Hovercrafts of the English Channel

A 2009 TV program about the english channel hovercraft
B8C C04ST s04 e01

[@MatthewAnnissMusic]

Went on one of these to Calais in the mid 90s from Dover and it was fantastic. Loud, brash, beautiful machines that as a kid I absolutely loved. We will never see them again and that is a shame.

[@fanofjets]

I still remember flying on one of these beauties back in 1976. I believed she was named "Princess Margaret." A brilliant machine!

[@dominicliner1609]

Daniel Berek yes they are very great hovercrafts the SRN4's. In June 2019 I went to the hovercraft museum and I boarded the Princess Anne SRN4 Hovercraft.

[@denishoulan1491]

We used to take the One pound non landing trips hovercraft trips. It started when my cousin got married and six of us took the trip to get a lot of duty free. On the pound trip you qualified for full Duty free allowance. You bought your booze, placed it on a trolley which you took to the Hovercraft, where it was loaded. You took the trip to Calais and stayed aboard whilst the craft was turned around. Went back to Dover where you took your booze loaded trolley through customs and to you car. We took these trips occasionally for many years. Until the service was closed.

[@petesstuff]

Went across the channel in a hovercraft from dover in may 1981 ... for a 10 year old lad it was amazing but would be much more amazing if I could do it now !

[@violetmartha916]

Had a school trip to Boulogne via hovercraft in 1976 ... Watching this really brought back lovely memories.

[@dominicliner1609]

In June 2019 I went to the hovercraft museum and I boarded the SRN4 Anne Hovercraft.

[@retrothingz]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting. As a car and plane mad kid of the ' 60s, I remember the hovercrafts as being an intriguing oddity that really caught my attention.

[@IAmSoMuchBetterThanYou]

Thanks for posting. Imagine a vast nuclear-powered hovercraft crossing the Atlantic way faster than any ocean liner. They used to dream so big.

[@richardwarren8283]

used these all the time back in the day remember so many smooth crossings

[@GenaF]

I never knew they were so big and certainly didn't know they carried cars too. My secondary school in Nottinghamshire owned a hovercraft. I never knew the history of it. It was a similar size to the one the woman is on, maybe a little smaller and the teacher Mr Hoffman used to take it on the school field at dinnertimes.

[@waltersantos3190]

I'm so glad I got to cross the channel on the hovercraft it was nice smooth & quick just no fun the ferry on a rough sea day is fun

[@Meanmanmartin2007]

Went on one of these around easter 2000 between Dover and Calais. We were meant to go on the Seacat but it was cancelled due to a combination of mechanical problems and rough conditions in the channel. From memory a good number of the passengers were ill during that journey although me and my family were fine.

[@Watthexe0815]

So loved this 😢

[@jeremyhaines4481]

I remember the hovercrafts good times x

[@donuranyer]

Great clip! Awesome and beautiful reporter, perfect :) Would have loved to see a huge nuclear-powered hovercraft crossing the Atlantic, though xD 07:53

[@bobsto997]

My grandparents used to live on the cliffs above Ramsgate and seeing these amazing craft powering out of Pegwell bay was a stunning site. The hoverport itself was the stuff dreams are made out of. It looked like the future had arrived. I have never in my life seen anything so magnificent as the giant hovercraft sliding on and off the ramp. So sad they are no more, finished because the government decided to subsidise a tunnel despite there being no economic case for it.

[@Truthseeker1515]

+bobsto997 The tunnel but also the ferries, it's all about economies of scale....

[@Aviationnation10]

That's so cool!

[@BartLCY10]

That's the British spirit! Where is it now? What happend?

[@sweetgirlsoles]

Oh, Britain has still Mr Bean, who proudly carries the Union Jack out into the world.

[@chzuniga1]

me habria encantado viajar en una de estas naves

[@Sterlingjob]

Sounds like there will be some news on them soon, though i doubt they will fly again

[@Porkcylinder]

So now we’re getting our duty free back bring on the hovercrafts

[@DJromT]

part 2 is the actual visit of the Hovercraft Museum !

