Four Incredible Machines That Are No Longer With Us

[@iainamurray]

You can still get a Hovercraft to the Isle of Wight. They advertise them as “flights”

[@jamiekay133]

Exactly what I was going to say as soon as Simon said hovercraft! It is the last one though. Sadly didn’t travel on it when I last went to Wight in 2006. Got the WightLink Ferry from the neighbouring dock in Portsmouth.

[@lukehayward5455]

There is a hovercraft museum in Gosport (across the water from Portsmouth) and that's where the hovercraft used to leave from to travel to Isle of Wight

[@iainamurray]

@@jamiekay133 I think he ended up referring to the specific model rather than them in general, but as far as I know, the Isle of Wight ferry is the last hovercraft route in the world.

[@duncancurtis5108]

Aeroglisseur in France.

[@ujustgotpwned2008]

Southsea (on the mainland) to Ryde (on the IoW) if I remember correctly. Hovertravel is the operator. They haven't got any SRN4s any more, they phased out all of their SRN4s, SRN5s and SRN6s and haven't had any since the early 80s. Their fleet these days just consists of a pair of Griffon 12000TDs. Those two hovercraft make Hovertravel the largest hovercraft operator in the world lol.

[@iansinclair521]

Fun fact. I once drove a standard US pickup truck into Big Muske's bucket -- and back out, only having to make one backup move. Almost made a U-turn without backing.

[@DianeDonald]

I rode a hovercraft across the channel in June 2000 on a trip to Europe with my high school French club. I had no idea it was about to become a thing of the past.❤

[@mickstereftb]

I live 5 minutes from the hovercraft museum in Lee on the Solent where the large beasts are rotting away. One gone already and one left, Princess Anne

[@AJ.Roberts]

I’ve been on the hovercraft a few times, they were bloody loud while under power

[@ThatGeezer]

The Channel hovercraft weren't just loud, but uncomfortable in any sort of swell, since they bounced across the wave tops. I crossed to France on one once - and got a normal ferry back.

[@ming-huakao8205]

@@ThatGeezer I can see what you mean. I've only been on the Channel hovercraft once and that was when the weather wasn't that great. That was, well, exciting ... :D

[@mjc8281]

I was trying to explain them to my kids, having crossed the channel in the early 70s in one and the best I could come up with it was like being on top of your washing machine while sitting on a cheap moulded plastic chairs you get in school.

[@joppadoni]

People are mental.. How do you put projects like this together is beyond me. Amazing engineering.

[@hlrose71]

Yet another reason why engineers and designers get the big bucks

[@billt6116]

I'm surprised the oil companies did not buy them up surplus, And use them instead of an ice road across lakes, And the polar sea.

[@wolfgangBuonarotti]

in sections

[@GreatSageSunWukong]

Simon do not just judge the hovercraft on the crossing you are forgetting it was quick to dock and faster to load, because they just glide in up a ramp and drop there own ramp and the cars just start rolling off/on, very fast indeed compared to a ferry.

[@urlauburlaub2222]

No. A well designed ferry just doesn't need to glide up a ramp, but could break similarily good, while having a more secure and higher travel speed. All features, beside gliding on ice, can be done better without hovering and without further costs.

[@AlexanderWright1]

I've been to the hovercraft museum at Lee on Solent. Highly recommended! You get to walk around the Princess Margret, as well as being able to see a number of other hovercraft rarities, including the first hovercraft prototype.

[@lukehayward5455]

Pretty happy to live close to this.

[@anonemus2971]

I grew up where the Big Muskie was operated. My dad used to build the roads it moved on. I got to go inside of it once when it was down for maintenance. I also knew a guy that was cut in half when one of the cables snapped during a cable replacement. The winch brake failed that caused a runaway of the spooling motor stretching the cable to the breaking point. The bucket would hold 3 Greyhound buses. There are pictures of them changing out the undercarriage, the number of machines needed to pull the belly pan out is staggering.

[@0fficialdregs]

lucky

[@beagleissleeping5359]

Big Muskie made the list!😊 I remember seeing it from a distance before it was disassembled. Edit: You can go stand in the bucket at Jessie Owens State Park in Ohio, not in The Wilds Safari Park which is actually about 12 miles away but worth the short drive.

[@eastgermanhattrick3330]

I used to see it when camping at the Strip Mines. It was amazing.

