The Last Surviving Giant Passenger Hovercraft

In early 1968, Britain launched a revolutionary new form of sea transport: the giant SRN4-class hovercraft. They are the largest passenger hovercraft ever built, and they could fly between England and France in just 30 minutes - three times faster than anything else on the water. So why don't we have anything like them any more?
MORE INFO
The Hovercraft Museum: www.hovercraft-museum.org/
The museum's "Support Us" page, if you'd like to help them out: www.hovercraft-museum.org/sup...
IMAGE CREDITS
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
www.flickr.com/photos/widnes_...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...

[@PopeLando]

I was laughing so much at the Concorde joke that I nearly missed the callback to the callback 😂

[@reteipdevries]

No Kidding

[@ds1868]

No joke though. I travelled many times on the Princess Anne and in one trip the crossing was made in 22 minutes. Much faster than the tunnel. And it was faster with a car on and off. Much better service than today. You have no idea.

[@jrevillug]

I was waiting for another callback when he was talking about selling it as a premium product and selling as much duty free as possible. 🤣

[@geoffos42]

I worked for Hoverspeed for the summer season in 1982 when I was 18, the last year it flew from Ramsgate. I loved the job there, marshalling the cars on to the hovercraft. The last thing to go on to the 'craft before it set off, was a large suitcase-like box containing passenger manifests and vehicle numbers, etc., and one of us would be asked to hand it to the Car Deck crew before the door was raised. Occasionally, the Car Deck crew liked to have a laugh, and would "kidnap" the person handing over the box, and I was their victim on a couple of occasions. Instead of just taking the box from me, they'd ask me to pop in to the passenger area and hand it to one of the stewardesses, and then I'd get back to the car deck just in time to see the door seal shut! I was then whisked off for a round trip to Calais! The upside of this was that I'd then be able to get the daily Crew allowance of Duty Free (200 ciggies, plus a half bottle of spirits costing £2.50). On a couple of occasions, when travelling for Duty Free on the staff discount, I had the opportunity to make the trip on the Flight Deck, which was a fantastic experience, one I'll never forget; I was seated on the "Jump Seat" between the pilot and co-pilot, and given my own headset so that I could ask questions during the flight - fascinating and practically the only place where you can get a clear view of where we were going.

[@VioletEdgar]

I am so insanely jealous of you right now jsyk

[@Ramsi-Berlin]

WHOW ❕ What a nice story 👌🏼😃 When I was a child I dreamed to make a yourney one day with a hovercraft. But before I could do it the service ended 😢 Same thing with the Concorde. Yeah that's live 😜🤷🏻‍♂️ Love from Berlin 🇩🇪 Ramsi 🙋🏻‍♂️

[@longnetter]

I went on one from Folkestone must admit it wasn't to my taste I'd rather go on a ferry. It felt like riding an electric sanding machine in a monsoon 🤷

[@DaanDeWeerdt]

We went to the UK via Hoverspeed when I was a kid. Absolutely fun way of transport!

[@lebaillidessavoies3889]

I dunno what kind of licence and skills they had? aircraft pilot licence ? boat license?

[@JBS319]

Good news! The Ryde to Southsea hovercraft isn’t the only one in the world anymore! The former hovercraft route in Japan from Oita City to Oita Airport has been re-established! And the ramp up to the airport terminal makes a 90 degree turn. So if you want to see hovercrafts drifting around a corner in ways only the Japanese can, it’s once again possible.

[@Andy-fd5fg]

Tim, when you going to Japan?

[@bishwatntl]

I remember the passenger hovercraft that used to run between Southampton and Cowes doing some neat drifting round corners. One was on the Monday morning of Cowes Week when the pilot clearly hadn't expected the harbour to be quite as full as it was. The look of horror on the faces of the crews of the nearest yachts as a hovercraft came skidding sideways towards them with engines blasting was a sight to behold.

[@cpovey1]

If you go to google Maps, and enter hov.ota as the destination, it will show you the two ends of the route. As of today (July 2, 2024, there is even one of the hovercraft sitting on the ramp just to the left of runway 01 at the airport!

[@marjon1703]

@@Andy-fd5fg More pertinent, when am I going to Japan 🤩 Thanks for the news! @JBS319

[@kiwihuman]

Drifting hovercraft is not something I expected to be on my list of things I want to see in Japan (previously only occupied by maglev trains and fancy toilets) but it sure is on the list now.

