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Firstly thanks for visiting James' Hovercraft Site, I hope you enjoy your time here. I have created this Hover Tour to guide you through the basics of hovercraft, through increasingly complex principles and functions of the craft, and then finally to guide you through what I see as major milestones in the development of certain craft for civilian use, in terms of the histories and timelines of the SRN1, Vickers VA-3, SRN6, SRN4 and finally AP1-88. These craft span the many years from concept to present day, and, while there are indeed more craft than I can mention, and indeed some more modern ones like the US Navy's LCAC and the Russian Zubr class (now the biggest hovercraft in the world at 350+ tonnes), these 5 craft hold the key to the features of all modern vehicles.

The tour therefore consists of ten stopping points, feel free to skip points, browse them in a random order, or browse away from the tour at any point, you can get back to where you left off by clicking the links on the Home Page or by skipping ahead with the Hover Tour >>> button. Most images on this tour, as with the rest of this site, can be clicked, producing a larger version of the image in a popup window for easier viewing.

For very detailed information (detail above that of which will be found on this tour), visit Alex Olshove's Hovercraft Frequently-Asked Questions.

I hope you enjoy the tour! Happy hovering!

Basic terminology used in this tour

Knots: Speed as measured on water or in the air where no fixed point can be used for reference. In the early days, this was literally counting the number of knots passing a certain point on a rope dropped overboard from a ship in order to measure its speed. Now it is akin to Nautical Miles per Hour.

Nautical Mile: The equivalent distance of one minute of latitude or longitude at the equator. 1 Nmi = 1.15 statute miles.

kW: Kilowatt. Metric version of Horse Power, a measure of the useable energy given out by an engine. 1 kW = 1.34 hp