viva Shield) "Mr Shaw, Deputy Director of Air craft Research, has stated publicly that in his opinion the hovercraft industry will eventually be as big as the aircraft industry, or the shipbuilding industry. The United States and Russia are pouring vast sums into the conquest of space— while their attention is diverted, why don't we go quietly to work and set about developing and exploiting our new form of transport, in all its various applica tions, and at a tempo and with resources in keeping with the magnitude of the pro ject? The possibilities include river hovercraft, Channel ferries, ocean hover craft, mixed-lift fast hovercraft, land hovercraft, tracked hovercraft, and in dustrial applications, quite apart from military hovercraft of various sorts. Here is a vast export potential waiting to be exploited—it is far larger than that for supersonic airliners, or rockets, or re placement 'Queen Marys'. At this moment there are perhaps eighty engin eers and technicians working on hover craft in this country. There ought to be eight hundred. " With our limited resources it is only possible for us to tackle a few of the many likely lines of development. One glaring omission is the hovercraft which will be designed to travel on tracks, like a train. The potential here is—London to Glasgow in two hours; or, if there is a Channel bridge—London to Paris in one hour—and these journeys will be from city centre to city centre, and at railway fares. " We have had no approaches from the railways. The shipping industry is also slow to show an interest in ship-like hovercraft. It must be realized that few high executives have the time or energy, or specialized technical qualifications to sit back and take a long look at a concept as new as the hovercraft. C. P. Snow has been writing eloquently on the neces sity of effective scientific 'forward thinking,' if we are to make the best of our future. We do not yet seem to have evolved an effective substitute in our Welfare State for the private enterprise and the risk capital which were available in the last century. NRDC is doing great work, but for a project as large as the hovercraft there still seem to be a number of awkward stages requiring a lot of money between the demonstration of an experimental craft and the production of viable, safe and exportable machines, not easily bridged by existing Govern ment machinery. "If the hovercraft concept is to be fully exploited, then I estimate that we ought to be spending an average of £10m a year on development for the next twenty years. If such a sum is not forthcoming until after our present world lead has disappeared, then we shall once again have failed to exploit the advantage we now hold. Surely this is one of those tides which should be 'taken at the flood''." MR MURRAY F. SOUTHCOTE, man ager of special projects, Ford Motor Company's Aeronutronic Division "Air-cushion vehicles, or ground-effect machines, won't put the wheel out of business, but do promise to revolutionize a number of aspects of surface transport ation. Air-cushion machines can greatly increase a vehicle's speed in water trans portation. Machines will no longer be forced to go through or beneath the water's surface, but can be supported above it by the nearly frictionless cushion of air, thereby materially reducing the drag. "In amphibious assaults, the ability to make a transition from over-water to over land at relatively high speeds could alone sharply increase the speed of military landings, which in itself would greatly reduce hazards to troops under fire who must be moved across the shore in slow- moving craft. Wheeled vehicles will remain best for on-road travel, but many places wheeled and tracked vehicles earn go will be accessible with the air-cushion vehicle. Their high ground clearance and air-cushion ride will flatten out rugged terrain, provide a much smoother ride, and permit the vehicle to move over mud, swamps, rivers, lakes, or other obstacles that now stop wheeled and tracked vehicles. lLThe air-cushion vehicle is not u universal answer to the world's trans portation needs, but it does promise to be a revolutionary and complementary addi tion to our transportation methods." SOVIET INFORMATION SERVICE "The Soviet Union's first hovercraft goes into service this summer. Seating 38 passengers in a spacious saloon, this 12-ton craft is 58 feet long and over 21 feet wide. It travels between two and four inches above the water and is also able to move over land." Report TRANSPORT REVIEW AND OUTLOOK, YEAR-END 1 961, issued by the Transportation and Communication Department of the Chamber of Com merce of the United States, Washington DC "One of the most exciting develop ments in transportation for the future is the vehicle which incorporates the air cushion principle. Most commonly known as the air car, quite a few companies are doing research on this type of vehicle in this country and abroad. These companies have given their versions a variety of names, including: Levacar, Levascooter, Ground Effect Machine, Cushioncraft, Hovercraft, Air Scooter, Aeromobile, Avrocar, Glidemobile, Hydro-Aire, Air Bus, and Air Boat . . . "The air car is capable of operating over land, water, sand, swamps, snow, or thin ice, with equal ease. There is a long and growing list of ultimate special ized tasks it could perform. "The military branch has shown considerable interest in the development of such a vehicle. It is being heralded as ideally suited for the further develop ment of Alaska, and for exploratory and 6
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