[@sarkybugger5009]

I've lived most of my life in East Kent, and helped build Dover Hoverport back in the late 70s. (Now demolished.) We workers were allowed a look around the giant French craft Jean Bertin when it was making test flights. Every seat had a sick bag. 🤮 I never made a crossing on one. Later in life, I helped build the Channel Tunnel, which killed the hovercraft and the Seacat. (Known locally as the Sick-cat or the Vomit Comet.) It was fast, but rolled on a mill-pond. In between the two, I worked on the cross channel ferries. As you can probably tell, a lot of local jobs are tied to Europe, and always have been.

[@althejazzman]

Haha Sick Cat. The Vomit Comet however is better suited to the zero-gravity training aircraft.

[@MercenaryPen]

@@althejazzman I've also heard the class 442 EMU given the vomit comet monicker (this was in the early days of privatisation, and was less a comment on ride quality than it was a comment on the livery they were given at the time)

[@metricstormtrooper]

The smaller Seacats were horrible except on a really flat day, here in Tasmania where they are built we crossed bass strait on one that size in big seas and a 200 mile journey at night was actually scary. The Incat vessels now are much bigger, half as long again but they are actually 4 times the weight and capacity.

[@HistorianOfThings]

Looking for a hovercraft...sees sign reading "Hovercraft Museum"..."I _think_ this is it!"

[@mordecai10000]

British understatement ;)

[@matsv201]

you never know... it might be a tap some big boty goth girl trying to catch a nerd

[@rnbmeister]

Thatsthejoke.jpg

[@danielcaruso5155]

Some say he still isn't 100% sure 😂

[@mcswordfish]

​@@matsv201 One can only hope

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

Ahh the memory of the vibration, the regal rise up into the air as we set off and WOW! the acceleration and sheer thrill of the speed bombing across the channel. Yes, it was an amazing experience and I was lucky enough to go there and back twice.

[@adrianrutterford762]

Thanks Tim. Brought back happy memories of a cross channel trip. I can still hear the sound of other passengers being very ill.

[@jaapsch2]

Same. I was 4 or 5, and excitedly pointing out other ships, while others were holding sickbags.

[@johnturner4400]

Same here. It was the most awful journey I ever took.

[@Pobotrol]

Definitely not the smooth journey floating on a bag of air I expected.

[@chanboubou9245]

Crossed between Denmark and Sweden on a hovercraft when I was a kid, I also remember all the passengers were sick. 😂

[@michaelwant8501]

Yes, it was like driving very fast over a cobbled street while someone blasted white noise at 90 decibels into your ears! With the added downside that you ended up at Calais - What's the best road in Calais? The road out of it.

[@RattersMedia]

The use of a backing song titled ‘No Air’ over the dramatic ending of a story about hovercrafts was far too funny

[@fietehermans9903]

And the Cliff Richard Summer Holiday. Don’t know why people even remember that song!

[@OlliWilkman]

And "Float On" in the bit right before that, when they were still making a profit.

[@sea80vicvan]

Don't forget the UFO theme at the point where we first see the Princess Anne up close.

[@hd_inmemoriam]

And "Surfing on a Rocket" by Air. Which fits the topic in two ways even.

[@osullivanluke]

especially with the chorus being “got me out here in the water so deep” 10/10

[@nemesislooms6315]

I worked as an Immigration Officer at Ramsgate Hoverport, Pegwell Bay in 1970. Travelling in an SRN4 was like being on the top deck of a bus being driven off-road at speed in a thunderstorm. The experience was not kind to vehicles. There was many a Ford towed off with its Macpherson struts poking through the wings/bonnet and once, an old 2CV lost its engine. My how we laughed!

[@domramsey]

I flew on that exact hovercraft several times as a kid. Nothing could prepare you for how loud, uncomfortable, shaky and AWESOME it was. It's difficult for me to get my head around the fact that there's a whole generation who have never seen a hovercraft and in some cases never even heard of them. For my generation it was as normal as the channel tunnel is now.

[@bishwatntl]

I had flown on board the much smaller SRN6 several times before using the SRN4 on the Boulogne route, so I expected it be noisy but it was indeed loud, vibrating and somewhat bumpy. I'm glad the sea was calm; I wouldn't have fancied riding on it in rougher seas. However, it was indeed a quick way of getting my car to France.

[@marjon1703]

I rarely use the word awesome but the Hovercraft and Concorde were awesome. The modern world seems a bit flat without them.

[@glyptodon_ch]

As a child I remember being very impressed by the startup procedure, where the skirt would fill up and we would rise up into the air. I was also impressed that the person in charge referred to himself as a pilot. I had never been on an airplane so it seemed like the height of modernity. Then it moved out into choppy waters and I got sick into the bag that was sensibly provided. It was spectacularly uncomfortable, but I still enjoyed it. I simply assumed that the shakiness was part of travel in general.

