31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Hovercrafts are truly amazing vehicles: Whether on land, water, mud or ice, these air-cushioned craft rule the unpaved wilderness. And they were born from a wildly optimistic and experimental era of engineering — as reflected by these incredible early prototypes and designs.

I recently came across a bunch of rare hovercraft photographs in a few old Hungarian scientific magazines and books, and I immediately wanted to share them with other hovercraft fans out there. Each one of these ships — from obscure prototypes and early production models to insane, never-produced visions — reflects the ingenuity of 20th century engineering. Just see for yourself.


The Ford Levacar at the Dearborn testing facility.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


The Ford Aeronutronic.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


The US Navy’s Hughes Hydrostreak XHS1.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


The Bell SKMR-1 Hidroskimmer, an experimental US Navy hovercraft intended for submarine reconnaissance.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


D-1 prototype hovercraft designed by Denny Hovercraft Ltd.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


The Saunders-Roe SR.N1 (“Saunders-Roe Nautical 1”) was the first practical hovercraft.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Népszerű Technika, 1959. szeptember


A cutaway illustration of the next generation SR.N2. Only one was built, but it can be regarded as the prototype for commercial hovercrafts.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


The Westland/Saunders-Roe SR.N2 hovercraft could carry 48 passengers.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Népszerű Technika, 1962. augusztus


The first Vickers hovercraft prototype, the VA-1.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


Small-scale ferry service: the British United Airways’s Vickers-Armstrong VA-3 hovercraft.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Népszerű Technika, 1962. augusztus


A modified Land Rover truck for farmers, also by Vickers.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


The Curtiss-Wright Air-Car.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


The Cushioncraft (CC-1), a British hovercraft prototype gliding on a ring-shaped air cushion.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


The Cushioncraft-2 (CC-2) could carry 12 passengers.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


The French Bertin had eight separate air-cushion rings.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


GEM-1, a US Army prototype with two frontal propellers.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


The GEM-3.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


Pioneer-1, a simple and cheap hovercraft built by the Manufacturing Company Of Seattle.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


A cross-section drawing of the Pioneer-1.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


Motor-cycle: The first hovercraft bike!

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


X-2, an experimental Air-Scooter developed at Princeton University.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


A Soviet prototype, the one-man Vezdekhod.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


Dr. William R. Bertelsen, a medical doctor from Illinois who developed a craft called the aeromobile.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Népszerű Technika, 1959. szeptember


Dr. Bertelsen’s upgraded Aeromobile.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


Here’s the Ilen by Weiland, a strange box-shaped hovership.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Népszerű Technika, 1959. szeptember


And Neva, a Soviet-era air-cushion ship.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


Zarya, another Soviet passenger hovercraft, was intended for crossing shallow lakes and rivers.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Utak és járművek — A Szovjetúnió közlekedése. Magyar — Szovjet Baráti Társaság, 1975.


A definitive Soviet beauty: The Sormovich hovercraft. It could reach 74.5 MPH and carry up to 50 passengers over frozen rivers.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Utak és járművek — A Szovjetúnió közlekedése. Magyar — Szovjet Baráti Társaság, 1975.


A smaller Soviet hovercraft — this one used to cruise on rivers.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Utak és járművek — A Szovjetúnió közlekedése. Magyar — Szovjet Baráti Társaság, 1975.


This concept art shows the near future, when large hovercrafts will cross the La Manche channel.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


This is how the engineers at the British Hovercraft imagined the traffic on the La Manche channel, filled with 100-ton-vessels of the near future.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Korunk technikája, Gondolat, Budapest, 1964.


Another artist’s rendering of a futuristic hovercar.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Népszerű Technika, 1960. január


And an artist’s impression of a futuristic hovercar by Robert Szenes, complete with fins and headlights.

31 Levitating Vehicles From The Dawn Of The Hovercraft

Source: Népszerű Technika, 1959. szeptember


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