[@0fficialdregs]

it's one of my favorites of all times :D

[@kmrtnsn]

The U.S. Navy is the largest operator of Hovercraft. They’re called Landing Craft Air Cushion or LCAC.

[@desperadox7565]

But not operator of the largest Hovercraft.😉

[@bettyswallocks6411]

Strictly speaking, the Tu144 can’t be considered an aeroplane in the truest sense, in that it didn’t do a very good job of flying.

[@mircomuntener4643]

The thing that most blows my mind about that tanker ship is how low the thing sits fully loaded. It's barely afloat!

[@eekee6034]

As I understand it, a lot of cargo ships today are designed to just let the big waves sweep over the deck. This fact scares me a little, for some reason :)

[@hj60dot5]

@@eekee6034 There are many videos from the pilot houses of these ships showing just that. They just go through the wave.

[@medler2110]

The TU144 and Air France Concorde shown the stands are at the Technik Museum in Sinsheim Germany, you can go up on the roof of the building and climb inside them.

[@urlauburlaub2222]

The TU144 looks like it was based on the toy model of the concorde, with all the energy spent afterwards to make it flyable with the lowest possible investment. A very "agile" "sprint", and propably they point fingers at the Concorde designers, they stole some of the papers.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

0:30 - Chapter 1 - Hovercraft 4:30 - Chapter 2 - The Tu 144 10:15 - Chapter 3 - Big muskie 14:45 - Chapter 4 - The seawise giant

[@tigeriussvarne177]

Took the Hovercraft from Calais to Dover and back, several times, and it was awesome! I will never forget the noise they made.

[@renefrijhoff2484]

As an addition to the SR. N4. The fuel cosumption was also a big contribution. With maximum power they consumed 700 imperial gallons an hour.

[@Behindtheadrenaline]

An incredible but lost machine, not saying it was good, but I would love to see it in a museum; the Antarctic Snow Cruiser

[@BatCaveOz]

Calum would approve.

[@SkeelesFortySeven3277]

We used to drive by Big Muskie between my parents' house and my grandparents' house when I was a kid. I've always loved heavy equipment, so it was always a big deal to everyone in the car.

[@0fficialdregs]

one of the best ever

[@hearingthesmells2500]

6:01 that’s the information we understand

[@richardpatton2502]

So…Big Muskie was less than half the price of a super yacht of today… It boggles the mind All the best to everyone

[@NavyVet4955]

Average cost of a super yacht runs around 30 million which with the inflation adjustment is considerably less than what the Big Muskie cost.

[@faeembrugh]

When travelling by hovercraft from England to France in 1977 (I was 12 years old) I was most disappointed that you saw nothing out of the windows as they were just a constant spray of seawater! Pretty smooth and rapid mode of transport however compared to the ferry.

[@Tommy-he7dx]

I've always said that those giant hovercraft would be perfect for any "Ice road" heavy haulage. They wont sink that's for sure

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

I think moving that much cold air can cause problems, icing of props, etc. I'd assume at some point there's a lower temperature threshold at which they become risky or inefficient comparatively.

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

Also ice is sharp.

[@Outside85]

But they will crash into that tree over there and you wont have enough control to stop it.

[@Tommy-he7dx]

There are stories of these Flying over boats when crossing the channel, They do sit above the ground by quite a bit, to the point where the drivers are called Pilots, and the skirt is a flexible rubber and made of many pieces, making it harder to damage the whole skirt.....and the skirt isn't needed to the thing to fly, but it certainly makes it more efficient and controllable , not perfect but not like it's a weak or vulnerable craft. You are right, there would become a point where the temperature will effect the craft. But these are engineering problems that wouldn't be too hard to solve. Ultimate it'll come down to a cost/time analysis. It's unlikely that equipment would be lost as even worse case you can retrieved it after the ice has melted. If a route could be worked out using rivers these would be working all year around also.

[@macmcgee5116]

I think the maintenance costs for them is WAY higher than trucks.

[@MoA-Reload...]

