Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,948
1 October 2010
08:3373220#1
Tonight in Dover hovercraft supporters are having a celebration(if thats the right word) on the Hovercraft somewhere in Dover.
No details known, presume it wuill be on the sea front.
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Guest 648- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 258
1 October 2010
09:0973224#2
I think it is being held at The Ramada .Im not going but it brings back many memories .I have been listening to the Radio hearing old friends speaking .A wee bit sad but life goes on .
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,948
1 October 2010
09:1373226#3
My biggest laugh(now they gone)_ was the speech the lady gave on safety.
She said under each seat theres a life jacket, Idont usually look, but i looked down and there wasnt one.
Did mention it, and this was on the way over, thankfully it was only 30 minute journey, and nowt went wrong, and the journey home was ok to.
But it got me thinking, and being more observant
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
1 October 2010
10:3373238#4
Yes it is a private event for ex-staff at the the hotel
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 703- Registered: 30 Jul 2010
- Posts: 2,096
1 October 2010
10:3673240#5
WE did two trips to the Goodwin Sands on them, great fun and raised loads for charity as the staff worked the shift for free.
Guest 673- Registered: 16 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,388
1 October 2010
11:3373256#6
Chris and I were on the penultimate trip out to the Goodwins and duly made members of the Goodwin Sands Potholing Club. Great fun as Ray says.
Guest 684- Registered: 26 Feb 2009
- Posts: 635
1 October 2010
11:4373257#7
Great memories. Used to love the fact you could hear the sound of hovercrafts leaving and arriving wherever you were in Dover. A sonic landmark. And a noise consigned to history, sadly.
I worked a couple of summer seasons on the hovercraft in my student days (crew HQ: The Mogul! Fantastic pub - also sadly no more) and went on a couple of trips to the Goodwin Sands when I was a reporter on the East Kent Mercury.
Happy days. Nice to hear that all the former staff are having a get together. There was always great cameraderie.
Cheers all,
Andy
Guest 673- Registered: 16 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,388
1 October 2010
11:5773261#8
I was also a regular at The Mogul when Frank and Charlie were running it. Great days.
Guest 643- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,321
1 October 2010
13:2273279#9
The last flight of the Hovercraft out of Dover
The Princess Margaret's last ever trip to Calais was on Sunday 1 October 2000
It is 10 years since the final flight of a Hovercraft out of Dover.
A hovercraft is a vessel which skims the water on a three foot cushion of air. When it reaches land it simply deflates that cushion and sits down.
It needed no special ports or tying up and could cross the Channel in half an hour. It was simple and it was British.
The world's first metal hovercraft crossed from Calais to Dover in two hours on 25 July 1959 with its inventor Sir Christopher Cockerel on board.
The first two cross channel passenger services started in 1966 with a Hoverlloyd service from Pegwell Bay to Calais.
The flight crew from the summer of 1976
The two SRN6 craft called Swift and Sure were put into service and at 7.30am on 6 April 1966 Swift made the first crossing. On 14 June 1966 Townsend Car Ferries launched Britannia to cross from Dover but bad weather and technical problems saw that service withdrawn by July.
The world's first hovercraft car ferry made its maiden trip from Dover to Boulogne on 11 June 1968 and crossed in 25 minutes reaching speeds of 50 knots.
That year also saw the introduction of the first SRN4 craft which were powered by four Rolls Royce Proteus gas turbine engines.
A new Hoverport at Western Docks in Dover was built in 1978
The Princess Margaret came into commercial service for Seaspeed and was officially named by royalty. The first summer trips cost just £3.50 for a single journey and £3 for a day round trip. One year later the Princess Anne came into operation.
By 1971 there were 78 weekly flights from Dover to Boulogne and 88 from Pegwell Bay to Calais.
In 1978 the new Dover Hoverport at the Western Docks was put into service at a cost of £14 million and the newly stretched SRN4s were put into use to carry more cars and make the service more viable.
At its peak, in 1982, the Hovercraft was carrying 2.5 million passengers and 400,000 cars in just six months but the site at Pegwell Bay was closed to commercial traffic and used only as a maintenance base.
The only visible sign of the former Hoverport is a single propeller
But in 1994 the Channel Tunnel opened and even though the Hovercraft was still the fastest way to cross from Kent to France, its days were numbered.
On October 1st 2000, the last Hovercraft was brought up onto the beach outside the former Churchill Hotel in Dover at the spot where the first hovercraft had landed in 1959.
Crew and enthusiasts had gathered and she flashed her lights and bowed her head to mark the end of an amazing reign at sea.
There's always a little truth behind every "Just kidding", a little emotion behind every "I don't care" and a little pain behind every "I'm ok".
Guest 643- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,321
1 October 2010
13:2773282#10
View | Delete
View | Delete
View | Delete
Report and photos courtesy of BBC newspage
There's always a little truth behind every "Just kidding", a little emotion behind every "I don't care" and a little pain behind every "I'm ok".
1 October 2010
13:2773283#11
I only went on a Hovercraft once, but for me, an acute sufferer from travel sickness, it beat the ferries hands down. However, I do not miss the noise. Even when we lived in Hillside Road you could hear it coming and going. Now I live down here by the sea I am grateful it no longer exists.
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
1 October 2010
13:2973285#12
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 684- Registered: 26 Feb 2009
- Posts: 635
1 October 2010
13:3473286#13
Love these photos. Love that postcard, Ed!
Sue Nicholas- Location: river
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 6,025
1 October 2010
14:4273293#14
In my loft I have many pictures of the Hovercraft and crew .My husband left Seaspeed when it merged with Hoverlloyd .
Guest 673- Registered: 16 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,388
#15
Have just seen this clip from "Diamonds are Forever" on YouTube. James Bond changes his identity on entering the Eastern Docks, with the help of Moneypenny, and zooms off in his Triumph Stag. Classic line: "Would you settle for a tulip?" Then the SRN4 is seen powering away from the original Eastern Docks hoverpad.