[@hairyairey]

​@@glyptodon_chYou realise that you were actually flying didn't you? Not very high granted but it's still flight!

[@RoseRodent]

They used to give the altitude of the flight, I think it was given in mm but I don't remember as detailed as that

[@vaakkuna4827]

How many eels could be fit in that big hovercraft?

[@schlaumayer3754]

🤔At least two

[@philiptaylor7902]

Do you want to come back to my place, bouncy-bouncy?

[@drumstick74]

"I am no longer infected"

[@obroni]

I will not buy this tobacconist's, it is scratched.

[@eriksolie511]

I am from the land of fruits and nuts (California) and demand an eel sizing commission be established to determine how many duty-free eels can be transported to Catalina waters!

[@CaptHollister]

In 1982 my wife-to-be and I flew ourselves and our motorcycle from our home in Canada to London on our way to visit my relatives in Italy. On the day we were due to cross the channel, we were chatting over breakfast with an Australian couple sharing our B&B. They advised us not to order drinks if we took the hovercraft. As it happens we crossed by ship on our way out, but we did take the hovercraft on our way back. The first clue that this might not be smooth sailing was how tight the workers tied the bike down. The attendants offered us drinks immediately into our "flight", but we declined based on the advice we had received. OMG, was it ever the right move: as soon as we were out in open waters the ride became incredibly rough: imagine being in an airplane flying through continuous turbulence. Now imagine trying to drink something while in that airplane flying through continuous turbulence. A unique and worthwhile experience, but very much not a comfortable one and a potentially messy one. Maybe it was just full of eels ?

[@bernardlovegrove7613]

I remember being given a straw to drink through when served my whiskey and soda! Still difficult though.

[@OnbekendeBekendeNederlander]

Having "No air" playing at the moment you tell about the hovercraft being no longer in use is just perfect

[@albevanhanoy]

Thanks for the "Not actual footage" footnote, I was wondering which brand of bus catapult the company was using.

[@iana6713]

Acme Bus-Flinger 3000, I think!

[@hamptonequipment5853]

I went to school about a mile away from the Pegwell bay Hoverport when it opened in 1968, (I was 8) when they were coming in and leaving you could not here the teacher talking the windows rattled,it was bloody great, I heard they ended up putting tripple glazing in the houses in Pegwell bay, we lived in broadstairs which was 4 miles away and you could still hear them, I remember it being built, Dick Hampton's did the muck shift and they trucked the coal shale from a rail head at Richbough power station which came by train from Chislet Collery, and Cementaions built the Hoverport itself, I have some photos somewhere of that taken by my Dad the Sandwich rd was black with coal dust, you would not get away with it now, they were called The Prince Of Wales, Sir Christopher, Swift and Sure.(Hoverlloyd) Princess Anne and Princess Margaret (Seaspeed, British Rail) they held 20,000 liters of AV gas each and did about 2 round trips from pegwell to calias on that and had to fill up again.The Good old days.

[@Okurka.]

That's one long sentence.

[@williamgeorgefraser]

I crossed the channel on one of the stretched Hoverlloyd craft back in 1974. It was so rough the Seaspeed flights were cancelled but we set off. Never known such a bumpy ride in my life and everyone was holding their stomach to avoid throwing up. When we arrived, all the passengers were staggering and it's the only time I've seen green faces. A later trip in calm conditions was much more pleasant.

[@Bouncy8864]

How did the cars do on that bumpy ride? Sounds as if they should've ended up scratched and battered the same as the passengers?

[@briangentle5515]

@@Bouncy8864 All the cars were strapped to the deck so they didn't move about, fortunately. I traveled several times on the hovercraft and never had any damage. We went to and fro dozens of times, both as a kid with my parents and later as a father in my own right with my own son. Always loved it, though it could be uncomfortable if it was too windy. You were best off sitting at the back, it seemed to be more bearable there. We used to smile as novices rushed to the front for the view; totally pointless because all you could see was spray anyway!

[@repletereplete8002]

I was lucky enough to travel on the Princess Anne back in the early 80's on my second trip out of the country. As an 8 year old it was like something out of Thunderbirds or Stingray, smoothly skimming over the waves to France. Thanks for the unexpected hit in the nostalgia, Tim!

[@GregInTokyo]

I was thinking Tim should have used the Thunderbirds music instead of UFO.

