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They should have sold tickets for the final journey from Dover.. would have been amazing. Did many trips on these beasts.

My parents would take me here so often as a child, great times

Kristofer Club

Happy memories. Let’s hope that one day ‘The Princess Anne’ will one day fly again…

I was two years old when we went on a vacation to the UK. And this was one of the few memories from that time. I really enjoyed the trip and the whole experience.

They was noisy, smelly, rattle and bumpy. But id give my right arm to travel on these incredible crafts one more time. I was so lucky living in Dover and having these on my doorstep. Great memories going to France and back with my mum for £1 If you was born in the 90's you was the last of a generation to be able to remember the experience of the SRN4. I will never forget the smell of the mixture of jet fuel and sea spray it was addictive.

This is how fly without fly.

Once upon a time man was travelling to the moon on the Saturn 5, across the Atlantic on Concorde and across the channel on the SRN4. What happened to us?

Beeping noise at the beginning is interference from the radar mounted on the terminal building or the hovercraft itself. Also affects some of my videos from the day.

I took one from Dover to Calais in 95,I remember it being bumpy but what an experience 😊

Can't ride 442s anymore, RIP 442s 1988-2021

It was almost like it knew it was never coming out of there in one piece.

I used to travel on them a lot as my company had a deal with them, it became the booze cruise chariot of choice.

Thank you for these 5 videos on the hovercraft. A strange, almost "animal" specimen that traveled from beach to beach and added a lot of charm to the idea of going to England or France. - Do you know what happened to the crew on these machines? Particularly those who were pilots, were they able to easily retrain elsewhere? - Was the crew only English or were there as many English as French? - Also, does anyone know if these big critters had nicknames? Thank you again for these videos, a Frenchman who only went to England (I loved London) once in 2002 by plane (and not by Concorde of course, alas...).

These beautiful machines are up there in the hall of fame alongside, Concorde, Vulcan Bomber, Blackbird SR 71, Spitfire, Lancaster Bomber, Mallard, Flying Scotsman, Showman’s Traction Engines.

I can remember as a kid going on school trips to France. And going on a hover craft. Such a shame they don't do that anymore. Kids today would love it.

It was an amazing way to travel. Not comfortable but fast. Are any of the SRN4s/Super4s preserved?

Amazing video, I too have often searched for SRN4 videos and this never came up - till now! What a wonderfully dignified retirement for her, arriving under her own power like that, and the skill - wowsers. Anyone who has not been to the hovercraft museum - do it!! I travelled there from Scotland and despite the fact it rained absolute monsoon the whole day I had an amazing time

In 1978 at the age of 15 I spent my first vacations in the UK in North Wales where I attended the PPSC Camp near Morfa Nefyn. After beeing four weeks in this beautiful landscape my parents picked me up there to travel via Oxford, London and Ramsgate and Calais back to Germany. From Ramsgate back to continental Calais we took the hovercraft. I couldn'd image how easy such a big hovercraft rose up and went over the channel within 30 minutes to France. It was like flying over the sea. It was a bit loud, but it was in somehow a completely new experience travelling by "boat". Unfortunately it was my first and last tour done by hovercraft. Lots of my visits to the UK later were done by plane or by train beyond the channel.

Thank you so much for the sharing on TH-cam so many great memories travelling at least twice a month with my grandfather to family in France. I am always in awe of the fabulous technology that Britain created in the 20th century Srn4 Hovercraft, HST 125 Intercity train, Concorde, VTOL Harrier Jump Jet. Britain applauded and showed off to the rest of the world in this white heat of technology and then turned it's back on future development and investment leaving all these examples to doder along until they were unsafe or worn out to be serviceable and then buy trains and plans from another country. If only a hovercraft powered by electric could be possible as a viable service. I am sure all the hundreds of millions to build a stupid tunnel to link us to France was well spent. How many modernised Hovercraft even half the size of Srn4 could have been made for the price of a tunnel!!! Britain's middle name is Underinvestment.

What a pity these came out of service, used to love my channel crossings by SRN4, only way to go! Tried the sea cat once, came back on the hovercraft! Don't like boats, and don't fancy the tunnel either!

I remember watching these as a six yearold squirt while on vacation 😅 blew my mind back then, still does!! Thank you for the excellent video and preserving this 😊😊😊

Great documenting, thanks! 🙏 I used to go a bunch of times with my family around end 80s/beginning of 90s, from France (Belgium) to the UK and back. So much more fun than boats, it was for sure our favourite option! I remember calm rides and rough rides. I think I remember one on a smaller one (SN6?), where we had an oscillating view out the window between scarily high above the sea surface and scarily buried inside the waves with water up our heads (not sure it was really to that point, but that’s my memories).

Can you confirm that in the 90s there was a land-side cafe from which you could view the planes? Only visible from the air-side cafe now, of course.

Merci pour ce beau documentaire. Lorsque j'étais enfant, mon grand-père et moi allions presque tous les jours admirer la bête au Portel. C'était très impressionnant...

