Travelling on a cushion of air

Christopher Cockerell's idea was to build a vehicle that would move over the water's surface, floating on a layer of air. This would reduce friction between the water and vehicle.

To test his hypothesis, he put a smaller can inside a larger can and used a hairdryer to blow air into them. The downward thrust produced was greater when one can was inside the other, rather than air just being blown into one can.

Born in 1910, Christopher Sydney Cockerell worked for the Radio Research Company and then for the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company. During the war years, Cockerell worked with an elite team at Marconi to develop radar, a development which Churchill believed had a significant effect on the outcome of the Second World War, and Cockerell thought of as one of his greatest achievements. Whilst at Marconi, Christopher Cockerell patented thirty six of his ideas.

The Hovertravel service between the Isle of Wight and

mainland England.

In America they built a hover car. It didn't catch on!

In Britain, the RNLI operate a small fleet of hovercraft lifeboats

Photo: Chris McKenna (Thryduulf) • Licensed for reuse under CC BY-SA 4.0

Source: Wikipedia

Images: Believed to be in the Public Domain or used with permission

A Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull that  produces lift, which causes the hull to  float above the water

For stability reasons, the air is typically blown through slots or holes around the outside of a disk or oval shaped platform, giving most hovercraft a characteristic rounded-rectangle shape. Typically this cushion is contained within a flexible "skirt", which allows the vehicle to travel over small obstructions without damage.

Hovercraft are used throughout the world as specialised transports in disaster relief, coastguard, military and survey applications as well as for sport or passenger service. Large versions have been used to transport hundreds of people and vehicles across the English Channel, whilst others have military applications used to transport tanks, soldiers and large equipment in hostile environments and terrain.

Christopher Cockerell was knighted for his achievement in 1969.

Video: Paul Herron • shutterstock.com

Video: US Army • Believed to be in the Public Domain