The SR.N2 was a hovercraft built by

Westland Westland or Westlands may refer to: Places *Westlands, an affluent neighbourhood in the city of Nairobi, Kenya * Westlands, Staffordshire, a suburban area and ward in Newcastle-under-Lyme *Westland, a peninsula of the Shetland Mainland near Vaila ...

and

Saunders-Roe Saunders-Roe Limited, also known as Saro, was a British aero- and marine-engineering company based at Columbine Works, East Cowes, Isle of Wight. History The name was adopted in 1929 after Alliott Verdon Roe (see Avro) and John Lord took a c ...

. It first flew in 1961. It weighed 27 tons and could carry 48 passengers. Although only one was built it is regarded as the prototype for commercial hovercraft, following on from the SR.N1 research craft. It was demonstrated on the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in 1962 and operated by

P & A Campbell P & A Campbell was a shipping company based in Bristol which operated steamship services in the Bristol Channel between 1893 and 1979. History In the early 19th century, steamships were introduced to Europe with Clyde steamer sailings whi ...

as a ferry crossing the Bristol Channel between

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmix ...

and Penarth in 1963. It was then fitted with deeper (4 ft) skirts to improve its performance in rough seas.

Southdown Motor Services Southdown Motors Services Ltd (although this was the legal name of the company (until 1992) it was normally referred to as Southdown Motor Services) was a bus and coach operator in East and West Sussex and parts of Hampshire, in southern Engl ...

and

Westland Aircraft Westland Aircraft was a British aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil, Somerset. Formed as a separate company by separation from Petters Limited just before the start of the Second World War, Westland had been building aircraft since 1915. D ...

ran the SR.N2 on the

Solent The Solent ( ) is a strait between the Isle of Wight and Great Britain. It is about long and varies in width between , although the Hurst Spit which projects into the Solent narrows the sea crossing between Hurst Castle and Colwell Bay t ...

between

Eastney Eastney is a district in the south-east corner of Portsmouth, England, on Portsea Island. Its electoral ward is called Eastney and Craneswater. At the 2011 Census the population of this ward was 13,591. History Barracks and fortifications Ea ...

and

Ryde Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...

in 1963/4, carrying 30,000 passengers. It was eventually broken up.

SR.N2 Specifications Bartie's Hovercraft

Notes and references

External links

Hovercraft of Saunders-Roe
- Bartie's Hovercraft

- Hovercraft Museum

- James' Hovercraft Site

a 1962 ''Flight'' article by

Bill Gunston Bill Gunston (1 March 1927 – 1 June 2013) was a British aviation and military author. He flew with Britain's Royal Air Force from 1945 to 1948, and after pilot training became a flying instructor. He spent most of his adult life doing resear ...

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