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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 1122.PDF
Vickers Load Beam is the designation of this device, briefly described in a news paragraph "Future Vickers Developments" on the facing page Air-Cushion Vehicles FLIGHT International supplement. 25 April 1963 land hovercraft generally, to Govern ment, military and industry represent atives from various parts of Canada, and possibly also from the United States. SR.N2's operating base will be off the Royal St Lawrence Yacht Club near Dorval. The Westland technical and sales team will be headed by Mr M. H. C. Gordon (sales director), Mr R. Stanton Jones (chief designer, Saunders-Roe Division), and Mr C. Faulkner (sales engineer). Two drivers will handle the demonstrations—Mr H. Phillips of Westland and Lt Cdr F. A. H. Ash- mead, RN, Officer Commanding the Joint Services Hovercraft Trials Unit at Lee-on-Solent. Servicing and main tenance will be handled by a team of four Westland engineers headed by Mr T. Kennedy, who will be travelling with SR.N2 on Beaverfir. The Group's assistant public rela tions manager, Mr R. F. (Bill) Bailey, will also be in Montreal throughout the demonstration period. 'OSBORNE CASTLE* 672 TONS 100 TON HOVERCRAFT ( SOLENT ) )0 TON HOVERCRAFT (ENGLISH CHANNEL) 00 TON HOVERCRAFT (OPEN WATER ) "Cockerell Paper," 1963 Entitled "Rela tionship of Sea-keeping Capability to Size at Design Speed" this illustration is from the paper read by Mr C. S. Cockerell at the recent Southampton University symposium. We hope to review the paper at length in our next issue Brazil Wants ACVs The president of Panair do Brasil, Dr Paulo Sampaio, is the first airline chief to specify a requirement for air-cushion vehicles. In an interview in Rio de Janeiro earlier this month with the Air Transport Editor of Flight International, he said that there is "no replacement in sight" for the six beautifully maintained 17-seat PBY-5A Catalina amphibians which, based at Belem, have for many years operated Panair do Brasil's Amazon River Sector social services. These fine old craft, with the help of a substantial government subsidy, provide the only practical means of transport communications among the rapidly developing agricultural, mining and industrial centres flanking the world's largest river. At present about 54 stations in all are served, and this number is due to be increased to 64 during the course of the next three months or so. "We are," says Dr Sampaio, "watch ing closely the development of the hovercraft as a replacement for our Catalinas. At the moment this craft is too slow. We need 120 m.p.h. and our requirement would be for perhaps three ships, of 80-90 seats capacity each." Dr Sampaio suggests that the SR.N2 should go to Belem for its tropical tests. A spokesman for Westland last week commented: "This is the sort of oper ation which, of course, is tailor-made for a vehicle of the SR.N2 Mk 2 type." The SR.N2's demonstration programme (which includes a visit to Canada in the near future) is fully extended from the points of view of both time and cost in the immediate future. But Westland say they are watching the potential Amazon market "very closely." The Kessock Ferry Proposals for the use of an ACV on the Kessock Ferry route between Inverness and the Black Isle have been abandoned because of the limitations of the route. The Ferry Joint Committee has been advised by Hovercraft Develop ment Ltd that the distance is not suffi cient to permit the craft to use its full potential speed. The Committee has indicated that it is still interested in the idea of using ACVs for this work, and that any development which might bring the route into that sphere of operation would be of interest. Meantime they are to press on with proposals for a new £67,000 ferry boat which would carry 200 passengers, 20 cars and loads of up to 15 tons. SKMR-1 Out Soon Scheduled for testing on Lake Erie next month is the 27-ton, 65ft SKMR-1 air-cushion vehicle built at Bell Aero- systems Company plant at Buffalo, NY. Several companies are assisting as sub contractors in the fabrication and development programme. They include the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corp, Groton, Conn, which is consulting on naval architecture and is furnishing the complete lift-fan units; Steel Products Engineering Co, a division of Kelsey-Hayes Steel Co, Springfield, Ohio, which is building the transmission system; the US Navy David Taylor Model Basin, Washington DC, which built and tested the aero dynamic model; and the Stevens Insti tute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey, which built the hydrodynamic model. Raduga Over Ice As reported in our previous issue, the Soviet five-seater ACV Raduga has achieved speeds of up to 37 m.p.h. along the iced-up Volga. She is here seen operating in these conditions—and having (apparently) increased fin area 53
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