I used to nag my dad to take me to watch this as a young boy. Down to the river Itchen every weekend in the 70s to watch the Sea Eagle and the Sea Hawk come and go. Was always terrified because they were so loud. Got to go to Cowes on it once as a child when it was branded as Sea Speed I think. Can’t understand why hovercrafts aren’t used more! Fantastic machines!
The gloves 😂. I remember going on this in the 1970s and the pilot walked down the craft checking we were all in our seats, then he walked back to the front and spun round looking at us, raised one hand pulled on his glove wiggling his fingers in, then repeats for the other hand and then spins into the control chair and -it’s on his sun glasses, it was very funny and dramatic.
That's exactly the one that was available as a "Matchbox"-model from wich I was so much fascinated as a child. Sadly I never saw the real SRN6 but I am glad that I took a ride over the channel from Calais to Dover on an SRN4 in the 1970ies when I was a small boy.
If the pilots hadn't been posh there would not have been any posh passengers who were needed to make the service viable as was the case in the early years of commercial aviation.
Always thought a hovercraft service from Southend to the Medway Towns would be the ideal way to connect two fairly isolated but populous regions. They could be extremely useful for supply and pax runs to remote communities in northern Australia too. Pretty much the whole northern coastline has an absolutely massive tidal range, long wet seasons and next to no infrastructure. A lot of small communities can be totally cut off for 6 weeks at a time... small, rugged utility hovercraft for say a dozen or so passengers, and a few landcruisers would be a useful lifeline. Sadly, the technology seems to have been all but forgotten in civilian use.
Any marine service between Southend and Medway Towns would only benefit a few people and would require considerable public subsidy at the taxpayers expense as does the ferry service between Gravesend and Tilbury which is threatened with closure.
I used to nag my dad to take me to watch this as a young boy. Down to the river Itchen every weekend in the 70s to watch the Sea Eagle and the Sea Hawk come and go. Was always terrified because they were so loud. Got to go to Cowes on it once as a child when it was branded as Sea Speed I think. Can’t understand why hovercrafts aren’t used more! Fantastic machines!
The gloves 😂. I remember going on this in the 1970s and the pilot walked down the craft checking we were all in our seats, then he walked back to the front and spun round looking at us, raised one hand pulled on his glove wiggling his fingers in, then repeats for the other hand and then spins into the control chair and -it’s on his sun glasses, it was very funny and dramatic.
That's exactly the one that was available as a "Matchbox"-model from wich I was so much fascinated as a child. Sadly I never saw the real SRN6 but I am glad that I took a ride over the channel from Calais to Dover on an SRN4 in the 1970ies when I was a small boy.
Love the SRN6....learnt a lot from this clip. They employed very posh pilots in the early days!
If the pilots hadn't been posh there would not have been any posh passengers who were needed to make the service viable as was the case in the early years of commercial aviation.
4yrs later, all the pilots must be ex London bus drivers, bunch of chavs 😂😂😂😂
Always thought a hovercraft service from Southend to the Medway Towns would be the ideal way to connect two fairly isolated but populous regions. They could be extremely useful for supply and pax runs to remote communities in northern Australia too. Pretty much the whole northern coastline has an absolutely massive tidal range, long wet seasons and next to no infrastructure. A lot of small communities can be totally cut off for 6 weeks at a time... small, rugged utility hovercraft for say a dozen or so passengers, and a few landcruisers would be a useful lifeline. Sadly, the technology seems to have been all but forgotten in civilian use.
Any marine service between Southend and Medway Towns would only benefit a few people and would require considerable public subsidy at the taxpayers expense as does the ferry service between Gravesend and Tilbury which is threatened with closure.
Cool emergency stop!! Do you know roughly when this interview was?
The service shown commenced in 1967 so I suspect about that time as a promotional effort.