[@Keenath]

@@GregInTokyo Isn't that the Thunderbirds music running from where he gets off the bus until he reaches the museum?

[@johnathandaviddunster38]

I'm glad you enjoyed riding princess Anne ...❤

[@GregInTokyo]

@@Keenath UFO Theme: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oGOzoIucj8mMjLc

[@DenUitvreter]

I remember as a kid getting all excited about it and then being relieved when the ordeal was over. The noise and the vibration was nauseating. It still is a very interesting and admirable mode of transport that I'm glad I experienced, but it reaching the other shore fast was the best part of the experience.

[@trainchugger53]

The Gerry Anderson music is well-welcomed!

[@roderickmain9697]

Theme to UFO

[@edwardphilibin3151]

I am retroactively shocked that Gerry didn't work a hovercraft into that series. 😂

[@KingfisherTalkingPictures]

@@roderickmain9697 Is that the music from when he goes into the hovercraft?

[@RockyRailroadProductions_B0SS]

​@@edwardphilibin3151There's one in Captain Scarlet and I think something similar appears in a Joe 90 episode

[@roderickmain9697]

@@KingfisherTalkingPictures yes.

[@pauld6208]

My stepfather was the production manager at BHC and he took me around the factory (I was about 7 or 8) when one of those SRN4s was having new skirts fitted. Got to climb up the ladder to the cockpit. I remember he used to bring home marketing booklets and stuff about the hovercraft which was great for a 7 year old. The factory later built BN Islander aircraft when hovercraft work was short. The Islander was in demand and BN didn't have capacity to meet demand. The BHC factory in Cowes is now a museum for classic boats.

[@bobnelsonfr]

I live in Calais, a few hundred meters from the hovercraft landing zone. Those f**kers were LOUD!!

[@andydredlox8686]

Anything to do with boats hovercraft or sea travel you should have "The MariTIMe traveller" at the beginning 👍

[@glennwillems9924]

.... That's still more than your bottom can do. Genius!

[@russellgeisthardt9828]

Maybe if you were Princess Anne

[@Richardincancale]

Wanna bet?!!!

[@WardyLion]

Challenge accepted - bring on the vindaloo!

[@mandolinic]

Hold my beer - and pass the baked beans.

[@smhorse]

​@@WardyLion: make it a vegetable vindaloo 😂

[@mrowl-the-dsm1304]

I am not from the south of England, but I travelled south to travel on these to Boulogne, and then connected into the fantastic SNCF Yellow Grey Turbotrains onto Paris, The Hovercraft were noisy, (as were the Turbo Trains were too for that matter) and the spray meant the view was restricted depending on how the hovercraft turned, I still have a blue ticket wallet that Hoverspeed gave you for tickets and documents for your crossing I remember these with great fondness, along with the 2 x Jetfoils that went from Dover to Oostende ( as long as the sea was not too rough, then you were simply moved on to the normal ferry) This is a great video Tim Thank You, I really enjoyed it and evoked many happy memories.

[@davidjones332]

I built the 1/144 scale Airfix kit of the SRN4 as a boy. I still remember standing on Ryde Esplanade the year the Ryde-Southsea service started, when they used to come straight up the beach to unload. The racket was unbelievable.

[@gkjsooley]

Your musical easter eggs are brilliant and delightful - hearing "No Air" brought a smile to my face.

[@alexholden]

I’m pretty sure I rode Princess Anne back in the early nineties. Great fun but very loud and the experience was over all too quickly. Brilliant that she has been preserved in a museum.

[@animationcreations42]

I hear the hovercraft is alright too

[@davidrenton]

@@animationcreations42 oh you never, yes you did go there

[@iana6713]

@@davidrenton Thank God I wasn't taking a drink of something when I read the original comment and then that reply... 🤣

[@johnathandaviddunster38]

Amazing you wouldn't think princess Anne was a screamer , was a whip involved????..❤

[@alexholden]

@@johnathandaviddunster38 neigh.

[@oliverpohl7884]

I think I rode on one of these when I was a boy (5 or 6) on a family trip to England (we lived in Germany at the time), would've been the late 70's. My dad says I screamed in fear at the sight of this noisy huge 'monster' coming out of the water. Eventually some treats calmed me down, apparantly.

[@magnusmcgee993]

2:54 Impressed that you kept the Princess Anne joke clean 😂

[@johnathandaviddunster38]

Roger that❤

[@magnusmcgee993]

@@johnathandaviddunster38 Fnarr, Fnarr!

