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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 1519.PDF
FLIGHT International supplement. 23 August 1962 Air-Cushion Vehicles crossed; VA-3 has an all-up weight of on]y 24,5001b. All had gone so smoothly up to this point that it was perhaps inevitable that rough water should lie ahead. By April 12 VA-3 had lifted off for the first time; and the control system was obviously a success. Discussions concerning the Permit to Fly were going well between Vickers and the ARB; steady, if rather slow progress, was being made with the Ministries of Avia tion and Transport about the exemption clauses; and a BUA manager, Mr R. S. Harfitt, had been appointed to take on-the-spot charge of the commercial side of the operation. A steady flow of bookings began to reach Piccadilly long before the list was officially opened. On the other side of the coin, the four Turmo 603s which lift and propel VA-3 proved to be unexpectedly noisy. This at once became the subject of anxious debate, since the use of Hoylake as an operating base presupposed that the noise level would be acceptable. And as if to echo these doubts and worries dissentient voices then began to be raised in the town on the score of nuis ance, with the result that the council, who had believed that they were con tributing to the national interest by agreeing to a Hovercraft service on their doorstep, came in for sharp criticism from some of their ratepayers. To determine the depth of these feelings the Hoylake Council called a public meeting at the end of May. Mr Seton-Winton outlined British United's aims in operating a Hovercraft service, and Mr Colquhoun described the proposed operation itself. From the questions which followed it became clear that 95 per cent of the residents were in favour, but there remained a minority who strongly opposed the service, largely on the grounds that Hoylake might be exposed to a flood of visitors. British United and Vickers agreed that these objections to the service could not be ignored, and reluctantly decided to fmd a suitable beach elsewhere. From the early survey of New Brighton, Wallasey was an obvious possibility, and a suitable beach, for the use of which local-authority approval was readily given, was found without great difficulty. Although access to Hoylake is better, operationally there is little difference, and it was between Wallasey and Rhyl that the world's first scheduled Hovercraft service began operation on July 20,1962. When these words appear, the service will have a few weeks further to run. It has already been demonstrated that VA-3 can operate comfortably within the 25-minute scheduled block time, for six round trips a day, proposed nine months ago. There have been cancel lations, of course, due in about equal measure to weather and to technical teething problems. The latter have been accentuated by operating a deliberately tight schedule with a solitary' vehicle, with non-series engines and components. When weather delays have occurred, it has generally been obvious that con ditions were unacceptable for any type of sea crossing. As the operation shakes down, regularity is improving. VA-3's noise level was much reduced before it entered service, and the ride is agreed to be pleasant. Full records are being kept by British United, by Vickers-Amstrongs and by British Petroleum so that the lessons of a unique operation can subsequently be assessed. It would be premature to suggest now how this information will eventually be used, but enough should certainly be learned to provide answers to the four reasons given earlier for operating an experimental service. And whatever the results, the Dee Estuary operation should bring ten steps nearer the first firm specification written by an operator for a Hovercraft manufacturer.. Levacar THE "'railroad station of the future" depicted on the right is seen with two Ford Levacar vehicles. On the left track a freight-carrier is separated so that specially designed containers can be loaded. On the other track passen gers board a 200-passenger vehicle via a telescopic ramp. Below is an impres sion of how Levacar tracks could be elevated to run above conventional rolling stock. The Levacar would ride on a thin film of air over flat-topped, square- section rails at speeds up to 500 m.p.h. Impressions of the Ford Levacar system for passengers and freight 38
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