Up until now the focus has been on preparing the News Notes for members, meetings on Zoom that are posted to THS YouTube channel, and loading technical papers and conference materials all to the members part of the site.
We have invited non-members to presentation events, as you can see from the Visitor events menu item so there has been some attention to a wider audience. There is also a quantity of material available in the open library on the library tab.
So far the open ‘News Blog’ has not been a regular item. Starting with this post it is hoped to make it a little more regular and informative, for both members and non-members!
First, a taste of what is in the latest (May 2023) News Note issued to members by email, and available on the site once a member is logged in.
Our News Note 3-23 May 2023 is now available on the site for THS Members.
This month we have updates from Hovertravel and Griffon Hoverwork, new craft delivered and events with BHC, the latest on redevelopment around The Hovercraft Museum in Gosport, Silverstream new agreements in Japan, and hovercraft operations at Aurora Cargo in Indonesia.
On THS Internet site we have added pages for obituaries, pioneers, and profiles of a selection of personnel that have played a part in the industry so far. There is much more to add in this area, so please be patient as gathering material takes time.
Three more technical papers presented to the Society back in late 1982 have been unearthed, covering the first two decades of commercial hovercraft development, military hovercraft development, and Hovercraft Contracts and the law. They should be available under a tab for 1982 THS papers in the Members Library by the time you read this.
The Technical Secretary has spent a while sifting through more video materials, both on YouTube and from individual sites. This time there is a selection including coverage of UK cruising, a drivers view by Jake Wishaw of a run down the Baraboo River in Wisconsin, Benn Bristow of BHC enjoying a drive around the Dungarvan bay in Ireland, and a video showing the three Oita Mitsui craft after delivery for scrapping in 2015. Sad in many ways but a useful record. Now we await delivery of the three new Griffon Hoverwork 12000TD craft!
Owen Ellis has posted videos of his electric lift craft shakedown operations (over 1000 km now) in Australia – a quiet and yet capable performer.
The new operating home for the three AP1-88 craft delivered to Indonesia has been identified – Aurora Cargo – who operate both in West Papua, and Kalimantan. It was interesting to learn that they have been running three Russian built craft for a decade now (Mars models from the manufacturer in Nizny Novgorod). They have an open cargo craft for around 4 tons capacity, and two passenger craft, for 12 and 30 people respectively. Indonesia is a very large country of islands, and with complex rivers and estuaries. It is to be hoped that the AP1-88’s will be able to deliver a reliable and economic service in West Papua for Aurora.
Rather than duplicate images from the May News Note, this is a photo from the archives. It shows enthusiasts in Japan racing off the shoreline in the early 1970’s. During the period when personal hovercraft building and racing grew up in the UK, it was happening elsewhere too – from Sweden, to Germany, France, USA and Canada, Australia, and also Japan. They quickly perfected their own version of bag skirts and extended segment skirts as can be seen here.
We are proud to be able to have available on our site to members the complete proceedings from the 2002 International Symposium as shown in the image above through courtesy of Neoteric Hovercraft.
This particular Symposium was unique in that it had a script from the part dedicated to Hovercraft Rescue operations.
Presentations and discussions on this subject included organisations such as fire departments, the UK RNLI, and the Canadian Coastguard.
A wide range of such tasks was discussed, and much experience shared.
As we find papers from the past, we are slowly digitizing them. The last week has unearthed three such papers from 1982 covering hovercraft contracts, design developments from the previous 20 years, when skirt design developed rapidly, and a paper summarising the military deployments and trials by the UK Interservice Hovercraft Trial Unit.
Previously we have loaded to the members library THS papers collections and conferences from the 1950’s to the 1990’s. Collectively they chart the technical development of Air Cushion Technology through that period. From the early 2000’s technical presentations have been rather sparser, mostly papers including in conferences on fast marine craft.
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