jenko Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 (edited) These were icons in the East Kent corner of England in the 70's and 80's. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-35445419 Remember the booze trips to France ??? Dick Edited January 30, 2016 by jenko 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Knight Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 Hope that museum does get one. Just before their retirement a N.I. business man wanted to buy them and operate them between N.I. and Scotland but the operators wouldn't sell them to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Foster60 Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 I hope at least one is saved. I have many happy memories of using them over their years of service. Did they go out of service because of cost of operation? If they could not compete with the Channel Tunnel would they have not been useful somewhere else? Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 Booze trips to France?? I was far too young then Dick! Oh, ok, I admit, I did go on one.. or two... My brother and sister both worked for Hoverspeed, I knew a lot of staff and the nights out in Folkestone were quite legendary! Very 'Airline' in their way of doing things. Then I guess that they did actually 'fly' across the channel! Much later, I visited Lee-on-Solent and found the two SRN.4s but thought they were actually part of the museum. It will be exceptionally sad to see these icons disappear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
upnorth Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 I hope at least one is saved. I have many happy memories of using them over their years of service. Did they go out of service because of cost of operation? If they could not compete with the Channel Tunnel would they have not been useful somewhere else? Nigel I'd always heard it was a lack of spare parts, particularly for the skirt, that did them in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 I always thought the Gosport/Lee on Solent area fasinating, partly because as you drive along the road you come across these two huge hovercraft. It is a great shame that these exhibits could not be found a new home, the Science museum would be ideal if they could be moved there but I fear not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 A programme recently said it was the change in Duty Free rules that killed them. They couldn't remain competetive and turn a profit. I think RR bought the engines back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever219 Posted January 30, 2016 Share Posted January 30, 2016 Hoverspeed allegedly came by one of those engines by a slightly dubious means: the story is that the MoD (Misery of Disarmament or Mismanaging our Dough) had a hovercraft for sale which, like the SRN4, used the Marine Proteus engine. Hoverspeed were always desperate for engines and associated spares, so two engineers were dispatched to, oddly enough IIRC, Lee on Solent to check it out. They duly looked it over and found the engines to be OK. There was a spare engine lashed down on a dolly on the vehicle deck. Disembarking they checked the terms of the sale with the man from the MoD. "As seen." he advised them. They duly phoned the office and filthy lucre changed hands. Shortly thereafter two of Hoverspeeed's finest jet jockeys arrived, boarded, started up and departed in their new acquisition which, sans engines, would soon be on its way to becoming saucepans. A few days later Hoverspeed got a phone call from MoD Sales. "Did you recently buy a hovercraft off us?" they asked. "Yes," was the reply, "and it's been paid for." "Did it happen to have a spare engine lashed down on the vehicle deck?" asked MoD. "It did." replied Hoverspeed. "Could we have it back, please?" "Have a look at the contract; "sold as seen". The engine was there when we saw it, it's ours!" MoD went very quiet at that point, and stayed that way. A combination of this paucity of spares, rapidly-increasing fuel prices, declining passenger numbers, Maggie's Hole (le grand, sous-mer triple bore) and the demise of Duty Free due to the advent of the rabid nightmare of the so-called Single European Market ensured that the SRN4s just could not compete with the slower, larger, more fuel-efficient ferries on the short sea routes. There had never been the investment in the UK that would have given us better skirts (oo-er missus), more efficient engines and better sea-keeping qualities. At least we were better at it than the French: their effort lasted about two seasons before getting the saucepan treatment. They had built two, but one was destroyed by fire before carrying a single fare-paying passenger and a replacement was never ordered. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roof Rat Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 The government / local government have ear-marked the hovercraft museum site (and a bit more) to build new houses, like the local area roads, schools, doctors ext. can cope now but that's a different story. According to local radio the museum had until midnight Friday 29 Jan to come up with a plan (alternative site), its all gone very quite so I'm not sure what the state of play is. RR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 Do love these 'new housing schemes'. There is seldom the infrastucture to cope, or the employment to support them. Those that end up buying pay way over the odds for a 'ground up' hovel with zero space. I do wish they would look at all the empty housing stock before declaring 'we need to build more homes (on airfields)' Sorry if that's bordering on the 'P' word, but it's in the spirit of the thread. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob G Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 I didn't make the trip to see them when I was there in '07. Wish I had. And ironically, I've just listed my Airfix model for sale... maybe it'll be worth more if I wait a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nomore Shelfspace Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 I went to a Hovershow there a few years ago. There was one SRN4 which you could go in and sit down - lifejackets everywhere! This is a real shame, I'm not sure (as I write) what the decision has been. Hovercraft this size cannot be moved so it would HAVE to be taken to bits just to shift it into the nearby Hovercraft museum. (Just edited for accuracy...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Bradley Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Update: http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/business/update-landowners-working-to-find-new-homes-for-lee-on-the-solent-hovercrafts-1-7193294 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truro Model Builder Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 'ground up' hovel with zero space. SWMBO describes them as 'ticky-tacky boxes'. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Update: http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/business/update-landowners-working-to-find-new-homes-for-lee-on-the-solent-hovercrafts-1-7193294 Signed the petition too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85sqn Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 It's such a shame, I hope that at least one can be saved. I was just down there at the weekend and the entire location they are sat in is historic too- 'Seaplane Square' which leads to the slipway. The whole lot is potentially going to be made into new homes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev67 Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 They should be preserved, I remember going to Calais on one of these, fond memories back in the early 80's, I will certainly sign the petition https://www.change.org/p/homes-and-communities-agency-save-the-princess-anne-the-last-remaining-srn4-hovercraft-for-the-nation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhouse Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 SWMBO describes them as 'ticky-tacky boxes'. She's in good company. Pete Seeger had similar sentiments about 50 years ago... https://youtu.be/I_FB9bwyp6M?t=35s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestar12chris Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 Signed petition, used to be a country of inventiveness and engineering, now a nation of shop keepers sadly. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenko Posted February 3, 2016 Author Share Posted February 3, 2016 Signed as well............. They were a better expierence than the "vomit comet"..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 Signed as well. The SRN4 hovercrafts are British icons which must be saved. The idea to cut them up is just crazy. I was lucky enough to use the hovercrafts several times when they were still in service to go on holliday. They looked better from the out side than from the inside when I used them the last time but it was still and always a great and unique experience. Too bad that they are long out of business now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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