Hovering Craft & Hydrofoil Jun 1967 Volume 6 Number 9
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HOVERING CRAFT & HYDROFOIL THE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF AIR CUSHION VEHICLES AND HYDROFOILS .Lq Number 9 KALERGHI PUBLICATIONS INE 1967 can your defence strategy succeed without the world's latest hovercraft weapons system ? . .the BH.7 which brings a fast attack version (FAC) and mob~le,eas~ly-concealed shore new dimension to your the logistic amphibious bases or from mother sh~psat sea defence planning. version (LAC). Only BHC hovercraft have been This 40-ton pacesetter is now BH 7 has a lot to offer. l~sedIn combat On operations on offer with firm delivery W~th~ts 3,400 s h p. Rolls-Royce w~thboth Br~t~shDefence Forces dates and prices, and will start Mar~neProteus gas turb~ne.BH 7 and the U.S Navy they have rolling off the production lines IS a completely Integrated weapons proved themselves In every cl~mate in 1968. Already the British system carrylng formrdable frre from trop~caljungles to the frozen Government has announced power at a crulslng speed of arctlc. its intention to order both the 75 knots, by day or n~ghtfrom BRITISH HOVERCRAFT- WORLD LEADERS IN THE HOVER TRANSPORT REVOLUTION BRITISH HOVERCRAFT CORPORATION LIMITED 8 IS ASUBSlDlARY OF WESTLAND AIRCRAFT -,.. ..., LIMITED ,..... ,. ,..,.. ,.,..'. , MWNIbritish hovercraft corporation limited YEOVlL ENGLAND JUNE 1967 VOL 6> NO 9 Editor : JUANITA KALERGHI HOVERING CRAFT AND HYDROFOIL is prodrrced by Knlerghi Publications. 50-52 Ulntrd/ord Srreet, Lo~rdon, WI. Telepho~re WELbeck 8678. Prinred in Great Britni~t by Villrers Ptrblicnriorrs, Lo,rdorr, NWS. Anrrual subscrip- tion: Five Gtrinens UK and equivalent overseas. USA $15 There are twelve issires nn~~rrally. Contents of this issue are the copyright of Knlerghi HOVERING CRAFT Publicnrions. Permission to reproduce pictures and text can be granted only rrtder written ugree111ent.Extrncrs & HYDROFOIL or comnrents may be made with due acknowledgemerfl ro Hoverifrg Craft and Hydrofoil. FOUNDED OCTOBER 1961 ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE L. Te~npleRosswick Ltd, 3 Queens Corrrr, Qrreetrsway, 5812 First Hovering Craft & Hydrofoil Monthly in the World London, WZ. Teleplrorre BAY.slvnrer ADMIRALTY WAVE TABLES? HE advent of hovercraft and hydrofoils and other fast- fishing and diving equipment, data-recording instruments T moving craft has made the height and character of and a host of other aids. Businessmen are quick to note waves- those "undulating inequalities", as Dr Johnson the commercial opportunities that are opening up, and calls them, which wind makes upon the sea - of particular they need fact.r. interest to many seagoers. It is thought that there is now a Thc general public in its pursuit of leisure is taking to need to bring into one book all the information on waves the sea in ever-increasing numbers, and the lifeboat service that is now partially available in several placcs, as well as finds itself called upon far more frequently than before. the data hidden in records from the past. There are also those who go in for ocean and round-the- In World War 11, landings on enemy coasts from assault world sailing. Wave tables will be needed on many a craft created a need for detailed studies to be carried out charthouse and cabin bookshelf. concerning wave heights and lengths likely to be encoun- It is suggested that a standard work entitled Admiralty tered on the day, and these facts were of equal interest to Wave Tables should be compiled to take its place along- 6 the supply build-up organisation. In some cases the infor- side the Admiralty Tide Tables. The tables must, of course, mation was limited to certain areas and certain timcs of the be historical, based on averages obtained from existing year, but in others investigation covered the entire year. records. Tides are relatively tidy and predictable. Not so Over the years the sea state at the end of each watch has the waves. The height and period of the waves may be been noted in ships' log books. Light vessels, weather ships deduced from measurements of wind speed and direction ; and offshorc oil rigs have maintained regular and accurate however, in many cases wind speed and direction vary surveys. continuously. World interest in the harvest to be gathered from the Wave recordings have been made by Ocean Weather seas and oceans is increasing rapidly. This harvest is not Ship Weather Explorer and then by her replacement, confined to fish and fuel but includes geological and Weather Reporter, on Stations A, I. J and K in the North chemical products as well. Its value has already reached Atlantic since 1952. The instrument used is the Shipborne some £5,000 million a year. Developments in the branches Wave Recorder. The ship is on station for about two- of