I worked for SeaCat/Hovercraft back in the day. Most of my time was spent on WPC Fast Craft. The fast cats basically took over from the Mountbatten'. Not quite as fast at 36-38knts instead of 60knts they were considerably quieter, had greater carrying capacities and were more fuel efficient. By far their biggest advantage was their performance and stability in rougher weather. The SRN4's couldn't operate in weather force 5 or above. Even some conventional ferries won't go above force 7. The Seacat kept on trucking up to force 9 weather which is hitting storm force. Roughest I've ever been out in was aboard Seacat Scotland taking her light ship from Bel - Dover. Massive storm force 10-11 off the coast of Wales and it still felt like the ship was just having fun even while we were lashing the Cpt to the seat to stop him being thrown out it 😂 In 2005 rising fuel costs and competition from budget airlines ended SeaCat/Hoverspeed's run altogether. The old Incat 74's are with a Greek operator and being run into the ground with the previous Blue Riband holder Hoverspeed Great Britain laid up and being stripped for parts to keep her sisters the ex Seacat Scotland and Seacat France running. The Incat 81 Seacat Rapide and Diamant are with Balearia operating out of Florida.

[@stuartwhobson]

I rode the hovercraft across the channel when I was in fourth grade. It was amazing

[@wendycregan2147]

I was on a hovercraft that was let out in the worst weather, the skirt flipped up smashed windows down one side passengers were injured lost radar and had to limp back to France. It was a nightmare, imagine being in a force 7 in the middle of the Channel sitting on the top of the biggest wave and then just dropping it was so scary. We ended up travelling along the French coast for miles trying to find the port. When we got back they then stuck us on a ferry to do it all over again. I flew a lot more after this😅

[@matthewmadrid3918]

At 11:54 there are two men in the foreground in front of Big Muskie. You have to zoom in to tell they are people.

[@fauzirahman3285]

I remembered taking a hovercraft in Singapore to one of the southern islands of Bukom. It was a pretty fun experience. It must have been stopped a couple of decades ago.

[@XtreeM_FaiL]

6:43 You can say that about the Concorde too. Not having nose flaps force you to make more complex delta wings.

[@gabbyn978]

(laughs) I just knew it - if anyone wants to compare the Concorde with the TU-144 by visiting them both within an hour, they will have to travel to Sinsheim, Germany, as this is the only place where they are on display side by side. And what is visible in the background at 6:20? The name Sinsheim on a wing. Talking about excavators... the german lignite excavators work in a different way; they scoop the earth up with a rotating wheel that seen from the side looks like a buzzsaw, because the buckets are attached to the wheel. The wheel is attached to the end of a long arm and can be moved up and down. The arm again is attached to an engine house mounted on caterpillar tracks. On the other side there is a conveyor belt that moves the material back to a line that brings the coal to a factory, often a power plant. These machines are often more than 200 meters in length, 50 meters wide, and 95 meters high. The whole construction weighs more than 14,000 metric tons and is powered by electricity that is provided by a cable. If you ignore the latter (which means these machines do not run on their own power), they are the largest and longest ever made. They are still in action, but as Germany wants to cease the usage of fossil energy, their days are by now numbered.

[@svenlima]

The 20 minutes ride on the hovercraft from Dover to Calais was the most sickening thing I've done in all my life!!! Never before I got so sick - I wanted to die.

[@itsROMPERS...]

I had to literally pry my wife's hands off the arm rests, one finger at a time, she was so clenched from the experience. It was a nightmare that I'll never forget.

[@johnmorris7815]

The SR N4 (not 94 as you kept saying) was really put to death over her engines, as you said she had four Bristol Sidley marine Proteus engines directly developed from the aviation version designed to power the very short lived Bristol Britannia, unfortunately when it was clear that large turboprop engines where completely obsolete they simply stopped making them and soon after stopped making parts for them. To re engine the SR N4 proved to be impossible as no similar engine existed.

[@ewok40k]

another one: AN-225 Mrija, one of the first victims of Russian attack on Ukraine... plane lover in me still grieves

[@24934637]

Now that was an amazing plane! Hopefully one day another will be built!

[@joshuabamford9500]

@sideprojects - the Antonov An-225 Mriya definitely deserved an honerable mention

[@johnvaleanbaily246]

You failed to mention Silver City Airways, who using the Bristol 170 Freighter flew cars from the early '50's from back and forth from Lydd in Kent to Le Touquet, France.

[@anthonyjackson280]

I picked up on that as well. But I think we can assume he meant 'affordable' mass market transport in the same way conventional ferries were. Silver city could manage 1 or 2 cars at very high cost per trip.

[@EAcapuccino]

04:30 - OH YES! 👏 👏 👏 👏 Concordski! I loved that on Megaprojects. One of your VERY FIRST!