[@TrevorMoses312]

3:24 "But that's still much more than YOUR bottom can do" 😳😂😂😂😂😅😅

[@mikepurdy1738]

Loved the UFO theme tune, which is also my ringtone. Actually picked up my phone and said "hello? HELLO?"

[@hyperdistortion2]

I absolutely love these things for their 60s futurism - a real throwback to the “what could have been” of that era’s tech optimism. On that note, I appreciated the highly appropriate lift-music covers of Gerry Anderson themes! I was lucky enough to travel on one of the extended ones in the early 90s. Hovercraft out, SeaCat back - it still did feel like the future to me as a child!

[@chriscarter2101]

In the late '60's my family travelled to France in an old Bedford CF van, my father had converted into a 'camper van'.(plywood bench seats with no belts, and a portaloo behind a curtain) We parked in the cavernous hold before climbing a short stairway to comfortable airplane-style seats.The ride was amazing, and even the crazy bumping couldn't erase the smiles from the smartly dressed hostesses or three excited kids. One could only see spray from the windows sadly, and walking to the loo was like a fairground ride, but for us it was wonderful.

[@olivier2553]

For having crossed between France and UK and back on hovercraft, when I was a teenager in the 70;s, I can confirm that was amazing.

[@mdhazeldine]

Never been on one, but had a 1980s book as a kid with a cutaway of this beauty, showing all the insides, drawn in watercolour. I had no idea there was a hovercraft museum and they have one! I'm gonna have to put it on my bucket list now.

[@petermclaughlin120]

I can remember taking an old camper based on a Commer van across to France by Hoverloyd. There was an area to book for slightly higher vehicles which we was fine. The motion at speed was really odd, whereas a ship is up and down front to back and left to right the SRN4 would lift and fall in any direction with no rhythm , a giant fairground ride, I found it fantastic others didn't. Thank you so much for reminding me of such a brilliant journey.

[@chrisrand5185]

We travelled on Swift in 1970 with our 1967 Commer Wanderer camper for a tour of northern Europe. We had seats in one of the inner cabins with no windows, so sat and shook. I went for a walk to look out of a window, but saw nothing but spray.

[@Zarkovision]

As little boys we loved the hovercrafts. Not a boat, not a plane and not a car and yet all of this together, of course that was the dream of any 6 year old. And every boy had at least the matchbox version of a hovercraft. I remember remotely a children's TV show from the mid 1970s about children making their own hovercrafts from scrap.

[@williamlloyd3769]

No idea a museum like this existed. What fun! Have on my list now.

[@wswaine]

Gosport also has the submarine museum. That’s worth a visit on its own.

[@jabbertwardy]

It's so strange that the most futuristic vehicles ever operated are in the past. While technology has advanced and vehicles are more efficient, very few rival the ambition of the latter half of the 20th century.

[@kennethvenezia4400]

In 1979, I toured England with a band. Afterwards, I rode the HOVERLLOYD hovercraft to Calais France. It was quite an experience that I will never forget. I treasure my photo standing in front of that beast. I was sorry to hear it came to an end. Everything that has a beginning, had an end. Thank you my British cousins for a wonderful tour and trip. Cheers

[@georgewashington938]

children growing up in the US during the 60s and 70s were fascinated by these hovercraft

[@andrewmasters5020]

Cheers, mush! This is one of my favourite museums. The kids love it. It's a much bigger site than it looks from the entrance.

[@railwaydragon]

I visited this amazing museum back in 2019. They have indeed got a wonderful collection of hovercraft, but the star of the show has to be the magnificent SRN-4. Standing on the car deck you can't help but be awestruck by the immense size of the craft, sadly I never got to see one in action or ride aboard one but I'm glad one has been preserved so I had the opportunity to visit it and look around inside.

[@qwertysds]

In the 1970's dad would get a cheap standby car ticket on Hoverlloyd as mum got seasick and could cope with the bouncing but not rolling of ships. Many happy memories on these Giant Hovercraft.

[@DamnCactus]

"that's so much more than YOUR bottom could do" oh yeah? try me

[@WizardOfOss]

Still one of the coolest things ever made!

[@yshwgth]

The U.F.O. theme, neat. Classic TV.

[@kevskevs]

Aah, that's where I knew it from ... boy, am I old ...

[@heliofaros1344]

It came from...the future

[@Kanbei11]

I thought it was music of the sort that might accompany an old television series about unusual flying objects

[@GregInTokyo]

@@heliofaros1344 The far future of…1980.

