- 4
- 28 049
Oscar Owens
เข้าร่วมเมื่อ 13 ก.ค. 2014
SRN4 Swift Hovercraft Tour
David Owens gives us a guided tour of the SRN4 MK2 'Swift', and also a brief showing of The BH7 XW255 on the airfield.
มุมมอง: 11 733
วีดีโอ
SRN4 Hovercraft Arrival at HMS Daedalus December 2000
มุมมอง 15K6 ปีที่แล้ว
Another video recorded by David Owens showing the arrival of both Princess Anne and Margaret at the Hovercraft Museum in Lee on Solent in December 2000.
Pindair Skima 12 Hovercraft At Griffon Hover Work.
มุมมอง 9436 ปีที่แล้ว
A short film recorded by David Owens showing the final preparations and first flight of the restored Pindair Skima 12 Hovercraft!
I visited the museum in 2016 (12 years after Swift was scrapped) and at the time they still had Princess Margaret. When I was there, Swift’s cockpit was being restored and I got to go inside and have a chat with an ex Seaspeed captain. Very very interesting!
That was great commentary , as though a cricket match going on . RIP ❤❤ . Would have loved to see these crafts operate in Bombay, India .
Great video and commentary. I can't believe this was 24 years ago already!
I would love to help to get engine for her and see her run again! Hopefuly someone feels the same who has money !
All these things aren't diverse enough, will end up scrapped.
That guy could be earning serious bucks, if he hired out his voice as a torture weapon!
It is a shame to see this sitting as a museum piece. I would love to see what a modern sr n4 would look like.
Migrants cross the channel now in rubber dingys
These often stunk of turds inside.
That's amazing!!! We love visiting the museum. From the commentary I wasn't sure whether to expect a hovercraft or a group of racing 🏇🏇🏇🏇🏇 horses, accompanied by John Macririck!!!! 😂😂
Spent a wonderful half hour watching this. Such evocative sights and sounds; could also smell it as well! Well done Mr. Owens. Sadly only Princess Anne remains, and without her engines, though wonderfully looked after on limited resources by the Museum. I think it's Swift's cockpit that is now the box office for their open days, both the other craft having been scrapped. Recommend joining (the museum) and helping preserve all the fine craft now residing at Daedalus.
Swifts cockpit is now painted red and displayed outside the main hanger. The box office is the cockpit of SRN4 Sir Christopher and the cockpit of Princess Margaret is inside the main hanger
Excellent commenter. Loved it
A hovercraft museum made out of a hovercraft to hold hovercrafts, cool
This mans voice is really terrible to listen to for any more than about 6 seconds. The SRN4 machine should be restored to perfect working order and run at least once a year as a mark of respect. This country is going down the pan and fast we dont even respect the great things that formed our history. Pathetic.
It does not even have the pylons with the gigantic airscrews. Have flown on 'Swift' when she was in Hoverlloyd service several times to visit my aunt in London. It even featured in our English textbook in 1970!
As Hoverspeed had already plundered the Swift of her propellers and pylons for spares, she had to be towed from Dover to Lee-on-The-Solent, with her engines providing power for her lift fans only. It was a bit of half-hearted gesture by the company and sadly the Hovercraft Museum simply didn't have the financial resources to keep her adequately maintained. Having dismantled her, the next one to bite the dust was The Princess Margaret, the very first SRN4. It would be a terrible pity if the sole surviving example, The Princess Anne, cannot be saved for the country.
The swift was hovered at the museum on a few occasions by means of 3 diesel powered blower units connected by plywood ducting mounted on the car deck, I presumed it was these blower units that were used in the move from Dover and not the main engines, can't imagine that the blowers were installed at the museum only to be used on the few occasions that it was hovered. EDIT Just remembered that the Swift was moved when the 2 large N4s arrived, the blowers may have been installed then, so maybe it did arrive from Dover with the lift fans powered by its own engines.
watched 3 mins of this but turned the sound off
Would be awesome to see this back on the water.
Swift was broken up and scrapped in 2004. The two larger mark 3 SR-N4s stayed in service with Hoverspeed until 2000, after which they were both moved to the Hovercraft Museum (hence the lack of interest in keeping the smaller and longer withdrawn mark 2 Swift). The mark 3 crafts' engines were removed they as had been purchased by a superyacht owner (whose yacht used the same engines), but no serious interest was expressed in returning the ageing craft to service. One of the two mark 3s was broken up for scrap in 2018 to allow the land to be redeveloped. The other is still there, albeit apparently in a somewhat deteriorated condition. With all the support infrastructure gone, there really isn't any way to make this giant hovercraft operational again - and even if you could make it operational, where would you fly it? The manufacturer and original operators no longer exist, the hoverports have all been demolished and the crew will not have flown for some 19 years. Parts availability will be nil and so many parts would need total replacement after all these years. I understand the structure isn't in the best of condition either. The best that can be hoped for is long term preservation as a static exhibit. Even that might not be possible.
@@DavidWood2 Thanks for that, David. Much appreciated. I read an article about one of the craft possibly being broken up for scrap, didn't know it had already happened. Very sad. I must visit the remaining SRN before it, and it's contents (the smaller craft in the bay) are gone forever.
This is a fantastic video, it chokes you up knowing after all those years in service these were their very last flights.......’finish with engines’.
Thanks for sharing this bit of history. Enjoyed the sounds you captured.
Hello! I have one of these but it won't start, hopefully, a new spark plug will do the job. Do you need the lever up to start the engine? Are there any other things that would help it run? Thanks!