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Aviation History
1967
1967 - 1112.PDF
INTERNATIONAL NEWS... Primer The prototype Hover-Air Hoverbat single-seater was loaned to the Army for two weeks by the "Daily Express" recently to give trainee drivers of 200 Hovercraft Sqn, RCT, initial hovercraft experience. Full courses for the squadron's first drivers, on SR.N6s, starts this month with six being trained by Hoverwork at Ryde, and six by Hoverlloyd at Ramsgate owner) in addition to his duties with the B-N hovercraft division. Captain Peter Ayles, a director of Hoverwork and chief pilot of the parent company, became director of operating personnel last month and will now devote more time to the sub- sidiary's activities. Mr John Watford, formerly traffic manager of Hover- travel, now becomes general manager (Solent operations) of the parent company and Mr A. Smith becomes senior captain and instructor. Mr R. B. Stratton has been appointed executive engineer of both Hover- travel and Hoverwork. Ops Chief now Managnig Director Mr Leslie Colquhoun, the chief of operations of Hoverlloyd, has been appointed managing director. Mr Colquhoun joined the company shortly after its foundation in 1965, as chief of operations. Taking up this post in January 1966, he was respon- sible for starting the pioneering cross- Channel service from Ramsgate to Calais which was opened in April last year and ran until October. This ser- vice, with two SR.N6s, will be re- sumed this year, in preparation for the 1968 service with the SR.N4. Previous hovercraft pioneering by Mr Colquhoun, who was at one time operations manager of Vickers' hover- craft division (now part of BHC), was the world's first public ACV service, that between Rhyl and Wallasey run in 1962 with the VA-3. Now MD Mr Leslie Colquhoun MAR AD: "Marine ACVs are Ships" The US Department of Commerce Maritime Administration, the federal agency overlooking shipping affairs, has determined that surface - effect ships are eligible for federal ship mortgage insurance under the terms of the US Merchant Marine Act of 1936. Marad was asked for this deter- mination by Aeromar Inc, set up 2\ years ago to develop surface-effect ships for commercial purposes. In making the decision the Federal Aviation Agency ruling of 1963 that vehicles deriving support from air cushions not exceeding 28in in height were not aircraft was one legal principle upheld. Clearly the Aeromar machine was not an aircraft, since its maximum hoverheight is 12in. Since it was not designed to be used over public highways, and its over- land operation is incidental to its primary water navigation, it was not considered by the Interstate Com- merce Commission to be a land vehicle. Finally, since it is intended to be used on coastal and intercoastal waters for the purposes of carrying passengers, it was decided that it came under the definition of "vessel" found in two relevant shipping acts and was therefore eligible for federal ship mortgage insurance. Aeromar's current surface - effect ship project is the A-l. It is 42ft long, has a gross weight of 25,2001b and a 1,100 h.p. engine. It is designed for 56 passengers and a crew of two. With a maximum hoverheight of 12in, the A-l is designed for a maximum speed of 73 m.p.h. at a height of 6in. Fan-Jet Skimmer in U.K. The Fan-Jet Skimmer single-seat sporting hovercraft developed in the United States by Col Melville Beards- ley is to be marketed in Britain. Under the terms of an agreement made last month British Racing Hydroplanes, of The Hydro, Mill Dam Lake, St Osyth, Essex, is sole Air-Cuihion Vehiclet FLIGHT International supplement, 19 January 1967 British agent for complete Fan-Jet Skimmers and for kits of parts. The kits sold in Britain will be entirely produced in Britain by the company and it is envisaged that Mr Beards- ley's own company, Skimmers Inc, will also purchase them from British Racing Hydroplanes, which appears able to undercut US production costs. The first Fan-Jet Skimmer to be built by the company is now nearing completion and should have its first outing in two weeks or so over the company's 30-acre test lake. A Mc- Culloch go-kart engine it fitted. Likely price for a kit of parts, in- cluding engine and fan, is £125 and for a complete machine £200. Westland Chairman Reports In the annual report and accounts of Westland Aircraft Ltd, published last week, the company's hovercraft development reserve is shown, at September 30, 1966, unchanged from the previous financial year—£500,000. In his remarks concerning BHC, of which Westland Aircraft is the 65 per cent owner, the chairman, Sir Eric Mensforth, said that most of the £3.25 million capital which Westland has agreed to subscribe when re- quired would comprise transfers of fixed and current assets at present employed on hovercraft work. To subvent the development costs of the SR.N4 and other hovercraft, the manufacture of hovercraft would be carried on for a year or two by the wholly Westland-owned subsidiary British Hovercraft Corporation (Manu- facturing), which is BHC-managed. Two contracts from the CEGB for load transporters had been received. The first applied to the 200-ton heavy load transporter (starting tests this month) and the second to a five/ten- ton load carrier for line maintenance, to avoid the considerable damage to farm land caused by conventional transport. The production of com- mercial hoverpallets to be used for freight handling had already begun, revealed Sir Eric. HOMEBUILT HOVERCRAFT In response to a heavy demand from amateur constructors of ACVs, and from student and graduate engineers studying hovercraft design, our series of articles "Homebuilt Hovercraft," by G. H. Williams, is to be published in book form by our associated company, Iliffe Books Ltd. At present the publication date and price have not been fixed. These details will be published in Air-Cushion Vehicles when known.
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