If you ’ve ever require to master English by using the phrase“My ground-effect machine is full of eels,”then it ’s time you learned about the history of the strange vehicle known as the hovercraft . Here is a photographic account of this fabled piece of technology .
The first hovercraft design, looks like an upside down boat, by Emanuel Swedenborg in Sweden, 1716
( viaWikimedia Commons )
The first working hovercraft-like vehicle by Dagobert Müller von Thomamühl, named Versuchsgleitboot System Thomamühl, Austro-Hungarian Empire, 1915-1916
( viaEugen Savoyen )
The first scientific description of the ground effect and theoretical methods of calculation of air cushion vehicles, by the Soviet Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, in his 1927 paper Air Resistance and the Express Train
( viaThomas W. Becker : The Race for Technology Conquering the High Frontier / Google Books , p. 113,FantLab , KnigaFundandWikimedia Commons )
The hovercrafts of Vladimir Levkov in the 1930s
The L-1 , 1935
The L5 , 1937
An assault ground-effect machine concept
( viaSoviet Hammer )
Early prototypes by the Finnish Toivo J. Kaario, 1930s
An early Pintaliitäjä ( Surface Soarer ) prototype in 1935 , tested on ice
His second prototype name Patosiipi No . 2 ( 1935 ) was capable to lift , but it was n’t strong enough . In the next year he establish a full one with a two - cylinder Harley - Davidson engine and put a chick under the boat .
In 1939 the Patosiipi No . 8 was done and had a 53hp Porsche engine . It was n’t solely flawless ( there were trembling problem ) but could touch 50 miles per hour ( 80 kmh ) with two people on circuit board .
( viaAxishistoryandPertti Korhonen : Toivo Kaario / PDF in Finnish )
Glidemobile, designed and constructed by Charles Joseph Fletcher
( Photos byAd MeskensandWilliam Maloney )
The Saunders-Roe Nautical SR.N1, designed by Sir Christopher Cockerell and built in 1959 by Saunders-Roe in Great Britain
On the 50th anniversary of Louis Blériot ’s crabby - channel engagement , one of these hovercrafts get across the English Channel from Calais to Dover in almost two 60 minutes .
( viaZeably , Brockiand Edward Miller / Getty Images )
The Aeromobile of William R. Bertelson, 1959
( viaPopular Science , July 1959 )
Princeton’s Flying Saucer, 1959
A Cushioncraft, a circular vessel for use on banana plantations in Southern Cameroon with its designers Desmond Norman and John Britten, 1960
( via Terry Disney / Central Press / Getty Images )
A Hover Scooter, powered by a 250cc twin cylinder 2-stroke motorcycle engine, developed by American engineer Charles Rhoades, 1960
( via Fox Photos / Getty Images )
The Princeton P-GEM, made by students of Princeton University, 1960
( viaFreeman AirfieldsandScience And Mechanics / June 1960 )
Commercialisation of hovercrafts: small-scale ferry service started between the UK and France with Vickers-Armstrong VA-3s, 1962
( pic by Tucker / Fox Photos / Getty Images )
The first production-built hovercraft in the world, the British Saunders-Roe SR.N5 (or Warden class), 1964
( viaGlass Half Fulland fromAll Hands Magazine Nov 1966 / PDF )
The Princeton AgGem with the cockpit bubble of a Hughes 300 helicopter, made by a team in Princeton University, 1960s
( viaFreeman Airfields )
The largest passenger hovercraft ever, the Saunders-Roe Nautical 4 (SR.N4) carried passengers and cars between Calais and Dover between 1968 and 2000.
The Mark I and Mark II models were 130.18 ft ( 39.68 m ) long , but the Mark III ( or Super 4 ) had an awe-inspiring 184.97 ft ( 56.38 m ) length .
( viaAndrew BerridgeandWikimedia Commons )
A London milkman delivering bottles of milk from a hovercraft, 1973
( Photo by Graham French / BIPs / Getty Images )
The 164 ft (50 m) long N500 Naviplane by the French SEDAM. Only two were built in 1976 and 1977.
( viaAernav )
The 300-ton Super 4 BHC Hovercraft named Princess Margaret on Thames, 1979
( Photo by Colin Davey / Evening Standard / Getty Images )
The British RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) hovercraft H-001 Molly Rayner, 2005
( Photo byChris McKenna )
VertiPod, the Segway of the Sky, by Air Buoyant
( viaThe Herald BulletinandGizmodo )
https://gizmodo.com/segway-of-the-sky-tops-my-christmas-wish-list-327172
A Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) of the United States Navy, 2006
( Photo by Michael D. Kennedy / U.S. Navy via Getty Images , U.S. Navy 1–2 )
A Zubr Class Russian LCAC with weapons, the largest hovercraft ever
( viaU.S. NavyandKremlin )
Firefighter hovercraft in Germany, 2009
( viaStoaberg )
FuturismScienceTechnology
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , science , and civilisation intelligence in your inbox day by day .
News from the future , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