[@coweatsman]

Could have also been called the "Discordski", being discordant with good sensible design and unreliable. There was also the other supersonic airliner being developed but which was abandoned. That was the Boeing 2707, AKA the SST of the USA, bigger and faster than the concord or the TU144 but which became too costly and too complex.

[@Iris_and_or_George]

Haha nice, I saw your comment and thought you spelled it wrong (on purpose) but no! Concordski is a thing😂

[@coweatsman]

@@Iris_and_or_George There is such a thing as convergent evolution from different lines of descent of animals or ideas but the TU144 is rather more than what would be accounted for in convergent evolution. Subsequent to the collapse of the Soviet Union documents prove the industrial spying involved.

[@nicholasmoore2590]

I was on a Navy patrol ship in Hong Kong, on our way up to Japan for a visit, and we passed the Seawise Giant. Coming through the haze it looked like an island! In fact, the officer of the watch did check to make sure that it wasn't as we were a few hundred miles from any coast. She was empty and on her way to the Gulf but man, I have never seen anything that size floating before or since.

[@SC1ENCEP1E]

I went on the hovercraft from Dover to Calais and back. It made some bloody racket

[@petert3355]

Not a good trip to have a migraine on huh?

[@coconutsmarties]

..wait why is Dara Ó Briain on the side of that bus at 11:49

[@stueymon]

I understood that reference!

[@edwardgardner4625]

Nah, it’s Gru from despicable me

[@tripolarmdisorder7696]

There was a documentary on Big Muskie a number of years ago that featured a video of it walking, and there was a commercial dumpster sitting on top of its foot. The foot also had a ladder up the side, but it reminded me of the opening of "Red Dwarf" on the BBC.

[@duncancurtis5108]

Seaspeed Hovercraft didn't even have a bar or a loo for the short trip from Dover to Boulogne. Off we went in 83 decked in our cub scout duds.

[@bsadewitz]

No bar, ok, but no provisions for ... ? That's confidence.

[@AlistairKiwi]

I remember taking the hovercraft to Calais. The windows were pointless. Once the engines started then the windows were covered in water spray. The noise was beyond belief.

[@TheAslakVind]

NASA actually ran a TU-144 for scientific experiments, after she was discontinued commercially.

[@stueymon]

You know 11:53 you can see people on the ground near Big Muskie that really provides some context to the size of it

[@urlauburlaub2222]

The actual thing is, that Big Muskie was not really about it's size but the bucket's size. The German Baggers were not only bigger, but also more efficient and more variable, but had external power sources, what reduces their weight. The Muskie was about the "independence" from everything but the oil powering it, what all added up to it's heavyness, without actually being the most heaviest even though massive amounts of oil in it. So, it was about having the biggest, independant "hand" shoveling up earth in one tug.

[@ProjectNOTOS]

Some of them look like Hurricane Hunters, we did a video about those

[@michaelmullen4445]

Used to love taking the hovercraft between Dover and Calais.

[@stevenanderson9719]

I was on the motor ferry in 1985. It was announced about the accident with the hover craft. We were told that when the ferry was entering the sea wall, a 16 feet wave hit the hovercraft and pushed it into the sea wall. The ocean in the channel was extremely ruff with 20+ waves.

[@mikeoleksa]

Japan has adopted hovercraft into it's military defense force called LCAC (Landing Craft Air Cushion). They are HUGE and carry a sh*t ton of troops, vehicles, weapons, and other equipment to engage amphibiously. They are incredible to see in action.

[@sammic7492]

I used to commute to the mainland every day from the Isle of Wight and would get the Hovercraft, and it is still running now. My father in law used to work at BHC (British Hovercraft Corporation now Westlands)

[@fredschmitt456]

Am I blessed? Well, I was on an SR-N4 "Mountbatten" once as a young boy, with my dad and his car. So, yes...

[@bretp5601]

I wish you guys would have talked about what happened to the strip mine where Big Musky was. It was turned into a sort of safari park called The Wilds. It is a really wonderful place.

[@DeBaRe]

0:43 -- nice Audi 200 :)

[@SemiDad]

The Tu-144 was later used by the Soviet space program to train pilots of the Buran spacecraft, and by NASA for supersonic research until 1999

[@scottkellogg3502]

I took a trip on one of those hovercraft across the channel in 1980. I've never been so seasick in my life.

[@faheemwyne5098]

I've made the journey on the cross-channel hovercraft, in 1973, in a VW campervan which had set out overland from Pakistan to the west coast of Ireland (and back!). Even though I was a child back then I still remember the crossing from France to Dover to this day.

