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Aviation History
1963
1963 - 2264.PDF
EMENT TO FLIGHT International AUGUST 1963 Mr-Cushion Vehicles •smmgms in this issue 18 International News 21 What Price Hovercraft? 25 Surface-effect Ship 27 Hovercraft in the House 30 SKMR-1 and Carabao Editor-in-Chief Maurice A. Smith DFC Editor H. F. King MBE Technical Editor W. T. Gunston Production Editor Roy Casey Managing Director H. N. Priaulx MBE VOLUME 3 NUMBER 14 Diffc Transport Publications Ltd Dorset House, Stamford Street, London SE1 leephone: Waterloo 3333 (Telex 25137) 'e'egrams: Flightpres London Telex Annual subscriptions Home 18s. Overseas 18s. Canada and USA $3 JWh Offices £«) Corporation Street, Coventry 'oephone: Coventry 25210 Kin? Edward House, New Street, Birmingham 2 JeltMhone: Midland 7191 *0 Jeansgate, Manchester 3 "icihone: Blackfriars 4412 or Deansgate 3595 ® Buchanan Street, Glasgow CI 'Wiinone: Central 1265/6 ^* York, NX fnomas Skinner & Company (Publishers) Ltd i» iiroadway 6 letehone: Digby 9-1197 P Iliffe Transport Publications Ltd 1963. ieti !Sslon to rePr°duce illustrations and te~ rr,r**» can be granted only under written Se!Tleilt" Brief extracts or comments may be """•i' with due acknowledgement. tngmaBWiiliihiiiHtil'lllt. DESIGN COMPONENTS • APPLICATIONS SURVEYING THE BRITISH SCENE THE SUNBEAMS AND SHADOWS THAT play across the field of air-cushion vehicle development in Gt Britain have been more than usually con trasted since our last issue appeared. On the sombre side came news that the parent company of Denny Hovercraft Ltd, builders of the D.2 sidewall craft which is now a fam iliar sight on the Thames, intend to go into liquidation because of lack of shipbuilding orders. This sad business is the subject of official comment in a report on the recent Commons debate on "Marine Hover craft" (pages 27-29 of this issue). There will be strong support for the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade in his belief that it is important that the benefits of Denny's work on the sidewall type of ACV should not be lost. He gives reassurance that the National Re search Development Corporation consider that this type of craft is very suitable for operation in shel tered waters and that it should find a market if it is developed quickly. There is further reassurance in the knowledge that the NRDC are willing to co-operate with any firm which is prepared to continue deve lopment. D.2, incidentally, has not been having everything her own way in the big city. Not only has she had to contend with driftwood (rumours that this is of Roman origin appear to be unfounded, notwithstanding the recent discovery near Black friars Bridge); she has also had to hold her own against a form of transport almost as novel as herself in the shape of a hydrofoil craft of Dutch origin which has been plying between the City and Dagenham. The natural interest aroused by this parallel operation is heightened by the researches and conclusions of Mr R. L. Trillo, assistant to Mr Christopher Cockerell at Hover craft Development Ltd. Mr Trillo has embodied his findings in a very notable contribution to the literature of modern transport, which he and his company have kindly made avail able for our exclusive use. The first part appears in this issue. In our report of the Commons debate there is much that will not be new to regular readers of this journal; but for anyone requiring an overall view of the state of ACV develop ment in Great Britain it is recom mended reading. Also it contains passages which in themselves are new and stimulating, and we find ourselves strongly allied with Mr R. Gresham Cooke in his belief that the final aim of this great venture must be a virile export market. Like him, we look forward to British hovercraft plying up and down the Rhine and the Danube, sailing over the great lakes of the United States or Canada, shuttling between the islands of the West Indies, forging a way up the Amazon and other Brazilian rivers, running between the Argentine and Uruguay on the River Plate, skimming over the swamps and rivers of Africa and India, and even crossing the deserts of Australia. Unlike Mr Gresham Cooke, how ever, we do not believe that it is necessary to wait 10 or 15 years for this busy scene to become reality. 17
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