The Following Article was provided from the Official Archives of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Canberra Branch



COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
NEWS AND INFORMATION BUREAU
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR


"THE WORLD'S FIRST HOVERCRAFT RACE"
Story ..................Ian Healy
Photography ... Australian News and Information Bureau

Canberra, Australia

The world's first hovercraft race was run recently in Canberra, the national capital of Australia, and the enthusiasts who took part learned valuable lessons from it.

The race was organized by the Canberra branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society - which gave it the "first-ever" label - and run on Canberra's large artificial waterway, Lake Burley Griffin, on March 14, 1964. The race was part of celebrations to mark the 51st anniversary of the naming of Canberra.

Thirteen entries were received from enthusiasts in the Australian Capital Territory and the States of Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland. The event attracted, along with a horde of journalists, Press and TV cameramen, an estimated 10,000 spectators - one in seven of Canberra's population.

Only five hovercraft completed the race circuit, a rectangular course of little more than one mile. Two interstate entries failed to arrive and were scratched from the race. Two others were withdrawn because of last-minute technical hitches. Three had to be towed ashore after starting in the event; and one, having completed half the circuit, sank.

Although the lake as yet is only partially filled,it was sufficiently deep and murky for the sunken craft to remain unlocated when skin divers at the end of the day plunged in to search for it.

The 11 assembled craft were a weird assortment. They came in a variety of shapes and sizes - rectangular, triangular, circular and shapes between - in both annular peripheral jet and plenum chamber types. Two or three looked professional, the others obviously home-made.

They spluttered noisily on land and lake, and collectively seemed ungainly and slow.

[Queensland Entry]
Most were powered by lawnmower motors and only two - an entry by eight Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) airmen from Amberley, Queensland, and another from South Australia - had previously had a try-out over water.
[Photograph no. E643/404]

The airmen, calling themselves the RAAF Amberley Hovercraft Group, tried out their annular peripheral jet twice - amid much excitement - on a swimming pool at the Amberley RAAF base and once, on the way to Canberra for the race, at a swimming pool at the RAAF base at Richmond, New South Wales.

[South Australian Entry]
The South Australian entry by Mr. William Selge, a final year medical student at the University of Adelaide, and Mr. Kevin M. McLeod, a technician at the Weapons Research Establishment at Salisbury; was tried out on Lake Torrens, in an Adelaide park, in the week before the race.
But every competitor was virtually starting anew in learning to cope with wind and wave conditions on a large expanse of water.

There was no general line-up for a mass start by the craft. They took to the water individually at intervals and were awarded points under a complicated scoring formula devised by Dr. R.J. Stalker, of the Physics Department of the Australian National University, in Canberra.
"It was difficult to know how to score." an official said. "We had no precedent."

A notice-board at the lakeside explained that the formula was to divide the hover height of a particular craft by a multiplication of its horsepower and the time taken for the course and multiply by 1000.

[New South Wales Entry]
The winning craft, which the CANBERRA TIMES and the Sydney Sunday SUN-HERALD described as resembling a "beatle" - giving it perhaps, a literal "yeah! yeah! yeah!" of approval - was in fact a beatle-like machine built and owned by a New South Wales syndicate of five, hoaded by Mr, Geoffrey L. Cottee, of the Sydney suburb of Turramurra.

A plenum chamber type vehicle of polyurethane foam vinyl plastic and aluminium alloy on a basic structure of alloy steel, it was built to a "considerably modified" American design. Apart from an imported fan, Australian materials only were used.

"We could build a much better one, starting from now." Mr. Alien Hawkins, an engineer of Sans Souci, Sydney, one of the syndicate, said before the race.

The craft had flown on land for a total of about five hours before being towed to Canberra on a car trailer. With a surface area of 36 sq. ft. and total weight of 240 lb., including the pilot's 135 lb., it was equipped with one two-stroke 8 hp motor - a type used in go-karts - for both lift and propulsion. Its hover height was recorded officially as 2.1 in.

The jet made a fast getaway from the shore, but like all the competing vehicles struck the problem of cross winds on the lake and slowed appreciably. Its recorded time for the circuit was 4 min. 40 sec. It won with 50 points; and the syndicate received a championship trophy, a blue sash and £A100 prize-money.

It was a coincidence that the first three vehicles to move on to the lake became the place-getters. The "beetle" was the second to compete.

[1st Australian Capitol Territory Entry]
The first - thus earning a place of its own in hovercraft history — was an annular peripheral jet built and piloted by Mr. Alan L. Ellis, a senior technical officer at the Australian National University.

Just before the annular peripheral jet approached the water, a bracket supporting its petrol tank broke. A helper hastily tied the tank in place with rope and the craft sputtered away to win third place, completing the circuit in 8 min. 45 sec. It scored 27.4 points and won a prize of £A10.

Mr. Ellis's comment on being the first in from the "first-ever" race was: "It was an easy course to get round, and a great relief nothing broke down." Later, seeing how wet other pilots got, he added: "At least I didn't get wet."