[@haredr6511]

You forgot the 2 most incredible machines ever to exist…….. the Space Shuttles and SR-71 Blackbird.

[@brinta2868]

This is not a toplist... just four machines. I'm sure the Space Shuttle has been in another video, or else it certainly deserves its own video.

[@luciusesox1luckysox570]

I went on one a couple of times in the 80's and the speed was mental... as was the seasickness in anything other than a flat calm :)

[@alexandrebacci6589]

Excellent video!!!

[@GrahamCole-w2d]

Hovercraft museum is an excellent place to visit - unique!

[@flamefilms7614]

Should've mentioned the AN225

[@eekee6034]

But they say they're going to rebuild that one.

[@bentboybbz]

I fully believe that the hovercraft didn't continue to succeed because they didn't have the determination and hustle needed... they could have marketed it as a unique and fun way to cross, taken sight seeing routes, then they could have setup for transporting odd, oversized, unpowered etc things across, they could have also doubled down and made it even faster, for fun, when time is more important, higher payloads etc, not to mention it's a freaking hovercraft and you can just take it anywhere.... they could have found the customers...😂

[@Gharris4662]

Went to the Hovercraft museum at the weekend, am sure my wife loved it. The Princess Margaret is massive. I do hope the museum can get some lottery funding or these will be lost to history

[@glennac]

My wife and I rode one of the “Hovercraft” across the English Channel in the early 90’s on a trip to Europe. Fun…but LOUD!

[@xMentalukx]

I live close to pegwell and remember the hovercraft there, went exploring the site once it shut when I was a kid, and got removed by angry security

[@tigersharkzh]

11:30 An SR-94. WTF is that?

[@mechanicalpictures2945]

The most uncomfortable way to cross the channel, especially when the sea became a bit choppy. If you ever rode on one then any nostalgia is through rose tinted glasses. Catamarans that replaced them were much better, but nothing beats the tunnel.

[@itsROMPERS...]

I took the hovercraft across the channel in the 80s, and the rough crossing had people barfing all around me. It was horrible.

[@enothewonderdog]

I remember building an Airfix kit of the massive hovercraft when I was a wee small boy. I wish I'd got to go on it!

[@pbimpactresearch4727]

I actually remember HoverSpeed in the 80's. I never rode on it but my dad was working in west Africa and he would do some weird thing where he would go from Paris across the channel and fly to the states out of London. He had pictures of these boats.

[@murrayscott9546]

Took that from Dover to Calais, 1990. Rough day, it still amazes me how those high-heeled attendants managed to keep their feet, carrying trays of duty-free.

[@cyberleaderandy1]

Concorde and the TU144 both crashed in France a few miles from each other, but took off from different airports. Very sad 🙁

[@scottkellogg3502]

You might want to note that the Tu-144 was also used by NASA as a flying supersonic research lab in the 1990s.

[@danielkarlsson9326]

Fun fact. Seawise giant is indeed the longest single hull ship ever built. but not the widest. Whilst seawise was beeing built in Japan The Widest one was beeing built half a world away in Uddevalla Sweden as the TT Nanny. Nanny was the widest ship ever built period until 2013. She was to high to fit under the then still standing Almö bridge (Destroyed 1980) so they simply had to build her funnels to fold whilst crossing under same with her masts. Another Intresting part is that Uddevalla Shipyard was not the biggest shipyard by any means in Sweden as Gothenburg had by then the biggest Shipyards in the world. Arendal Shipyard in Gothenburg was by far the most intresting as it built some of the largest ships then seen to man indoors. Something no other shipyard do even to this day. and it was truly a megaproject.

[@uniquekarnage]

A fire department in my town still has a hovercraft. Isnt used often as its usually broken but its still there.

[@rjmac3095]

Seawise Giant / Jahre Viking is not the longest ship, that title goes to Prelude FLNG at 488m long. It doesn't carry cargo or passengers though, it is a floating liquid natural gas (FLNG) processing platform. Prelude FLNG's displacement is 600,000 Tonnes.

[@alanhilder1883]

I use to have a couple of photos that I took to do with the size of a dragline ( not this one ). The 1st was from the public road showing a dragline with what look like tiny little cranes with it. the other photo was of one of those cranes closer, they were the biggest road transportable with only a little on-site construction ( The crane would drive to site with only 1 other semi trailer of bits to bolt on to use it ) it was huge. I have also been on one when it went for a walk, not fast but something that big going that fast...

