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N500 Naviplane
The N500 Naviplane was a French hovercraft built by ''Société d'Etude et de Développement des Aéroglisseurs Marins'' (SEDAM) in Pauillac, Gironde for the cross English Channel route. Intended to have a large passenger and crew capacity, as prototypes they were for a short while the largest hovercraft. Only two were built. The first was destroyed by a fire before entering service, the second proved unreliable and was broken up in 1985 at the end of its service. History N500-01 - ''Côte d'Argent'' registered LV 365.832 port of Le Verdon-sur-Mer, Le Verdon, on the Gironde estuary.First flight on 19 April 1977 on the Gironde, demonstrating a speed of 40-45 knots (74–83 km/h). She was destroyed by a fire at her construction site on 3 May 1977. N500-02 - ''Ingénieur Jean Bertin'' registered BL 341.931 at port of Boulogne-Sur-Mer was built for Seaspeed by SNCF in 1977. It showed poor engine and hydraulic system reliability/ It had difficulty climbing the ramp to the Dover ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bell Aircraft
The Bell Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer, a builder of several types of fighter aircraft for World War II but most famous for the Bell X-1, the first supersonic aircraft, and for the development and production of many important civilian and military helicopters. Bell also developed the Reaction Control System for the Project Mercury, Mercury Spacecraft, North American X-15, and Bell Rocket Belt. The company was purchased in 1960 by Textron, and lives on as Bell Textron. History As a pilot, Lawrence Dale Bell, Larry Bell saw his first plane at an air show, starting a lifelong fascination with aviation. Bell dropped out of high school in 1912 to join his brother in the burgeoning aircraft industry at the Glenn L. Martin Company, where by 1914 he had become shop superintendent. By 1920, Bell was vice president and general manager of Martin, then based in Cleveland. Feeling that he deserved part ownership, in late 1924, he presented Martin with an ultimatum. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aérotrain
The Aérotrain was an experimental Tracked Air Cushion Vehicle (TACV), or hovertrain, developed in France from 1965 to 1977 under the engineering leadership of Jean Bertin (1917–1975) – and intended to bring the French rail network to the cutting edge of land-based public transportation. Though similar to a maglev design, which levitates a train car over a complex electromagnetic track to eliminate all resistance other than aerodynamic drag, the Aérotrain – also a "train without wheels" – rode on an air cushion over a simple reinforced concrete track or ''guideway'' and could travel at the speed of a maglev train, without the further technical complexity and expense of its track. In many respects, the entire concept resembled a product of the aircraft rather than rail industry. History In 1969, a U.S. company, Rohr Industries, licensed the Aérotrain technology to build the hovertrains in the United States. That same year the Aérotrain established the world rec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beaufort Scale
The Beaufort scale ( ) is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale. It was devised in 1805 by Francis Beaufort a hydrographer in the Royal Navy. It was officially adopted by the Royal Navy and later spread internationally. History The scale that carries Beaufort's name had a long and complex evolution from the previous work of others (including Daniel Defoe the century before). In the 18th century, naval officers made regular weather observations, but there was no standard scale and so they could be very subjective — one man's "stiff breeze" might be another's "soft breeze"—: Beaufort succeeded in standardising a scale.reprinted in 2003 by Dover Publications./ref> The scale was devised in 1805 by Francis Beaufort (later Rear Admiral), a hydrographer and a Royal Navy officer, while serving on , and refined until he was Hydrographer of the Navy in the 1830s, when it was ado ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawker Siddeley
Hawker Siddeley was a group of British manufacturing companies engaged in list of aircraft manufacturers, aircraft production. Hawker Siddeley combined the legacies of several British aircraft manufacturers, emerging through a series of mergers and acquisitions as one of only two such major British companies in the 1960s. In 1977, Hawker Siddeley became a founding component of the nationalised British Aerospace (BAe). Hawker Siddeley also operated in other industrial markets, such as locomotive building (through its ownership of Brush Traction) and diesel engine manufacture (through its ownership of Lister Petter). The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History Origins Hawker Siddeley Aircraft was formed in 1935 as a result of the purchase by Hawker Aircraft of the companies of John Siddeley, 1st Baron Kenilworth, J. D. Siddeley, the automotive and engine builder Armstrong Siddeley and the aircraft manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dover
Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. The town is the administrative centre of the Dover District and home of the Port of Dover. Archaeological finds have revealed that the area has always been a focus for peoples entering and leaving Great Britain, Britain. The name derives from the River Dour that flows through it. In recent times the town has undergone transformations with a high-speed rail link to London, new retail in town with St James' area opened in 2018, and a revamped promenade and beachfront. This followed in 2019, with a new 500m Pier to the west of the Harbour, and new Marina unveiled as part of a £330m investment in the area. It has also been a point of destination for many English Channel migrant crossings (2018-present), illegal migrant crossings. The Port ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hoverspeed
Hoverspeed was a ferry company that operated on the English Channel from 1981 until 2005. It was formed in 1981 by the merger of Seaspeed and Hoverlloyd. Its last owners were Sea Containers; the company ran a small fleet of two high-speed SeaCat catamaran ferries in its final year. Hoverspeed played a part in developing the hovercraft, and ran six SR.N4 Mountbatten class hovercraft and one SEDAM N500 Naviplane. Hoverspeed last operated hovercraft on its Dover to Calais service. They were withdrawn on 1 October 2000 and Hoverspeed continued to use Seacat catamarans built by Incat. Background and formation Early attempts to consolidate operations During the early 1970s, when both Hoverlloyd and Seaspeed were struggling to return a profit, the two operators had been in negotiations on a partnership to amalgamate operations. However, management at Hoverlloyd was not convinced the UK government would sanction any form of arrangement between Seaspeed and a foreign company. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seaspeed
Seaspeed was a British hovercraft operator which ran services in the Solent and English Channel between 1965 and 1981, when it merged with a rival to form Hoverspeed. Seaspeed was a jointly owned subsidiary of railway companies British Rail (under British Rail Hovercraft Limited) and France's SNCF, and was established in 1965. Seaspeed operated several services; its first route, running between Cowes and Southampton, was launched on 6 July 1966. Initially operating a fleet of SR.N6s for these short-distance services, it opted to procure larger SR.N4s for its cross- Channel ferry service; the first of these hoverferries was introduced in 1968. On this route, Seaspeed competed against traditional ferries and rival SR.N4 operator Hoverlloyd. In 1976, after concluding that it could not attain suitable profitability from its smaller SR.N6 services, Seaspeed sold these to rival hovercraft company Hovertravel. Focusing upon its cross-Channel service, it opted to repeatedly upgra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boulogne-Sur-Mer
Boulogne-sur-Mer (; ; ; or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Hauts-de-France, Northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the Côte d'Opale, a touristic stretch of French coast on the English Channel between Calais and Normandy, and the most visited location in the region after the Lille conurbation. Boulogne is its department's second-largest city after Calais, and the 183rd-largest in France.Téléchargement du fichier d'ensemble des populations légales en 2017 Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, INSEE It is also the country's largest fishing port, specialising in herring. Boulogne is an ancie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Bertin
Jean Henri Bertin (5 September 1917 – 21 December 1975) was a French scientist, engineer and inventor. He was born in Druyes-les-Belles-Fontaines and died in Neuilly-sur-Seine. He is best known as the lead engineer for the French experimental Aérotrain mass transit system. He studied at the École Polytechnique (graduating in 1938) and at the École nationale supérieure de l'aéronautique et de l'espace. From 1944 he worked for the French National Society for the Development of Aircraft Engines ( Société nationale d'études et de construction de moteurs d'aviation). In 1955 he founded the company Bertin & Cie, whose most famous activity was the development of the Aérotrain The Aérotrain was an experimental Tracked Air Cushion Vehicle (TACV), or hovertrain, developed in France from 1965 to 1977 under the engineering leadership of Jean Bertin (1917–1975) – and intended to bring the French rail network to the .... Bertin died just over a year and a half afte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SNCF
The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with that of Monaco, including the TGV, on France's high-speed rail network. Its functions include operation of railway services for passengers and freight (through its subsidiaries SNCF Voyageurs and Rail Logistics Europe), as well as maintenance and signalling of rail infrastructure (SNCF#Divisions, SNCF Réseau). The railway network consists of about of route, of which are high-speed lines and electrified. About 14,000 trains are operated daily. In 2010 the SNCF was ranked 22nd in France and 214th globally on the Fortune Global 500, ''Fortune'' Global 500 list. It is the main business of the SNCF Group, which in 2020 had €30 billion of sales in 120 countries. The SNCF Group employs more than 275,000 employees in France and around the worl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
