HOVERCRAFT DEVELOPMENT HOW BRITISH INDUSTRY IS EXPLOITING AN INVENTION

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31057, 12 May 1966, Page 18

HOVERCRAFT DEVELOPMENT HOW BRITISH INDUSTRY IS EXPLOITING AN INVENTION

/By a Staff Reporter of the "Financial Times") [Reprinted t>v arrangement.]

The hovercraft probably ranks second only to Britain’s 12-metre America’s Cup yachts and heavyweight boxers in the problem it experiences in living with an inflated public reputation. In its early days it was at once hailed as further proof of the continued ingenuity of the long line of great British inventors stretching from James Watt to Frank Whittle.

Later, like Whittle’s jet engine, it has been bitterly attacked as an instance of the inherent British slowness to develop its own inventions while the world runs away with the profits. If in the popular imagination the hovercraft was expected to outdo Jules Verne, with visions of low cost transatlantic journeys, revolutionary 300 m.p.h. trains and cushion-borne armies sweeping across deserts and steppes, the facts were bound to be more prosaic. Nevertheless, April 30 was an important milestone in the long and slow road which will eventually lead to the realisation of some, if not all, of the popular dreams. Hoverlloyd, the joint Swedish • America - Swedish Lloyd subsidiary, and the British ferry operator, Townsend, simultaneously began services from Ramsgate and Dover respectively, to Calais. Using the 38-passenger, nine-ton Westland SR.N6, these routes represent the first scheduled hovercraft services over open water on a major route. Although Vickers have had an experimental service from Rhyl to Wallasey and hovertravel are already operating a regular service to the Isle of Wight, it is the cross-Channel route which will attract public attention. Calm Water Only This is, in a way, rather a pity. For the SR.N6 is essentially a calm water hovercraft designed specifically for coastal and estuary routes. Hoverlloyd regards the initial service as only a prelude and a means of crew training for the far larger 160-ton SR.N4s, which it has on order for 1968. This craft, which is capable of carrying 32 cars and 250 passengers at roughly three times the speed of a ship, will really make the hovercraft a serious competitor on the Channel. Meanwhile, there is a danger that public enthusiasm may be blunted somewhat by experience with the small SR.N6, which is comparable to a single-decker bus, and is licensed by the Ministry of Aviation to operate only in wind conditions of less than force 5 and in seas with less than five-foot waves. As any small-boat sailor will know, these conditions can be rare in the Channel even in summer.

Hoverlloyd carefully weighed the pros and cons of starting a service before the large SR.N4s were delivered and finally decided that the risk of allowing another operator to become established on this route out-weighed

the possible disadvantage that prospective passengers might be put off by an irregular and occasionally uncomfortable service. There is little doubt that this was the correct decision, although British Rail, which is the largest single operator of ferry services, has decided to wait until hovercraft have proved themselves before jumping into the Channel trade. Military Uses If the hovercraft operators attract most of the limelight, it is the development work at Cowes and Itchen which is really fascinating. The recent merger of the hovercraft interests of Westlands—who originally took over the Saunders Roe development project with the company's helicopter designs—and Vickers into the British Hovercraft Corporation was a logical step to promote efficient research and development. Currently design studies are concentrated on the military uses of hovercraft on three lines: as a fast patrol boat; a hovership of some 300 to 400 tons which could be developed into an anti-submarine frigate; and as a replacement for the Army’s amphibious Duk- 's. Civil development is concentrated on adding to the current range of third generation hovercraft with some sizes intermediate between the 160ton SR.N4 and the 9-ton SR.N6.

Westland’s original research programme called for a straight progression from the experimental SR.NI through various intermediate stages to the SR.N4, which was regarded as the smallest feasible size for economic operation. The reason for the apparent diversion to build the even smaller SR.NS and SR.N6 and now the intermediate sizes was that Westland’s discovery of flexible sidewalls has made the small hovercraft a commercial proposition. 23 On Order

The demand for these vehicles can be judged from the fact that Westland already has 23 on order and has felt justified in laying down a total production batch of 40 in advance of firm orders.

Although B.H.C. has plenty of work on hand in selling ’ts existing designs and filling the gaps in its range, the Jules Verne enthusiasts will doubtless wonder why the company is aot pressing ahead with 2000-ton hoverliners. The answer is simply a question of ancillary technology; as yet gas turbine engines large enough to power mammoth hovercraft have not been developed; and the largest existing gas turbines are both too fuel-con-suming and too dependent on frequent overhauls to be suitable for marine operation.

The next big step forward will almost certainly be in military applications. Both the British and United States navies are very interested in the idea of a small hovership, and Westland feel that thev could have a 1000-ton frigate, capable of 90 knots in combat but patrolling as a normal ship, ready for service by 1975. The Inter-service Unit at Lee-on-Solent has been evaluating the 37f-ton SR.N3 for three years now, and Army experience under realistic conditions in Borneo has been favourable, so that large military orders for some interim development variants seem likely as soon as the results can be digested by the military machine. Production Capacity If orders should start to roll into the British Hovercraft Corporation—and orders from British Rail and Townsend for several of the £lj million SR.N4s would seem inevitable in the near future—the newly amalgamated consortium will have enough capacity to deal with them. In addition to the Vickers and Westland works on the Solent, the firm has just bought the East Cowes shipyard of J. Samuel White which would be suitable for large hovercraft or hoverships. But once hovercraft really become established there are bound to be any number of shipyards or aircraft companies throughout the world which will embark on hovercraft production. It is in this light that West l land's licensing agreement with Bell Aerosystems and Mitsubishi should be seen. Westland’s own helicopter business was built up on a licence from Sikorsky and the firm is well aware of the ad vantages on the other side of the licence. With royalty payments on all craft made by the two firms, as well as a licence down-payment and technical information exchange, Westland stands to do well out of the system. Value Of Patents

In any case, the ballyhoo about giving away Britain's lead is based on a misconception. Very few of the patents on hovercraft really exclude any other manufacturer: for instance flexible skirts could not be denied to competitors. Nor would sales to America be possible without a licensee, for Congress’s legislation on “Foreign Bottoms” would require special dispensation for every import. Westland’s attitude is that the merger with Vickers and technical exchange w’ith Bell—who have already built their own hovercraft in the United States—and Mitsubishi, will speed development: but that once hovercraft reach the stage of large scale production, the market will be so large and diverse that other firms with special ised abilities will be needed to help exploit it.