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The World's first ever production light hovercraft

1.
The craft have been restored to full working order as can be seen here...		 2.
...hovering on the former HMS Daedalus pad in the area where Swift is stored		 3.
The craft is hovered on the pad in front of Swift
4.
Now stored safely back on the SR.N4 car deck		 5.
This craft is in excellent condition and is used for demonstrations on Museum open days		 6.
A view of the rear of the restored craft on the SR.N4 car deck
7.
One of the other Hover Hawks, again stored on Swift's car deck		 8.
The third craft, requiring extraction from a back garden for restoration		 9.
The craft on its trailer awaiting restoration. This particular machine, now restored, is stored in the barn at Portchester

Click on thumbnails above for larger images

A collection of three light cabin hovercraft with bag skirts

Built: 1967, 1969 and 1971
Manufacturer: Hover-Air Ltd of Peterborough

Dimensions & Performance

Length: 15 ft 3 in
Width: 8 ft 2½ in
Height: 4 ft 7 in
Weight: 1,100 pounds
(Mk 3: 1,200 pounds)

Vertical obstacle clearance: 9 in

Power: Mk 1 - 3 Velocette Viceroy air cooled 2-stroke 10 BHP
Mk 3 - 3 Sachs Wankel air cooled rotary 21 BHP (1 engine used for lift, 2 for thrust)

Maximum speed:
Over land: Mk 1/2 25mph; Mk 3 45mph
Over water: Mk 1/2 25mph; Mk 3 35mph

Payload: 2 persons / 400 pounds Fully amphibious

History

This was the first light hovercraft to go into mass production and 120 were built. The collection includes the first Mark 1, a Mark 2 and the last Mark 3. Hover-Air Limited was founded by Lord and Lady Brassey of Apethorpe who were pioneers of light hovercraft and Lord Brassey became the first President of the Hover Club of Great Britain, an organisation that has inspired the production of many lightweight hovercraft.

The craft was designed for private, commercial and agricultural use and was supplied around the world to many countries, including Sarawak, Sweden, Mexico, South Africa, Zambia, USA, Canada, Kenya, East Germany, Holland, Singapore and South America. It played a leading role in the 1969 White Nile expedition.

001 was built for evaluation purposes and, although used for demonstration, there were only 3 Mark 1 craft built. The Mark 2 craft had more or less the same body and engineering but the skirt design was improved and the Mark 2 example in the collection was used by the fire service for flood rescue. Mark 3 commenced at 068 and was a much faster craft due to the Wankel engines.

Special Features

This was the first hovercraft to use a moulded Glass Reinforced Plastic hull

The bag skirt was simple and more stable than those developed for larger craft

The Mark 1 and Mark 2 versions used standard motor cycle engines, reducing the production costs and making the craft available at an affordable price.

It was the fastest light hovercraft of it's era.

Control was achieved by use of the rudders or by differential throttle making it very manoeuvrable, provided all three engines were working.

The craft was small enough and light enough to be towed on a trailer by a car and stored in a garage.

The hydraulic swing-over steering made it possible to steer from either side of the craft.

This was the only small craft of this type to have a covered control cabin.

Skirt development started with a simple pop-riveted, bag skirt made from a type of rubberised canvas dinghy material which proved to have too much friction. Hover-Air then went on to use Hypolon, a Dunlop material with a nylon weave coating which proved more successful but did not do well on wet sand. The later skirts were made from neoprene coated nylon with welded seams; this material was excellent on water but built up a large amount of static electricity when operated over wet or long grass. The existing larger craft, operating only on water, did not have the same problems as the lightweight hovercraft, which were aiming to traverse any reasonably flat terrain and the Hover Hawks attempted to overcome a lot of new developmental problems.

Heritage Value

Although a great number of these were built they not very stable due to the flat-bottomed hull. They also suffered from being very heavy; most small craft built at this time and later have had open cabins to make them lighter. The operation of the craft depended on the reliability of all three engines and the craft were not inherently buoyant. Despite their lack of success the model does represent a significant development in small hovercraft and much work was carried out in experimenting with different skirt materials, some of which work better on land and some work better on water. Few Hover Hawks have survived but they are important examples of early light weight hovercraft which, not only introduced the use of hovercraft into a wide number of areas in commercial and agricultural settings but they also saw the start of the sporting side of the industry.

Approach to Conservation

The Museum has acquired and been loaned several Hoverhawk craft. One has been restored by Portsmouth City University as a mechanical engineering project sponsored by local firms.

Another has been rebuilt to working as-new condition funded by Maritime Services International, and others restored in-house, to display in clean 'as is' condition.

The Museum has a massive stock-pile of spare engines etc so these craft can be displayed working.

Ideal Standard of Care

These craft should be kept as close to the original as possible and should be maintained in working order for occasional demonstrations.

 

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