[@Tone720]

And a few bits of Thunderbirds too 😁

[@Warpedsmac]

Joe 90? Travelled on the SRN4 from Dover to Boulogne sur Mer in 1974. For a seven year old boy from Sydney Australia it was a great thrill...never forgotten it. Like being in an episode of Thunderbirds. Cheers from Hunter Valley Australia.

[@CrackaPackify]

I live in Hampshire and it's nice to see Tim pay a visit to one of Britain's most niche museums! The people who run the Hovercraft Museum are all very passionate and its very reasonably priced! Well worth a visit

[@FortuneZer0]

Im filled with regret never having crossed the channel to england on one. Granted I was a toddler when in ceased business and didnt have a great leevay of agency, but still.

[@wardinus]

I have the same feeling. I know I must have asked my parents but I was only 9 years old in 2000

[@bastian775]

I was talking about this last month how we were using this to cross the channel when I was a child, and now you make a video about it. how nice 🙂 I remember the horrible fuel smell I think we went twice with the hovercraft. 🙂 oh and it was only like half an hour, and it was quite nice. I don't remember it as something horrible at least. Now we need another video of the seacat catamarans that ran until 2005. I liked those more then the channel tunnel. It was quite a thing cruising with 80 km/h over the channel.

[@fotoline]

Thank you for that. I used HoverSpeed once in each direction across the Channel. My trip to Calais from Dover was exceedingly smooth, but as loud as any turboprop plane cabin inside. "Takeoff" and "landing" were similar to the first/last few feet of a helicopter ride. Synching of the propellers had to be really good, because the lateral shaking was minor, if almost teeth-chatteringly intense at mid-RPMs. Departure from Dover was like leaving a seaside airport tarmac in a low-flying jumbo jet. In contrast, the arrival in Calais felt more like a beach landing in a very large inflatable raft, it was that simple. The return trip from Boulogne-Sur-Mer would be hair-raising. A strong cross-wind on the Channel created choppy water, so HoverSpeed announced we would be running up the coast to Calais first, before turning toward Dover. If you've ever been in a lake boat going full-out on a windy day, such that spray came up over you as you clomped across the waves, that would describe the feeling. There was a certain amount of roll and pitching up and down for a good 2/3 of the journey. The airbags would seem to rise and fall as the cabin lurched from side to side. Comparable in fact to in-flight turbulence at any height. No doubt safe, but still unnerving given the novelty of it all. I don't recall which hovercrafts I rode on, but one could very well have been the "Princess Anne".

[@Hongaars1969]

Wonderful upload. I was fortunate to have crossed the channel on the hovercraft in Dec 1978 and back in Jan 1979. We were young children travelling with our parents. Landed in London from joburg. Dad rented a Ford. We drove all the way to Yugoslavia (and back) within 7 weeks. The hovercraft was a highlight of the holiday. Thank you for this video. Zoltán

[@davidjackson2114]

Love it. I crossed the channel on the Princess Margaret on 26th June 1987, yes it was noisy but so much faster than the ferries and effectively replaced the Golden Arrow train London to Paris before getting on what was left of the Orient Express which by then only went as far as Bucharest

[@kelvinp.coleman563]

Elsewhere, on the same date, I was born. We both had a memorable day!

[@johnathandaviddunster38]

I heard Princess Margaret went more like a rocket than a hovercraft ..❤

[@nigelhudson1948]

Visitors to the museum could combine it with a trip on the Southsea - Ryde service to complete the day. I went on the SRN4 back in 1974. The noise wasn't that bad considering we were travelling across the Channel at 60mph! I did some commuting on the cross-Solent service in the 1990s and it was fast, convenient and quieter. They are powered by diesel engines unlike the SRN4s which used the 1950s aero engines. I suppose in theory that the SRN4s could have been re-engined with diesels but by the late-90s the hulls were over 30 years old. A college friend of mine was working at BHC when the SRN4s were stretched and he said that when they opened them up they were surprised by the high levels of corrosion. I can't imagine what state they were in after several more decades of cross-Channel service!

[@Jerbod2]

Wow just last week I talked to my colleague about this very hovercraft. He nearly didnt believe me it even existed until I showed him. Great stuff.

[@Hannah_Em]

oh my god, that joke at 3:00 actually made me hold my face and say "Timmmm!" out loud, that was a truly spectacularly groan-worthy pun 🤦🏻‍♀ Excellent video as always! I've always been slightly sad that I'm too young to have been on a passenger hovercraft as a kid; in retrospect, I think poor li'l neurodivergent me would have _hated_ the noise of the fans (even the condor fast ferries to Guernsey from Poole for family holidays were bad enough), but... she would have _adored_ the fact she was on a *freaking hovercraft!* I hadn't realised there was a museum where you could still see one of the old giants; definitely going on my to-do list next time I'm anywhere near the solent!