science involved in these on, in and under the sea thirds of the year and her time is fairly well distributed mztters are only just starting, with the population explosion over the four stations. The National Institute of Oceano- triggering interest in this hitherto largcly neglected area. graphy has now sufficient records available from each Apart from obtaining information for military -in its month at Station "Juliett" to allow a year's analysis to be widest sense - requirements, oceanographic ships of many made. The rcsults of the analysis are divided into the four countries are busy collecting data on a wide range of sub- seasons, and give separately the characteristics of wave jects, and the race amongst the world's leading maritime height, period and spectral-width parameter; the joint nations for the acquisition of sea knowledge is running occurrence of height and period is also given. parallel to the space race. Wave information has its place Wave recordings have also been made in Smith's in the list of sought-after details. Knol! Lightship From March 6th: 1959, using a shipborne Technical journals are publishing articles on advanced (Cot~titlucdon page 35) IN THIS ISSUE Hovercraft Offer Canadian Great Lakes All-Weather The Hovercraft Pioneers 4 Transport Operation 14 People and Projects 6 "Hydrofoils" - Book Review 17 Letter to the Editor 11 Turbines in Hovercraft 20 A Hover Transporter 12 Supramar's PT-150 Dc 25 ' COVER PICTURE : Residenrs of Kingsvi!le, O~~tario,turned out ill force to welcome /he Bell Aerosystems nir cushiotr vehicle - nfter it truvelled about 250 miles across frozen Lnke Erie from Buflalo, NY Bell demonstrated the craft to Pelee Isla~rd residents nnd officials of t1ie Cmladian and Ontario Governments to show how the amphibious vehicle could provide year-round trnns- portation to and from the Canadian or US mainlands. (See story, page 14) The Hovercraft Pioneers Bryan Cooper The first three articles in this series described the pioneer hovercommanders, the men responsible for testing the first hovercraft prototypes and developing new techniques for piloting this new form of transport. But what of the pioneer designers, the men who took Christopher Cockerell's basic concept and made it a reality? Foremost among them is Richard Stanton Jones, MA, DCAe, CEng, AFRAeS, at one time Chief Designer of Saunders-Roe, who was appointed Technical Director of the British Hovercraft Corpora- tion on its formation in 1966 and became Deputy Managing Director later in the same year. N his spacious office overlooking the waters of Cowcs Stanton Jones came into the l~overcraftindustry. like so I harbour, Richard Stanton Jones looks back on a career many others. through his work as an aircraft designer. As that spans the whole history of hovercraft development a boy, born in 1926, he was always fascinated in aircraft over the past ten years. The various craft on which he and and aircraft design. Aftcr obtaining an MA degree at his design team have been engaged, starting with t112 experi- Kinp,'s College, Cambridge, he went to study at the College mental 4-ton SR.Nl and now leading to the 160-ton SR.N4, of Aeronautics at Cranfield and obtained a diploma, with have between them chalked up more than 23.000 operating distinction. His first job, in 1949, was with de Havilland hcurs. no mean achievement in so short a ueriod. Aircraft, but less than a year later he joined Saunders-Roe as a senior aer~d~namidist.He was subsequently put in "rZI1 our carliest studies back in 1959 showed that, to charge of the High Speed Section, and in 1955 became make economic sense, the real need was for a craft of over Deputy Chief Aerodynamicist. 100 tons." says Stanton Joncs, a quiet, soft-spoken man of Later that same year he emigrated to the United States forty-one who combines a dcep-rooted faith in hovercraft to work as an aerodynamicist on the F.104 Starfighter- with an assured manner that one cannot ever imagine becoming in fact part of the early "brain-drain". But in becoming ruffled. "But we could not go straight to this 1956 he was back in Britain. now as Chief Aerodynamicist from an experimental craft of 4 tons. We had to feel our of Saunders-Roe. By this time, Christopher Cockerell was way and learn as we went along." trying to arousc interest and find backing for his hovercraft This meant a long programme of research and develop- idea. Stanton Jones had done a lot of work in the Unitcd ment, much of it breaking new ground although based States on blow-down flaps for ground effect, and the similar on Stanton Jones' own experience as an aerodynamicist. principles involved in the two ideas appealed to him. At Further craft were built and tested, modified, and tcsted one time thcre was even a suggestion that Lockheed might again. And now all this work has resulted in the 30-car.