Hovering Craft & Hydrofoil Magazine September 1966 Volume 5 Number
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Extensrvc sulveys wcle inadc of all possrble sites along the south-east coast sald Mi Colquhoun, but 11 soon became appalent that Pcgwell Bay, adjacent to Ramsgate Flarboul, clearly offered the best and most applopilate condit~onsfoi a hove~polt Moreovcl, ~t allowed space fol late1 expansion as well as meetrng the wlsh of Hovellloyd to lemaln wrthin the Boi ough of Ramsgate D V Buck and Paitners have had conslderablc expcl rence in the plannrng, desrgn and const~uct~onof polls, harbour facrllties and mailne tclm~nalsrn many parts of the wolld Theu first ~ntc~estIn hoveiciaft was 111 1962 when the first-ever passenger-carrying service was staited between Wallasey and Rhyl Commander L D Piice, RNR, who was much con- caned wrth that seivlce whrle genelal manager of the Mc~sey Felries, 1s now mallne consultant to D V Buck and Partne~s "HIS considelable experrence In handlrng large numbels of people wlll plove ~nvaluable to the Hoverlloyd opelatlon," sard MI Colquhoun MI Edward Heath, Le~lder of he Oplioritior~,made rr short Eng~necrs of the Orgtekhsiroi bulldrng adminrst~atron in ~veek-end hovercrcift trip to France mcer~tly. He is seeit Byelolussra have developed an all-cushlon vrbroplatform whrch boa~,dingNoverlloyd's "Sur~"a/ Rnmsgate reduces the haimful effects of thc vrbration produced by such luge machrnes They have leplaced the convcntlonal mechanical suppoit by an arr cushron The new machrne costs half as much to bu~ld as the old-type platlolm and IS much mole eficliclent The new ~nstallatlonhas an all-metal vrbloplatform connected wrth the foundairon by means of an elastlc hood Thls ploduces an ail- proof chamber, Into whrch compressed air 1s pumped flom Iloverllioyd Ltd, whose 36-scatel hovelcraft has been maklng the factoiy all marn It larses the vrbromould off the supports legulai cr oss-Channel I uns between Ramsgatc Hal bour and wh~chthe concrete mass 1s compacted In Calars since May 1966. are proposrng to operate from neal by Remote-contl olled wrth the ald of a small panel, the rnstalla- Pegwell Bay when they introduce the11 SRN4 craft rn 1968 tion docs not requlie a bulky foundat~on It takes almost 2i The Ramsgate Councrl have dgieed to the burldrng of a new tons less metal to make and consumes half as much electrrc hoveiport below the cllffs and plann~ngapproval IS now berng powcl as the convcnt~onaltype sought from Kent County Cou~lcrl The vibroplatfoim of former deslgn dcsttoyed stiong steel Plelrrnrnary plans have been dlawn up foi the lamp suppolts and even Lhe foundations within thiee months of appioaches and standlng apron for the hovelciaft, a tcrminal opcratlon The arr-cush~oned vclslon, installed at Lhe Mrnsk bulldrng to house the passengel receptron hall and restaurant, plecast leinlorced conclete plant, has been operating wlthout admrnrstiatron offices, customs, emrglat~onarid health contiols, leparis foi almost twenty months and all the usual port facllltles needed to handle the half- hour ly arirval and departure ol hoverc~attthl oughout the day MI Leslle Colquhoun, clilef of operatrons fo~Hoverlloyd, stated that soon aftel the SR N6 opelairons had bcgun ~t was realised that the pi oblems of ope1 atrng an SR N4 withln the PGH-2, the hyd~ofo~lgunboat berng burlt by the Roei~~g iestiicted confines of Ramsgale Ha~bourwlthout rlsk of colll- Company 111 Seattle fox the Unrted States Navy, wrll have a slon ol serrous ~ntelferencewrth other harboui tlaflic, weie Blistol Siddeley 4,250hp Marrne Ploteus englne dliving a ccn- almost insoluble In fact, when the ha~bouiwas first seen ~n trrfugal pump to piovlde waterjet piopuls~on Water IS drawn Jdnuaiy of this yea1 doubts weie expressed as to the decisions rnto the leal stiuts of the hydroforl by the pump and dls- that had been taken, but rt was nccessaiy to cont~nuew~th the chalged thlough stem nozzles whrch ale above watei-line planned SR N6 servlce In order to plove that the difhcultres when the vessel 1s at hrgh speed Thrs system is simrlar to one that has completed mole than four years of successful opera- predicted were leal There IS now no doubt tbat the plevarlmg south-west wlnds would cause consrderable drflicultrcs for the tlon aboa~dthe "Lrttlc Squ~it"- a Boeing rcscaich hydroforl la1 ge hover ciaft as they enteled Ilaiboui A water jet has no need fo~the complicated power t~ans- In June, the Westmlnster film of D V Buck and Pdrtners mlasion system lequlled by plopellei ciaft, nerthei are theie weie appointed to advlse Hoverlloyd on the desrgn and con- any lubrrcation problems assocrated wrth keeprng hundreds of stluctron of the pioposed rnteinatlonal hoveipoit Piroi to that movrng transmrssron paits iunnrng