[@Oakleaf700]

Do bothercrafts no longer run? at ALL? I went on a few, and they were bumpy but fast.

[@WeMuckAround]

I've travelled on the Solent hovercraft and they're fine but that cross channel hovercraft scares me. I have no idea why, its just the look of it!

[@dylandrake]

Isle of Wight hoverrtravel ferry still runs to Portsmouth or should I say Ryde to Southsea beaches

[@paulgeldreich1890]

I know it sounds kinda funny, but is that a UFO in the background which shines then disappears into the clouds? Could be anything but looks cool anyway.

[@MrCashFever]

Duty free will return to ferries after Brexit.

[@teleconferencing-arkadin6748]

#Amazing #ChannelXing @#DoverDownes

[@paxwallacejazz]

Ground Effect vehicles are in a way a type of Hoover Craft pioneered by the Soviets and they are superior in every way to these lumbering clumsy inefficient contraptions. Swift safe smooth and able both theoretically and in fact able to carry huge cargo loads for less than Aircraft. Look em up.

[@QuadMochaMatti]

Ground effects craft are type of "Hoover craft"? Seems like they would totally suck then, too. Plus the fact they are Soviet in origin - well, let's just leave that crap right where it is.

[@jeanclaudedewez8263]

Moyen de transport rapide sur mer et sur terre lors du débarquement

[@MegamanX4ThArmor]

Why is every nice technologie with a "soul" declining

[@seamanjive]

Wound down....and trait a paind a paind...

[@_dude..]

Alice Roberts... PHWAAAARR

[@bobsmith-zj2ky]

30 mins in and only half way?????? That's not rough sea's. i must of been on HoverSpeed 15 times

[@marcjary2662]

À quand le retour de l'hovercraft ? 35 minutes de traversée entre Boulogne-sur-Mer et la Grande-Bretagne. Plus efficace que le ferry (1:40) mais moins compétitif que l'Eurostar (30 minutes, hors embarquement Vigipirate). Le tunnel à tué l'hovercraft mais pas le ferry. Pourquoi ce paradoxe ?

[@justindouglas7043]

Marc, le vidéo explique que le tunnel n'à pas tué l'hovercraft. Il à été la suppression des ventes hors tax (Duty Free). Parce que le carburant se faisait plus & plus cher (je pense que hovercrafts ont besoin de beaucoup de puissance par personne), ils n'étaient plus économiques. Vous pouvez toujours aller en hovercraft au Royaume-Uni sur le service entre Portsmouth et L'île de Wight, but sans les voitures. www.hovertravel.co.uk/about-hovertravel.php] [Marc, the video explains that the tunnel didn't kill off the hovercraft. It was the end of Duty Free sales that made it no longer economic with spiralling fuel costs. I think that hovercrafts of need a lot of power per passenger. You can still go by hovercraft in the UK on the service between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.]

[@bobbylockes]

Uk joining the eu ruined the hovercraft business? It should start up again soon then.

[@Invescom]

English Channel...??? Hahahaha...!!!

[@mrnatty122]

The EU strikes again,same old story just like the way we had to get rid of the london Routemaster bus because it didn't meet eu emissions

[@pklongutoobe]

+mrnatty122 It was time for it to go. It was completely inaccessible to wheelchair users.

[@scopex2749]

mrnatty122 EXACTLY so get us the hell BREXITTED and lets build new updated SUPER HOVERCRAFT! Fast furious and cheap Did they not have boarding ramps pklongtoobe?

[@travisbickle6648]

@@pklongutoobe That's a bit lame, use the tunnel or ferry if your in a wheelchair "simple"

[@cjmillsnun]

@@scopex2749 They were never cheap. 4 jet engines that drank fuel. The ferries were more profitable, the tunnel more profitable still. The ticket price was also more expensive than either the ferry or the tunnel. They were going to go sooner or later. Hoverspeed wanted to get rid of them by 1994 but they didn't have enough SeaCats.

[@drgustaf2450]

NOTHING about this crappy service was stylish or pleasant.

[@jeanclaudedewez8263]

Pourquoi l'avoir pris ? La critique rien que de la critique,prend une barque et tu verras la différence