When I was a small kid, BHC was stretching a couple of the SRN-4s to the Super 4 configuration. Despite living in the same town, I never saw them while they were being tested. The late 90s and I got to travel on one for a Channel crossing as we went on holiday to France. Not long after that, they were withdrawn from service. The two hovercraft made their way to the Hovercraft Museum at Lee on Solent. One has since been scrapped but the other survives and is on display.
Getting this close to it, you really appreciate the size of the machine. It is interesting to wander through the passenger cabins on the side, up the main ramp, through the car deck and around the outside. It really is a most impressive piece of engineering. It dominates the grounds of the museum and gets you thinking about what it was like when it was in service rising high up on the massive skirt.
It was a cold and dreary day when I was there. The grey skies don’t provide a nice backdrop to the exterior vie and I will have to try and go back on a nicer day at some point. However, it was worthwhile having the chance to view it when few other people were around so a cold and gloomy winter day might have had it advantages.
No shock to regular readers that I might swing by the Hovertravel facilities when on the Island. A pleasant surprise was to discover that it wasn’t just the Hovertravel craft that were present. A couple of smaller military craft were also parked up. I had seen pictures of these online but didn’t realise that they were still present. I don’t know whether they are ex-military that are being repurposed or new builds for the military. Whatever the story, here they were. It would be better to see them moving but it was the weekend so not a surprise that they weren’t going anywhere.
