Hovercraft
Author
Discussion

Pothole

Original Poster:

34,367 posts

310 months

Monday 19th April 2010
quotequote all
Something the ginger who now does the Radio 2 breakfasy show said this morning piqued my interest...he made a passing remark about someone turning a key in the rusty lock on the hanger wherein lie....cross channel hovercraft! (to supplement the ferries and tunnel to bring people across the channel) Were they all actually scrapped or just mothballed?

EFA

Edited by Pothole on Monday 19th April 11:45

BigS

873 posts

201 months

Monday 19th April 2010
quotequote all
Well, there's 2 of them here
http://hovercraft-museum.org/

Simpo Two

92,583 posts

293 months

Monday 19th April 2010
quotequote all
I can't help thinking we did it so much better at Dunkirk. 338,226 men out in nine days.



Better still, it would really cheese the French off.

andy97

4,784 posts

250 months

Monday 19th April 2010
quotequote all
BigS said:
Well, there's 2 of them here
http://hovercraft-museum.org/
Arhh yes, happy memories of HMS Daedalus

Shar2

2,268 posts

241 months

Monday 19th April 2010
quotequote all
andy97 said:
BigS said:
Well, there's 2 of them here
http://hovercraft-museum.org/
Arhh yes, happy memories of HMS Daedalus
yes

andy97

4,784 posts

250 months

Monday 19th April 2010
quotequote all
Shar2 said:
andy97 said:
BigS said:
Well, there's 2 of them here
http://hovercraft-museum.org/
Arhh yes, happy memories of HMS Daedalus
yes
1983-87 (with a year at Culdrose in the middle) - I was on WL Tiffs course & subsequently on 899.

Shar2

2,268 posts

241 months

Monday 19th April 2010
quotequote all
andy97 said:
Shar2 said:
andy97 said:
BigS said:
Well, there's 2 of them here
http://hovercraft-museum.org/
Arhh yes, happy memories of HMS Daedalus
yes
1983-87 (with a year at Culdrose in the middle) - I was on WL Tiffs course & subsequently on 899.
1984-87 with a year at Yeovilton - I too was on WL Tiffs course, unfortunately flunked it and became AEM went straight to 899 then 800. This is getting a bit spooky.

andy97

4,784 posts

250 months

Monday 19th April 2010
quotequote all
Shar2 said:
andy97 said:
Shar2 said:
andy97 said:
BigS said:
Well, there's 2 of them here
http://hovercraft-museum.org/
Arhh yes, happy memories of HMS Daedalus
yes
1983-87 (with a year at Culdrose in the middle) - I was on WL Tiffs course & subsequently on 899.
1984-87 with a year at Yeovilton - I too was on WL Tiffs course, unfortunately flunked it and became AEM went straight to 899 then 800. This is getting a bit spooky.
Well, we probably know each other, then, & certainly the same people. I was there at the same time as Rob Vickery, & Scott Lidbetter was the CO. My boss was Colin Brazendale. Other people I worked with included Mel Crooknorth (on nights), Danny Faulkner and John Phesse. I was a hopeless Tiff so got promoted as a Seaman Officer!!!

Edited by andy97 on Tuesday 20th April 06:19

anonymous-user

82 months

Monday 19th April 2010
quotequote all
The top picture (aerial view of the museum) is quite an old pic. I believe the smaller of the three Hovercraft (on the right) "Swift" was broken up a few years ago.

Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 19th April 22:48

hidetheelephants

35,592 posts

221 months

Tuesday 20th April 2010
quotequote all
The wiki says the surviving 2 SRN4 Mk3 are for sale, has anyone got a spare £500k? I recall Hoverspeed required that the new owners could not use them for commercial work(anticompetitive gits; they replaced them with some aussie catamarans which were a good 70% slower in block time), but they don't exist anymore, so... tongue out

mrmaggit

10,146 posts

276 months

Tuesday 20th April 2010
quotequote all
andy97 said:
Shar2 said:
andy97 said:
Shar2 said:
andy97 said:
BigS said:
Well, there's 2 of them here
http://hovercraft-museum.org/
Arhh yes, happy memories of HMS Daedalus
yes
1983-87 (with a year at Culdrose in the middle) - I was on WL Tiffs course & subsequently on 899.
1984-87 with a year at Yeovilton - I too was on WL Tiffs course, unfortunately flunked it and became AEM went straight to 899 then 800. This is getting a bit spooky.
Well, we probably know each other, then, & certainly the same people. I was there at the same time as Rob Vickery, & Scott Lidbetter was the CO. My boss was Colin Brazendale. Other people I worked with included Mel Crooknorth (on nights), Danny Faulkner and John Phesse. I was a hopeless Tiff so got promoted as a Seaman Officer!!!

Edited by andy97 on Tuesday 20th April 06:19
My Dad was at Yeovilton in the FAA just before the end of WW2, as an engine fitter on Corsairs. He has a few tales to tell, I can tell you. Not the least was that they managed to kill a pilot every week, through one means or another, mostly pilot error trying deck landings on the runway. Oh and the controller that they swept up after a Corsair went through the control caravan.

Shar2

2,268 posts

241 months

Tuesday 20th April 2010
quotequote all
[quote=andy97]Well, we probably know each other, then, & certainly the same people. I was there at the same time as Rob Vickery, & Scott Lidbetter was the CO. My boss was Colin Brazendale. Other people I worked with included Mel Crooknorth (on nights), Danny Faulkner and John Phesse. I was a hopeless Tiff so got promoted as a Seaman Officer!!!

email sent.