[@colin.d]

I have font memories of the really fast crossing to Boulogne in 1981 on Honeymoon to France. It may have been a bit noisy, but the speed of crossing was its USP.

[@jacobbaer785]

Truly the Concorde of the seas.

[@quuaaarrrk8056]

Fun fact: The N500 to which the SR.N4 temporarily lost out was named after Jean Bertin, one of its chief engineers. Bertin also worked on another project, which has been extensively covered by this channel. Tip: Geoff Marshal, no tea

[@RobWhittlestone]

I loved these hovercraft. I was lucky enough to travel on an SRN4 France-England sometime in the 1990's. It was a very noisy experience and very bumpy but truly unforgettable.As a teenager I had been fascinated by the technology and read everything I could about them. Great video, brings back good memories.

[@amyshaw893]

I did not expect to hear an accordion cover of "the london underground song" lol

[@galinneall]

I rode the SRN4 to Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1988. Amazing experience, but what sticks out most in my mind was the noise and the vibration. Still, it was pretty cool to fly across the Chanel just a few metres above the water's surface.

[@PhilMakesThings]

Nostalgia overload 9000! I loved going on the hovercraft… I had a Hoverspeed toy, which disappointingly didn’t hover… it just had a propeller.

[@gjcenten]

I still remember crossing the channel on one of these SRN4 hover crafts. The thing that stuck with me the most is like Tim mentioned the tremendous amount of noise these vessels made. Despite that, is was a wonderful experience I had as a 9 year old boy going on vacation to the UK from the Netherlands. Understandable that the economics didn't work out and forced them to stop operating. Great engineering and technology.

[@sweetdeliciouscake]

Are any of them full of eels?

[@DirkHalide]

Thank you! 😂

[@Alex-cw3rz]

Why did the submarine blush? Because it saw Princess Anne's bottom... I'll let myself out

[@PadisherCreel]

That must be the modern version. I know it as 'Queen Mary's bottom' 😊

[@ttgandydancer]

Tim consistently excels in delivering exceptional content. From the soundtrack "UFO" to the witty humor, it's always top-notch. Plus, there's usually something new to learn. I salute my fellow transport nerd!

[@bostonrailfan2427]

a fart joke immediately after seeing a video on Tooting…my giggle meter is going to be broken today 🤣 but seriously, you traveled and volunteered so that you could make a video? that’s dedication

[@QuantumHistorian]

Hovercrafts: The inefficient answer to a problem that barely exists. It's a shame really, there's something inherently cool about them, but any vehicle with an even more niche use case than helicopters is going to have a hard time commercially.

[@pras12100]

I got to ride in in an SRN-4 once in the 1970s. It was certainly loud! I remember thinking I would not like to live near a hoverport. I planned to do this again once in the early 1990s but I was thwarted by the weather. When I was approaching Calais there were big signs saying "hovercraft sailings cancelled". I drove on to a ferry and the first announcement I heard was "... and a very special welcome to the hovercraft passengers today" and I imagined I could hear amusement in his voice. It was a very rough crossing on the ferry with a strong crosswind all the way. They closed the on-board café just as they left Calais harbour and it was just as well as nothing would stay on the tables. Getting in to Dover harbour was an interesting manoeuvre. The ferry seemed as if it would miss the entrance by a wide margin but, at the last moment, the engines went to idle. This sizeable ship was then blown sideways by the wind for a minute or two. As soon as the bow was almost pointing at the entrance the engines were fired up and in we went. I think the power was then used in reverse to stop us hitting the quay. Apparently they even considered not running the ferry it was so bad. That was why I did not get to ride an SRN-4 for a second time.

[@dstuart2918]

1984-me and my gf took the hove from England to France. So fun-thanks for posting

[@Cellestion]

These SRN4's were the stuff of legends when I was small. Always fascinated me how something so large could skip along the waves and up a slipway ❤

[@ianoliverbailey6545]

Ah, childhood memories indeed! Noisy, a little frightening at first, but VERY exciting when you're a kid on one of these for the first time in your life.

[@_rlb]

I crossed the channel once on one of those hovercraft. I was 17 and had my bicycle chained to some steel structure on the car deck. Good memories. It was SOO LOOUUD!

[@techjunkie68smusicandtech56]

ooh, I remember a few crossings on that hovercraft between England and France, quite an experience! Glad to have had an opportunity to travel on that a few times.