[@fpostgate]

a full year, 18,000 workers for decommissioning! That is a hard thing to include in the initial cost estimate. Building manufacturing sites, I think now have to include that kind of cost (in some places), amazing.

[@IianaDRK]

That sounds like an accurate technical term used for soviet vehicles

[@tlwisner]

Jetfoils were fun to cross the channel back before the Channel Tunnel.

[@kkobayashi1]

The biggest issue with the Tu 144 was the short range. A supersonic airliner that can't fly across the Atlantic is useless.

[@wizzyno1566]

Why would a tu144 need to go to america? 😂

[@kkobayashi1]

@@wizzyno1566 I belive Aeroflot had regularly scheduled flights to the US during the 70s?

[@ZuulGatekeeper]

@@wizzyno1566 Supersonics main feature was fast intercontinental travel but the TU144 did't have super-cruise like Concorde with it's 6000+ mile range. It's engine's drank so much fuel it had the range of a small reginal aircraft around 1500 miles. It also could not maintain Mach 2 for long a few minutes at a time or those engines tore themselves apart so cruised at around Mach 1.4. All it was good for was short internal flights it would never have got certification outside of the Soviet Union it was a flying death trap so much so they retired it from commercial service after just 50 or so flights after developing over 250 inflight faults & meter long stress cracks appeared in the fuselage.

[@matthewmcgrath8886]

I think I've nearly caught up on all of your videos

[@fawziekefli2273]

My dad was a hovercraft pilot for the army. He later joined the navy.

[@Rhiannonganon]

Tu144 did look like a sad puppy when its canards were deployed, specially with the droop snoot 😂

[@hannahcave4403]

What i am learning is rolse royce makes big engines.

[@DanielGreen-j4c]

12 times the displacement is not 12 times the size but nice job Simons writer. Good video

[@billt6116]

People may also be familiar with the size of the Queen Mary, For her being preserved as a museum ship in California... And a fine ship she was.

[@dreadlordken3824]

I road to France on the giant hovercraft in '77 or '78. It was like being on an airliner and amazing! As we hit the shallows in France I looked out the window and saw people just watching us fly by.

[@dreadlordken3824]

*rode also

[@creaslin]

You got your beard trimmed! Looks good.

[@TheJediCaptain]

We need an Into the Shadows of the final "nail in the coffin" flight of the Concorde.

[@rapidthrash1964]

11:03 that's not big muskie; I believe that is a crawler cable shovel called "The Captain"

[@marflitts]

Somehow the bucket for Big Muskie doesn't look big enough compared to the size of rest of the machine.

[@ikonic_artworks]

I technically am a former employee (custodian) of Bucyrus and I cant get over the way simon pronounced it lmao

[@gunkyzip]

You could fit two Dara O'Briains in Big Muskie's bucket! (Megabus joke)

[@34toony77]

As someone who grew up on the isle of wight and had to travel constantly to the mainland with a hovercraft...I don't think the first one is accurate

[@maddiethomas5892]

Thanks Mr. Whistler and all.

[@bettyswallocks6411]

Ironic that both the Tu-144 and Concorde crashed in Paris.

[@AndyEightSevenFive]

Bucyrus is not so much defunct, it was acquired by Caterpillar and it's models rebranded.... there were two(that I know of personally), and likely more, electric mining shovels that were under assembly on site at the time CAT took over that were mostly complete and wound up getting repainted and rebranded with CAT colors and Badges. Many of the stamped parts still have BE logos.

[@figodwnnieto2581]

Great video on now long gone greats, but need to make a slight correction about the Seawise Giant. The ship didn't sink at all when bombed by an Iraqi jet. It's a common incorrect piece of info on the ship's story. There are actually photos you can view online of the ship after the attack and it's very much still afloat, just burnt very badly due to the massive oil fires from the attack.

[@ClevaTreva]

Despite valiant attempts to preserve them, many hovercraft including the SR.N4 are sadly rotting away at the Hovercraft Museum in Lee-On-Solent. As I understand it, the charity can't get much needed Lottery funding all because they don't have permanent tenure at the location. Anything you could do to help promote the charity?

[@raymondmartin6737]

While in Europe in 1979 we took Seaspeed from France to UK and back going then to London and Oxford from there. 😅