50 Years ago

The first hovercraft has begun the hard task of practical development ... The experimental version now flying, the 'SR-NI', is an oval dish on top of which are mounted the propulsion and control systems, and the air compressor ... A reasonably flat operational surface is required and early applications may well be over surfaces which existing vehicles find difficult, for example, marsh, snow, sand, ice and shallow rivers. Serious consideration has been given to a 400-ton car ferry capable of carrying eight hundred passengers and eighty cars across the channel at a speed of 90 knots ... If the hovercraft can prove its worth with modest payloads over short distances, then serious thought could be given to developing a trans-ocean hovercraft capable of crossing the Atlantic in 24 hr.

From Nature 19 March 1960.

'The International Aëro And Motor Boat Exhibition' — Monoplanes comprise by far the larger number of machines in this exhibition. Apart from any inherent advantages of this design ... there is no doubt that its popularity, both with makers and buyers, is owing to Blériot's flight across the Channel last summer. There are twenty monoplanes, nine biplanes, and one triplane, all of these being full-size machines ... Of machines shown by members of the Royal Aëro Club, one of the most interesting is a Short Wright biplane, the first of its kind built in England, and belonging to the Hon. C. S. Rolls ... In general design it closely resembles the machines used by the Wright brothers ... Another Short biplane is shown ... fitted with Short's patent front elevators ... The speed is about 48 miles per hour, and the machine has made a large number of flights, that of March 1, 1910, being of 32 minutes' duration in covering a distance of about 25 miles.

From Nature 17 March 1910.