[@tardismole]

The laughs. Not just the concorde joke, but the insertion of a great musical gag. Excellent stuff.

[@CyclingSteve]

The phrase "day-trip to France" was everywhere at the time thanks to the 'British Excursion Document' which was super cheap and let you travel to France for up to 60 hours without a passport, and the 30 minute crossing plus duty free sealing the deal, other than that I only remember the noise and vibration and not wanting to eat snails as I was quite young. 😁

[@garycollard1981]

I was at this museum last Saturday. Glad i made the visit.

[@PANTECHNICONRecordings]

I was coming back from France one time around 1980/1 and was diverted from the ferry onto the hovercraft for reasons that weren’t entirely clear. It was literally a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

[@Cragsidebaz]

Thanks Tim. Travelled on the Dover-Calais route back in the early 70’s. Way out was great. Smooth, fast, but impossible to see anything out of the window because of spray. Return was a nightmare. Storms had cancelled all the ferries, but unbelievably they decided to do a final run with our hovercraft.😮 Not many passengers managed the keep their last meal in. My dad nearly passed out. We vowed never to go on it again!

[@iatsd]

The 70's TV style editing towards the beginning was most excellent.

[@RaymondCalloway]

Thank you Tim, this was fascinating! Back in July of 2010 I had the opportunity to take a hovercraft, a much smaller model than the one here in your video from, I think it was, Southampton over to the Isle of Wight for a day trip and it was all very enjoyable.

[@scottpaul7427]

Thank you for captioning your videos

[@ProfSimonHolland]

crossed the channel once on hoverspeed....great fun and i remember those seats.and the noise

[@negativenancy9482]

totally forgot about these. i love it!

[@Zodd83]

lovely vid as always. Thank you!!!

[@JAY61ish]

63 now. But I'll never forget our school trip to Paris in the Autumn of 1975. We went on the SRN4 . From Dover. It was great.. noisy and quite bumpy .but brilliant. I now live about 3 miles from the museum but have never been . I must put that right this year.

[@steveparrish1112]

I travelled by these as a child a couple of times in the 60s and 70s from Pegwell Bay and Dover. I remember watching as our craft came in on the 2nd trip with its skirt flapping - this meant a 2 hour delay whilst they fixed it. With the transit motorcaravan stowed in the bowels and tied down with enormous ratchet straps, we went to the passenger lounge. Here were glamorous ladies in pillbox hats, comfy aeroplane type seats, big windows and lots of leaflets for kids to collect. The trip was referred to as a 'flight' by the staff, and once underway, the spray ensured we saw nothing through the big windows! As an adult, I can understand why they didn’t last. As a kid - the smell of aviation fuel, the excitement of boarding, the glamorous ladies, the size of the thing, and the sheer NOISE - fantastic 😊

[@DuncanBooth]

I crossed the channel on the hovercraft several times, it was loud and a bit bumpy but I'm glad I had the chance to do it. The chunnel is slower (in good weather) but probably a safer bet most of the time and definitely a lot quieter.

[@ricksterm1]

I was lucky enough to get to go on these on one of their final days of operation as a kid, I grew up in Dover and got to hear and watch them coming and going on a regular basis. The former Prince of Wales pier had a large concrete wall separating it from the hoverport apron, but a great touch was a series of glazed portholes in the wall so that people could peer through and watch the process of arrival, unloading, loading, engine startup and departure, it was great fun!

[@hannes3452]

Thank your very much for that Video! Great work as always! 🙌

[@domwestgarth1099]

The music is always so perfect Tim!

[@Ernzt8]

Great video as always! Love the animations.

[@yorrickwi]

i love the "no air" at the end XD

[@laurinjoelschafhausen]

I enjoyed that quite a bit. Thanks.

[@CineMiamParis]

A teenager on a very limited budget, I took the regular ferry. Watching the hovercrafts fly past was quite a sight. Still, the old ferry had plenty of spaces where you’d meet other teens, an actual disco (mostly deserted), and decks where you could be seasick without bothering anyone.

[@charonsferryold]

I remember reading about the effort to preserve this thing as a kid, I'm so glad it paid off!

[@kuukeli]

thank you

[@burmesecolourneedles4680]

Fabulous, thanks so much! I'm so glad one still exists! I was lucky enough to go on one of these aged about 12, on a day trip across the channel with my grandmother.

[@kiwihuman]

It's so crazy to see something so close to me getting highlighted in a video like this. I have walked/driven past this countless times, but it is so cool that the peak of hovercraft innovation is right there I never knew that the largest passenger hovercraft ever built was just there.