smoothly date, the firm had been wolkrng In co-opcrat~on wrth MI The craft will be 71 ft long, and havc a 25 ft beam It wrll Colquhoun on mattcrs concernrng the approprrate s~tecondi- have a speed ovel 40 knots, and wlll dlsplace applox~mately tlons necessaiy to opeiate the SR N4 60 tons It wrll be almed wlth a 40mm gun mounted folwald These Included sea appioaches offei~ngopen watei and slack and an 81 mm mortar aft Twln 50 calible mach~neguns will bcach contours, easy access to load and iarl facrlrties and the be mounted on each slde of the brrdge space 1 equlrements needed to handle passengel and mot01-car The claft wlll use watci jet for both hullborne and lorlborne traffic through the telm~nal opeiatrons Hullbor ue, the PGK urll be poweled by a 150 hp Othcr ~equrremcntswhich have to be met lncludc cal parks, dresel engrne dirvlng a Ruehlel cent~rfugalpump stands foi publrc servlcc vehrcles and taxis and fuelllng and PGH wlll fly on th~eefully submeiged retlactable forls selvlcrng facrhties fol the boveicraft P~ovis~ours also to be whose stablhty wlll be controlled by an automatic electronrc made to incolporate a publrc vlewrng gallery on the roof of system slmrlal to the foil system used rn the patio1 c~aft"High the tcl nllrlal burld~ng A par t~cula~problem assocrated wrth Pornt", a 110-ton hyd~ofollburlt by Boelng (also powered by a the planning IS the nced to piovrde for expansroil as hovclclaft Bi ~stolSrddeley Mar ine PI oteus) whrch entel ed Navy sel vlce tlaffic rncleascs in volume Such expansion would havc to bc In 1963, and "Llttle Squi~t" callled out wrthout inte~ruptionto thc then exlsting operatrons of the hover port The followmg IS an ext~dctf~om the 29th Annual Repolt of The Denny Hovercraft, D2, wh~chhas undergone cons~del- the Air Registration Board, able modlficatlons slncc 1963 (when it suffered a setback on "Thc Boaid contlnucs to partlclpate In the provlslonal the Thamcs due to driftwood foullng and damaging the aliangements whe~ebyall cush~onvehlcles have, slnce 1960, screws) has now carl~cdout successful ts~alsin 11s modified been regulated under the plovlsions of the A11 Navigation form, and 1s expected to leave Southampton towalds the end Oider Authorrty to opeiate IS gsanted by the Mlnist~y of of Septembe~to entel selvlce abload Avlatlon In the forin of a Permit to Fly whlch exempts the Modification has Included deepening of the s~dewalls,fittlng operator from lalge pa~tsof the Ordel and replaces them with of flex~blerubber skirts fole and aft, and the re-alrangement of whatevei condrti ons a1 e cons~dered necessdi y In the partlcula~ the propelling machlne~yso that the shaftlng and propelleis case Whlle these a~langementshave bcen made to work suc- now o~eratedown through the s~dewalls cessfully, their tempo~a~ynatu~e has become an lncleaslng Commandel A F Gllllngham, who has been appointed drficulty to those concelned wlth creating and lmplementlng general managel (planning and plojects) of Denny Hoverciaft, the detall leg~~latlons sard that the pclfolmance now indicated that 11 would be able to reach 28 to 30 knots, an lmplovement of about 5 knots Plogress In the all cushion vehlcle rndustiy IS such that the Boa~dhas inveshgated fifty-nine alr cushio~lvehlcles, fifty- over the unmodihed state No detalls of the new selvlce have been glvcn but ~t is seven of whrch have been rssued with a Permlt to Fly The understood that a new company has been fosmed to opelate majorlty of these craft wele constructed by Westland Alrcraft three Denny craft In the B~ltlshWest Indlcs area, and that Ltd, Saunders Roe Division, who ale now bulldlng the SRN5 and thc SR N6 on a pt oduction 11ne basls Types st111 under contracts have been signed Frnal trlals of the craft w~llbe held at Southampton belo~e construction, and under ~nvest~gationby the Board, ~nclude ~t goes abroad, and it is also Intended to mod~fythe othel two thc SRN4 (wh~chwill welgh 160 tons and calry thirty-foul Denny hovelc~aft(one completed, the other pa~tlallybuilt) cais and 262 passengers), the Hovelmai~neHMI and Hovei- craft Development L~mlted's second cxpelrmental craft, the HI32 A numbei of SRN6 veh~cles ale being commcrclally opelated In the Un~tedKlilgdom by Hoveltravel Llm~ted,by Clyde Hover Felr~esLlm~tcd, by Brit~shRail actoss lhe Solent Mr Gerald Hodgson, product~onmanager and a direct01 of and by Hovel lloyd and Townsend Feir~esflom Dove~/Rams- Hovermarine (who is proposing to bulld th~lty-,slxty- and gate to Calais It IS planned to put the lalge SR N4 vehlcle hundred-seat 11g1d srde-wall type hovercraft) had stated that into opesat~onon Cross-Channel and Solent ioutes, p~obably oiders for two craft of theii series, worth about £120,000, ale in 1968 about to be conhlmcd Both older? are £01 slxtp-seatel ciaft.