Hovercraft.

'Riding on the magic carpet.'

What a great invention, that today has multiple uses around the world from swamps to tundra, to deserts and sandy river estuary's. The hovercraft has come a long way, via the military and ferry travel to perhaps more practical applications.

Nearly every country in the world uses the air-cushon system from search and rescue to pleasure activities. This is only a touch introduction, but later we will take closer look at those early day developments and visit Russia, Italy and the U.S.A., while coming back around the Great Britain.

Hovercraft.

The exciting days of the Dover to Calais hovercraft have now gone, replaced they say by the Channel tunnel rail link to France. But I think that this form of transport would still be viable. The hovercraft was much faster than the conventional ferry, because it skimmed over the Calais sands. 


Today we see that the RNLI have found value in smaller machines for rescue work on the sands off Avon and Somerset, while others work the Dee estuary between NE-Wales and the Whirral. 


Many military versions of the hovercraft were built in the former Soviet union. But alas another British invention seems to be put to the side lines, because of politics?