FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1964
1964 - 0266.PDF
r!>nht International supplement, 30 January 1964 Air-Cuthion Vehicles LET'S NOT MISS THE (HOVER)BUS By 6X-B0AC Captain HOWARD FRY WE BRITONS HAVE an almost uncanny ability to miss very important buses. We invented the jet engine and built the first jet airliner. Yet we allowed the Americans to take practically the whole world market for big, long-range jets in the 707 class. We invented the mono- rail, yet the only monorail systems now being tested for commercial use are of foreign design. More recently we have invented the air-cushion vehicle, an entirely new means of transport. Yet there is the serious risk that the Ameri- cans or the Japanese, to both of whom we have granted licences for British designs, will overtake us in the race to make hovercraft a real commercial success. Both these nations have the extensive engineering industries and the natural ability to improve on other people's ideas, and this could well carry them past the British industry, struggling along on inadequate grants from the National Research Organiza- tion. The hovercraft is at an awkward stage in its development. The present smallish craft can demonstrate the hovercraft principle, but there are few places in the world where the sea can be relied upon to be consistently calm, and therefore few places where craft of the SR.N3 size can operate regular, day in and day out services. It is also unfortunate that the running costs of these smallish craft are not competitive with present forms of transport, so it is not too likely that foreign operators will be induced to buy. This would not perhaps matter if there were opportunities for internal British services, but unfortunately our country does not contain many stretches of sheltered water over which a ferry ser- vice is required. Casting One's Bread . . . In any line of business it is difficult to accumulate without speculating, but Perhaps hovercraft manufacture is the best possible example of the truth of this Phrase. The continued expenditure of a few hundred thousand per annum on various Hovercraft projects might merely give us a little more knowledge °f the various applications of the Principle. In the end we may well find we know an awful lot about a new type °f transport vehicle that has been sold °n world-wide markets by the Ameri- cans and the Japanese. On the other d, if we find the courage to lay out £5m on building and testing two SR.N4s, we shall almost certainly find ourselves still in the lead, with a big, seaworthy, economical craft, capable of running a shop-window service across the English Channel. Time is running very short. Everyone in the aircraft and allied industries should start now to bring pressure on the Government. Somehow or other they must be persuaded to place an order now with Westland Air- craft. And if the Minister of Aviation claims that the country cannot afford a mere £5m, he must be reminded, loudly and long, of the money wasted on Blue Streak and Blue Water, on the Brabazon and the Princess, and on the Fairy Gyrodyne. Here is his chance to redeem himself with a wise investment. The Tunnel Project - - Our rulers seem to contemplate with relative calm the expenditure of around £160m to provide a rail-only tunnel between Sangatte and Westenhanger. It is hoped that this would provide a 65min single journey across the Channel, but the SR.N4 should be able to make the crossing in 30min, and it would have the advantage that it could operate from several different points on each side of the Channel and would thus cause less traffic congestion. Then again, a Chan- nel hoverferry could be in operation for passenger, freight and car use in three to four years, whereas the tunnel could not conceivably be completed in less than six. As one who has been in transport all his life I warn the Government to be cautious about the tunnel project. Unless they want to risk the loss of many millions on what might be a very unpopular and unsuccessful idea, they should at least delay the whole idea of a fixed link, until the trials of the 100 m.p.h., 600-passenger SR.N4 are com- pleted. Before we turn to the prospects of the hovercraft in other parts of the world, let us continue with this comparison between rail tunnel and hoverferry. If we plump now for the tunnel, we shall spend a total of at least £150m, and what will we get for it? A single incon- venient rail link with France, coupled with an enormous traffic jam at Westen- hanger and considerable road conges- tion throughout East Kent. Look at the other side of the picture. £5m would provide us with a direct Dover-Calais link, in less than 30min. This sum should cover the cost of two SRN.4s, plus the necessary concrete loading platforms at each end. The two craft could use any convenient beach and would carry 26 cars and 350 passengers. Between them they could maintain a half-hourly service. I venture to suggest that they would prove far more popular with motorists, who are most unlikely to want to descend into the bowels of the earth for over an hour, when they can do the journey in half the time and in daylight. However, the really convincing argu- ments for the hoverferry are that it could link Bournemouth and Cherbourg, Southend and Ostend, Folkestone and Boulogne, Clacton and Hook, at one and the same time. Thus it would, for the price of a Channel Tunnel, provide a much better service for the traveller, with or without a car, and it would not add at all to road congestion. Finally, it is worth considering that the tunnel will be a single piece of engineering, with credit for its construction divided between French and American as well as British firms. It is highly unlikely to bring our country any large increase in business, profit or employment. Precisely the contrary can be said for the Channel hoverferry, which could well result in the sale of hovercraft worth hundreds of millions all over the world. Let us examine the possible applica- tions of hovercraft to the transport problems of the world. Here in Britain it is capable of replacing most of the sea ferries, to the Isles of Wight and of Man, to the Channel Islands, to the Western Isles; and when 300-ton craft are built, it will be ready to provide the ferries to Ireland, Orkney and Shetland. But it is the applications abroad which are more exciting and profitable. Let us examine them as we move around the world:— Baltic Hovercraft services will speed up the ferries between Denmark, Nor- way and Sweden. When relations with the Communist states improve, Scandi- navia could also be linked to Poland and Russia. Mediterranean In this normally placid inland sea the hovercraft will really come into its own. Spain will use hover- craft to link the mainland with the Balearic Islands of Majorca, Minorca and Ibiza. Italy will substitute hovercraft for surface vessels to Capri, Ischia, Elba,
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
