Credit: Wikipedia / The Princess Margaret SR-N4 Hovercraft (in Calais, France above)  made cross-Channel England-France trips from 1966-2000.

By Gary Raynaldo  DIPLOMATIC TIMES

Ah…, England’s Hovercraft! She made a lot of noise cruising, or rather bouncing, across the English Channel. But she was a revolutionary, nautical  invention able to navigate the rough seas on a cushion of air. Powered by four Rolls-Royce Proteus marine turboshaft engines, the hovercraft roared across the Channel at speeds up to 70 mph in about 25 minutes. I can remember like yesterday when I rode her from Dover England across the Channel to France in 1989 at the height of hovercraft travel. The 250-ton behemoth Princess Margaret SR-N4 craft slowly emerged from the English Channel and eased onto the loading port looking like a cross between a sea monster and UFO with its massive black rubber Skirt wrapped around the vessel keeping it afloat. I almost passed out.  I was as excited as a child and couldn’t wait to climb aboard the magnificant SR-N4 hoverecraft. It was a surreal journey as the hovercraft glided across the windy English Channel on a cushion of air. Then in 2000, cross-Channel travel from England to France ended after 30 years. The majestic SR-N4 hoverecraft traveled from Dover to Calais from 1968 until October 2000. It was the end of the line for the Princess Margaret and Princess Anne hovercrafts, victims of the arrival of the ‘Chunnel’ high-speed train service between London and Paris.

Credit: Photo by Gary Raynaldo /  Boulogne, France.   I took this picture in November 1989 when I traveled on Princess Margaret SR-N4 Hovercraft cross-Channel from Dover, England to Boulogne France en route to Paris.  It was fabulous!

“The Machines Were a Triumph of British Invention and Engineering” -Express

Credit: Flicker / 1986 – Princess Anne hovercraft traveling on cushion of air.

SEE THE HOVERCRAFT  IN ACTION ON YOUTUBE

Credit: Credit: The Express / Sir Christopher Cockerell, father of the hovercraft he invented in the 1950s.

The hovercraft – third speedboat, third aeroplane, third bouncy castle – was the brainchild of Sir Christopher Cockerell, according to the Express. Cockerell first demonstrated his idea using a cat food tin and a vacuum cleaner. First showcased in the 1950s, his invention was a revolutionary mode of transport that ran on a cushion of air,the Express wrote. In ideal conditions it hovered above the surface of land or sea, greatly reducing friction, and its propellers enabled high speeds.

“With their airline-style crew, there was no more glamorous or quicker way to make the crossing,” reports the Express.“The machines were a triumph of British invention and engineering, whisking passengers to France in less than half an hour.”

Credit:  Credit: Express / Getty / The hovercraft was a glamorous way to travel across the English Channel.

Four Rolls-Royce Proteus Marine Turboshaft Engines Powered The Hovercraft Cross-Channel

Credit: Wikipedia Public Domain / The Rolls-Royce Olympus (originally the Bristol B.E.10 Olympus) was the world’s first two-spool axial-flow turbojet aircraft engine design. In addition to use in the hovercraft, the Rolls-Royce engines also powered the Concorde SST airplane.

Credit: Almany stock / One of the propellers of SR-N4 hovercraft.

Credit: Flickr / Cockpit of Princess Anne SR-N4.

Credit: Wikipedia /  Bachell / SR-N4 Mountbatten Class Hovercraft Princess Anne ferry loading Golf car at Dover. The crafts each had a capacity to carry 400 passengers and up to 52 vehicles cross-Channel.

Credit: Jameshovercraftsite.com / The intimate details of the SR-N4 Hovercraft

Is the time ripe now to revive luxury passenger HoverCross-Channel service?

Credit: Youtube /  The Bloody  Eurostar Chunnel put the nail in the coffin of the hovercraft!  Damn you Chunnel!!  J’accuse!  J’accuse!  But some believe the hovercraft cross-Channel service may be revived one day.

Larger ferries and cheaper-to-power catamarans, as well as the Channel Tunnel,proved too much competition to the hovercraft, and contributed to its demise.

The hovercraft remain the fastest commercial passenger-carrying vessels in operation. Capable of 60 knots, they can cross the Channel in 30 minutes, about an hour quicker than most ferries, but this competitive edge was dramatically undermined by the tunnel, according to the UK Telegraph.

 “A hovercraft is an arresting sight, coming across the sea with a shower of spray surrounding it like a halo,” 

John Jardine, who piloted the craft for a decade, told the UK Telegraph.

Some are of opinion that a resurgence of passenger HoverCross Channel service is easily possible as running costs have fallen, BBC 

Credit: Express.com.uk / The largest hovercraft ever built is named after Princess Anne. The Dover to Calais travel speed record still belongs to the Princess Anne — 22 minutes.

The 250-ton Hovercraft transported 80 million passengers across the English Channel until their end in year 2000.

Some 21,000 people signed a petition to rescue the Princess Anne from the scrap heap, the BBC.

“They are piece of British history, the like of which we will never see again,” Hovercraft Museum trustee Emma Pullen said. “We will do everything in our powers to protect at least one of these national treasures,” the BBC.

It will take a lot of renovation and work to bring back the Princess Anne hovercraft to life, as a few of her engines are missing. She is a long way from her former pristine, seaworthy condition. Like her sister, the Concorde SST, the hovercraft for now will be relegated to a museum. Sad. “They ran across the Channel for more than 30 years, making about 250,000 journeys and carrying a total of about 80 million people,” historian Warwick Jacobs told the Express. “That is a great achievement. Even now with the Chunnel there is no quicker way of crossing to France. The hovercraft was the Concorde of the seas.”

“They were ahead of their time but now they are beyond their time,”

 the Telegraph.

Credit: Pinterest.com / John Latter / A lone propeller from the Princess Anne memorialized in the ground at Dover Harbour, England.

R.I.P. Memorial for the Princess Anne Hovercraft  in the Ground at Dover Harbour, England.    VERY  SAD INDEED!! 

Credit: Pinterest.com / John Latter / A lone propeller from the Princess Anne memorialized in the ground at Dover Harbour, England.

I end this feature with tears in my eyes of the  fond memory of my cross-Channel trip England to France aboard one of the most wonderful transport machines ever invented. The tears are like hot rain.  It is unlikely the cross-Channel Hovercraft will be resurrected anytime soon.    R.I.P.!