This means of transport had much more charm and excitement than crossing the channel through a dark tunnel... // Este medio de transporte tenía mucho más encanto y emoción que cruzar el canal por un túnel oscuro…

Some great stuff you’ve got here. Ultimately why did the service cease as it appeared to be profitable somewhat towards the end? After brexit could it make a resurgence?

95 t0 98 i often visited britain. sometimes when i was lucky i could go by Hovercraft but only when my customers paid the fare. oh my god it was expensive!!going with a car.

th-cam.com/video/_Km3TmHhnOE/w-d-xo.htmlsi=v-zbYaZVNfTKlGFk

If I'm allowed to recommend another video that features the most modern Thumpers we had in the UK please view `Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) "Castle" 450 Class - Irish Thumpers 2011' if interested.

Awesome video of these characterful & noisey trains; I live in Basingstoke and miss these units that were used for the stopping service to Reading via Bramley, Mortimer and Reading West. They were replaced by boring `Thames Turbos' that sound like rail buses with their high speed Diesel engines, not helped by most drivers revving the engines when pulling away before the Voith torque convertor has had the chance to engage properly (I imagine that pausing in Notch 1 will cure this problem). In fairness the current Class 165s are reasonably refined. The subject trains had 1930s design English Electric medium speed Diesels, maximum power 600 HP @ 850 RPM, and , because they were only 4 cylinder, that's why they `thumped'. Faint traction motor noise is evident here 2:59; 5:10; 7:10 Six car unit 9:07. It was usual btw for 4 units to be coupled together for services from London to Kent (12 car) before further electrification made these trains redundant. The maximum number of units were 5 (15 cars) presumably for undisclosed technical reasons. Traction motor gearing could be either Suburban (design speed 75 mph I believe) or Express (90 mph). P.S. Not sure why you have comparitively low viewing figures for this historic video, I wonder have you included `Thumper' & `Thumper train' in the video tags?

My pals wife was a stewardess on the srn4 the day it broke the record for a chamnel crossing in 22 mins, also recall the days of running trailerecfrom ramsgate quay amd parking them on the old pegwell bay hoverport, another piece of awesome british engineering relegated to a memory like concorde.......

I was on one of those beasts during a winter gale. The wind and waves were so violent it had to turn around and go back to Calais. A very frightening experience. I loved the noise the engines and propellers made - a bit like the Word War II vintage RAF on steroids.

R.I.P. Derek.

unbelievable how small they were able to make the engines behind thos big props

Love this - brings back lots of memories - I don't suppose you have any pictures or video of inside Dover and Calais hoverport terminal buildings?

That doesn't half take me back. The half-finished 5 road shed, the two smaller cranes that went to Springwell and Wolsingham, and the woodwork shop and coal heap in the middle of the yard. The yard was packed compared to what it is now as well, good few engines have gone elsewhere since. That hat as well, you'd have sworn Derek was born with it on. I don't think I ever saw him without it. I used to call it his burglar hat because he wore it rolled up like Joe Pesci in Home Alone. 😂 I must have been floating about just out of shot there somewhere because I would normally get the job of cleaning either 38 or 49 (or both) in the morning before I disappeared up to the back of the yard to crack on painting wagons and stuff when the carriage and wagon department was basically a scaffold tower and an old PMV where the tools (and a radio Mel Deighton had permanently tuned to Classic FM) were kept. Sat and ate many a cheese and pickle sandwich with paint or oily fingerprints on it in that thing. This would have been filmed just a fortnight after I got shouted into the bait room at the front of the shed on the Sunday afternoon because me granny was on the phone to tell me that me little brother Billy had been born and that he was actually a little lass and wasn't gonna be called Billy anymore. Mad to think she's got her own bairn now who likes to go over there to look at the trains.

I rode one in 1986 from UK to France and it was loud, bumpy and with almost no visibility, but nonetheless an exciting experience!

Quel belle alliance entre la France et l'Angleterre. La puissance de ces Machines un souvenir inoubliable.

Ahh that's how I remember Tanfield, before they built the carriage shed, Derek doing the driving, the Husky taking works trains down through to Causey Arch, and the Armstrong slipping on the wet rails! Thanks for posting!

Calais to Dover...and back...gave me nausea every time...my parents enjoyed the trips though.

Emma Jayne Jacob

Nice video clip I enjoyed this! Some Big Ass ships that's for Sure. Yeah and I liked the Red Falcon 2 never seen that Bfore but then?? Thanks man !!

Nice video clip !! The Hovercraft show I really enjoyed because it takes me back to a crossing of the English channel with the SRN4 PRINCESS ANN HOVERCRAFT !! Ow boy the Biggest and Baddest what a Ride that was !!

Thx ! Makes me remember our family watching Hovercraft at launch Time from Calais on Sunday afternoons... What a noise ! T'was like four helicopters at the same Time 😱

What was he throwing on the rails to get traction?

My grandad doing what he loves

Looks like the old 6 pax commercial turbo prop aircraft cockpit 😍

Looks like inside an airplane

Wow that fellow at 2:40 had some bollocks to simply sit right there ahaha. Great footage, thanks Stephen!