Hovercraft

Christopher Cockerrell figured out how to make the hovercraft work. He proved his theory by taking a coffee tin, inserting a cat food tin inside it, and blowing air between the two tins. A real hovercraft has gas turbine engines that power propellers on top of the hovercraft, and the engines also drive four huge fans that whirl around more than 500 times a minute to creat the air cushion under the hovercraft. After a lot of hard work trying to make the hovercraft a reality, Cockerell design was put to the test. June 11, 1959 the first hovercraft, Saunders Roe Nautical One (SR.N1), was tested over land and then water. It was a successful flight and the hovercraft crossed the English Channel.