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Post by wadoki on Jan 4, 2012 23:53:01 GMT 1
I don`t class hovercraft as aircraft so this bit of `aviation` history has passed me by. The world`s first passenger hovercraft service was operated by British United Airways between Wallasey and Rhyl with a Vickers VA-3 reg.G-15-253 in July 1962. The `flight` was advertised as "The world`s first hovercoach".The VA-3 was a 24 seater.The service didn`t last long. Any of our older members remember seeing it?    The original images have been deleted by Photobucket. These are fresh images from another source and are dated 17th September 1962 |
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Post by john1958 on Jan 5, 2012 11:45:21 GMT 1
I've always collected hovercraft, especially the military ones as they used the same serial range.
First went on one on the southsea-ryde route as a kid with my parents, an SRN-6 if my memory......which seems worse each day.....serves me right. We used that a couple of years running, it was always smooth from what I can remember.
Did a trip to Paris using trains and the hovercraft sometime in the 80's, we went on the hovercraft as no-one else in our party had been on one! I well remember it was a blowy and stormy day, the captain made an annoucement once we'd boarded that it was going to be a very rough crossing, and anyone who didnt want to travel could get off and catch the normal ferry, which a few did. To say the crossing was rough is a total understatement, the crossing was timed at 40 mins, took us an hour and 20!!! Out of the 5 of us, 3 threw up about midway across, people all over the thing were being sick......smell was intense! We never got to the landing point and up the slope, we just seemed to be at the top, never found out if thats how high the waves were!!!! All weekend wandering around the airshow and the city we were all apprehansive about the possible crossing coming home, no need to worry, it was smooth as glass, and accomplished in about 30 mins!!!!!!
:-)
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Post by danairamb on Jan 5, 2012 18:26:39 GMT 1
I remember my grandfather taking us to West Kirby to see the hovercraft. I am pretty sure it left from there rather than Wallasey. I recall the tremendous noise and being intrigued by the fact it carried an airline logo. I was only 7 at the time. Never got to go on a hovercraft - thought they would be in service permanently.
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Post by Biggles on Jan 5, 2012 19:50:10 GMT 1
danairamb
It left from the sea wall area which is located less than a mile from Leasowe Castle heading towards Meols.
If you walked from Moreton Cross towards Cadbury chocolate factory and then continued to the sea wall in a straight line you would arrive at the departure point when it was operating..
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Post by davel on Jan 6, 2012 10:33:32 GMT 1
I think the confusion for Danairamb is that the name Wallasey is associated with the ferry terminal on the Mersey when in fact Wallasey Corporation covered most of the coastal area of the peninsular. So the Moreton shore departure point, as Biggles has identified correctly, is, or was, in Wallasey.
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Post by danairamb on Jan 7, 2012 10:29:56 GMT 1
Thanks for the clarification. The trip to see the hovercraft was probably combined with a visit to West Kirby - hence the confusion - I was very young at the time. Nonetheless an interesting event to recollect.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2012 22:43:07 GMT 1
Biggles is spot on, Moreton it was. Here's a video on youtube. I suspect the shots at New Brighton were for a publicity stunt. Could it also be possible that danairamb may have seen it at West Kirby as part of the same promotion? Note too, just one engineer on the engine. I would suspect therefore that the photo's with more than one engineer were part of a staged photo shoot on day one of the service. www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnws8bCv4NQ |
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Post by ronturner on Jan 8, 2012 9:14:09 GMT 1
For sure it was Moreton, which when I was a kid was a beach you could sit on.. I have no idea what it is like today. I remember to get there we would take the ferry to Wallasey then take bus, colour sort of cream/yellow, to Moreton. All the Wallasey buses were this colour. Birkenhead buses were blue.
I also remember going to see the first hovercraft movements although I dont actually remember how I got there that time. Probably on my AJS.
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Post by ronturner on Jan 8, 2012 9:22:42 GMT 1
...another useless piece of information about that part of the world.
It was always possible at low tide to walk to and from the nature reserve on HIlbre Island. I did it once. A friend of mine who was bit bit odd made the walk there and back from the mainland nearly every weekend, subject to tides etc.
It was a favourite place to practise forced landing procedure when learning to fly in G-ARGO and its stable mates. The seals never complained about low flying, as far as I know.
Is it still possible to make this walk today? I was reminded of it recently when we walked from Le Mont St Michel to and from one of the nearby smaller islets.
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Post by Biggles on Jan 8, 2012 20:12:40 GMT 1
Ron you will be pleased to know that the beaches of the Wirral, New Brighton, Wallasey Moreton etc are now superb as far as sand is concerned, what made the change was the implementation of several "groynes" placed along the length these have had the effect of filtering the sea water and and sand. Burbo Bank which I live opposite is spreading further and further out Westward. Keeping up at this rate a walk to Isle of Man could be possible. The worry is I also see the River channel shrinking and at low tide looks like a stream. I rook this shot from the sea wall of Burbo Bank looking West.  Groyne  Rough Sea Groyne This Week  |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2012 7:48:57 GMT 1
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Post by Biggles on Jan 9, 2012 21:37:28 GMT 1
The walk to Hilbre is still possible from near the boating lake at West Kirby. You need to know what you're doing and the tides as it is dangerous for the unwary.
Flying in and around Hilbre Island is now prohibited due to wildlife and breeding seal population, it should be marked on flight maps.
The sand area is now mainly used for Land Yacht club meets and competitions.
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Post by springy on Jan 21, 2012 22:09:40 GMT 1
I was there at Morton Beach on 15th August 1962; what a noise the VA-3 made! I remember taking a note of its B-reg'n G-15-253
Ken
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Post by viscount on Jan 23, 2012 22:47:27 GMT 1
While looking in vain for information on another topic, searching the microfilm Daily Post records in the Liverpool Records Office, came across reports of a much later experimental hovercraft service from New Brighton in Spring 1970 with a 68-seater craft. Did not make any notes, as only just now realised that the time-span I was looking through was much later than the events related in this thread.
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Post by viscount on Nov 7, 2022 17:34:31 GMT 1
Just reawakened this 'zombie' thread by adding into the opening post 3 images of the hovercraft in September 1962 to replace photos blanked by Photobucket and then removed by the postee some years back. Also tidied out some irrelevant posts. I was taken to by my parents to watch it on the Moreton shore of Wallasey, but the service that day was cancelled! I seem to recall that the public passenger service by a hovercraft brought about a big discussion as to which set of rules a hovercraft operation was governed by - Rules of Sea and maritime law, or Rules of Air and aviation law? While the maritime governing bodies won the day as hovercraft were essentially surface craft when on water, for a while hovercraft did wear aviation sequence manufacturer's markings and Royal Navy aviation sequence serials, therefore the G-12-253 mentioned above. Doug Revell's Air Britain book 'Under B Conditions' 2020 lists just 2 South Marston built Vickers hovercraft, the VA-1 and the VA-2. As this post is effectively 'bumping up' the thread back into view, I'll add the three shots here as well. If you want to find out what others wrote in 2012, you are welcome to open up the thread, read and add your own comment if of interest. |
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