The “hovercraft” is a word and an invention that Christopher Cockerell patented in 1954 after working for Marconi, where he helped with work on early radar. Aware of the Normandy landings on D-Day he thought about how to get troops ashore and up a beach he came up with the “hovercraft”. By 1955, he had a working prototype and pursued a patent for his creation, he obtained a patent in 1956.

In that year, he demonstrated his prototype craft, which used air blown out of the bottom of the craft under pressure, to British authorities and showed that it was possible to enable such a vehicle to glide easily over water and land, even mud and marshes.

 Saunders-Roe here on the Solent on The Isle of Wight built the SR-N1 which was launched on June 11, 1959, and later that year crossed the English Channel from Dover, England to Calais, France. Although only used for one public service from Portsmouth and Isle of Wight now in the UK they are a regular sight on The Solent.

A visit to our local Hovercraft Museum last year in my post below.

In the Hover.

Sir Christopher Cockerell lived from the 1960 in village of Hythe on Southampton Water. I met him in 1980’s . A Blue Plaque to commemorate Sir Christopher Cockerell and the Grove building, the home of hovercraft development way put up in Hythe in 2022.

Hovercraft filmed on the Solent yesterday.