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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 1926.PDF
SUPPLEMENT TO FLIGHT International JUN E 1 964 Air-Cushion Vehicles DESIGN • COMPONENTS • APPLICATIONS RECORDING PROGRESS AND HISTORY in this issue 76 International News 79 Low-velocity Jet Propul- sion for CC-4 80 Dynamic Air-Cushion Vehicle 82 Interservice Occasion 84 Sun Glasses to Snow Goggles 89 The True Originator? Editor-in-Chief Maurice A. Smith DFC Editor H. F.King MM Technical Editor W. T. Gunston Managing Director H. N. Priaulx MBE VOLUME 4 NUMBER 24 Qiffe Transport Publications Ltd Jorset House, Stamford Street, London SE1Telephone: Waterloo 3333 (Telex 25137) Telegrams: Flightpres London Telex knnua] subscriptions lome 18s. Overseas 18s. Canada and USA $3 •ranch Offices^•10 Corporation Street, Coventry dephone: Coventry 25210 kng Edward House, New Street, Birmingham 2 elephone: Midland 7191 6C Deansgate, Manchester 3 elephone: Blackfriars 4412 or Deansgate 3595 23 Hope Street, Glasgow C2 eiephone: Central 1265/61 Marsh Street, Bristol 1 tiephone: Bristol 21491/2 >«w York, N.Y.• omas Skinner & Company (Publishers) Ltd ''; Broadway 6^ephone: Digby 9-U97 •J Iliffe Transport Publications Ltd 1964."mission to reproduce illustrations and "erpress can be granted only under written"eement. Brief extracts or comments may be «de with due acknowledgement. FROM NO ISSUE of Air-Cushion Vehicles have we derived such real encourage- ment as from the present one. Being international, like our parent journal, we are especially pleased to be able to present, for the first time, the results of ACV research by the eminent Dr Lippisch, undertaken in the USA on behalf of the Marine Laboratory of the Collins Radio Co. Photographs show his "Aerofoil Boat" operating not only in the planing and ground-effect regime, but also in full, free flight. While we ourselves remain con- vinced that Britain will neglect such ram-wing craft to her cost, we are able to record further excellent progress with the classic Cockerell- type hovercraft—notably the hand- ing over of the SR.N3 to the Inter- service Hovercraft Trials Unit and the ordering of two SR.N5s by the Ministry of Defence. From Vickers- Afmstrongs comes a spirited and detailed report of trials over desert and across the snow, ice and glassy waters of the north—an account which reflects unrivalled experience of operating conditions. With the future of the Denny craft continuing bleak, we note with satisfaction that Vickers are proposing to build two sidewallers of their own, one for 190 passengers and the other for 370. From Britten-Norman we have the first particulars of their CC-4, an altogether new light ACV with several novel features. On the day this issue closed for press (June 17) the public service between Southsea and Ryde was due to be inaugurated by Hovertransport Ltd, a new company which plans to operate by 1967 much larger ACVs, capable of carrying cars as well as passengers. The Westland SR.N2 is the craft involved, and she will reduce the Solent crossing time from half an hour to under ten minutes. Another stop-press item is that two Cambridge undergraduates have been out on the River Cam in what appears to be the world's first man-powered air-cushion vehicle! A good measure of progress, though far from the whole picture! We state this with conviction, having regard to the increasing number of inquiries addressed to these offices by prospective operators. There is yet another feature in this issue which, we believe, makes its own strong claim to attention, and none the less so for being historical in nature. Briefly, it is suggested that the true originator, patentee, constructor and demonstrator of the air-cushion vehicle may have been Sir John Thornycroft. In presenting evidence to support this suggestion we believe we are acting in the best interests not only of Britain's hover- craft industry but of history itself. Could it not be that the names of Thornycroft and Cockerell will one day be recognized as having a similar relationship to that existing between Watt and Stephenson, or Daimler and Benz, or, perhaps even more cogently, Lilienthal and Wright ? This may well prove to be so; but, in any case, the work of Thornycroft is now seen to have been of such remarkable interest (and, we believe, technical significance) that we are placing it on public record before it is entirely covered by the detritus of time.
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