His craft powered by a two-stroke mower motor for propulsion and a chain-saw motor and the overhauled motor from a 20-year-old motorcycle for lift, was built of 1/8-inch marine plywood and fibre glass at a cost of about £170, excluding motors. It had a surface area of 80 sq. ft., weighed 340 lb., including pilot, and hovered officially at 3 ins.

Second place went to the South Australian machine which had tried out on the Torrens. It covered the course in 13 min. 4 sec. and scored 30.7 points, earning a prize of £A40.

Messrs. Selge and McLeod, who called it "AIRCAVILLE I" and preferred to describe it as an "air cushioned vehicle", began work on the plenum chamber type craft in December 1963. They spent about 2000 man-hours -"almost every night and at week-end" - designing and building it, missing out on their favorite pastime, skin-diving, in the process.

The rectangular vehicle, with seating for two, was built of aluminium riveted to a steel tube frame, with a flotation pad of polyurethane foam. Its surface area was 85 sq. ft., total weight (including pilot) "about 550 lb." and official hover height 4.2 ins. Its two two-stroke mower motors and some of the materials used were donated, but the men estimated the vehicle cost them £A350.

[2nd Australian Capitol Territory Entry]
Most of the craft were built in home backyards or garages. The winning jet, however, was constructed in a Sydney photographic laboratory; and Mr. Dan Reece, a Canberra sales manager, built his unplaced entry - an annular peripheral jet - in the lean-to of a caravan in a Canberra caravan park.

"I ran out of lean-to," he said, "The lean-to was 10ft. long and the hovercraft 18ft."

The first machines to complete the course and return to the starting point were applauded by spectators. When Mr. Reece returned, the excited cry of a male voice was heard: "He made it."
"Well, one got there and back," Mr. Reece said.

[3rd Australian Capitol Territory Entry]
Possibly the next most unusual design was a triangular machine of plywood, canvas and fibre glass entered by Mr. Arthur W. Powell, an Australian National University laboratory technician, and owned by him in partnership with the man who piloted it, Mr. Ron Raymond, also of Canberra.

The silver, dart-like craft - annular peripheral jet type - was equipped with a 10 hp auxiliary generating motor from a Catalina bomber to give it lift. Its hover height was officially 2.15 ins. and with total installed horsepower of 30, its propulsion motor being a 20 hp motorcycle engine, it had the fastest time for the circuit - 3 min. 3 1/2 sec. Officials estimated that it reached about 30 mph.
Entrants had been required to give estimated speeds of their machines and the estimates, generally optimistic, ranged up to 50 mph. Almost all said they found that their motors were too small.

[1st Victorian Entry]
Mr. Brian Kensington built his entry - also an annular peripheral jet - at his motor body repair shop in Wangaratta, Victoria. The craft, which was unable to complete the course, was one of the most unusual designs. It consisted basically of three 26-gauge aluminium pods linked with mild-steel inch piping and cost £A130.

Mr, Kensington, with two young men as assistants (one, Mr. Neil Jones, of Wangaratta, piloted the craft), spent only a week on its construction. Not having an opportunity to do so earlier, he began work on it on Friday, March 6. It was not finished until 11 pm on Friday, March 13, when the trio loaded it on to a car trailer and left Wangaratta immediately to drive 300 miles through the night to get to Canberra on time.

[2nd Victorian Entry]
The most expensive entry came from the Australian Air Cushion Vehicles Development group, of Brunswick, Victoria. It was built from materials donated by a number of Melbourne companies and estimated by members of the group to have cost £A2500.

Mr. Edward Thomas, a trainee salesman, of North Coburg, Victoria, one of the group, said the group was affiliated unofficially with the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Melbourne. The group had been formed late in 1962 "to develop, promote and carry out research on air cushion vehicles in Australia." The vehicle was inscribed MEMU (for "Mechanical Engineering, Melbourne University").

An annular peripheral jet with a dominant intake, it was powered by a 40 hp outboard motor for propulsion and a 350 cc. motorcycle engine for lift. It had a surface area of 110 sq. ft., an estimated weight of 1,150 Ib. - the heaviest entry (including pilot) - and an estimated speed of 30 mph.

"At this stage, it is not finished," Mr. Thomas said before the race. "We should not be here really, but thought we'd better come because it was the world's first hovercraft race."

At the last minute, though, the group struck technical problems -"not unexpectedly" - and withdrew from the event.

Only two of the five craft which completed the race took to the water a second time for a maneuverability event, for which three prizes had been offered. This event was held late in the afternoon when the cross winds were at their worst.

Mr. Ellis won the £A25 first prize after covering the circuit in 16 min. 30 sec., and Messrs. Selge and McLeod the second prize of £A10f their craft taking 19 min. 5 sec.

An ingenuity prize of £A25 for construction and design was also awarded. This was won by the Amberley airmen's annular peripheral jet, "THE HOVERNAUT".

[Judges]
The vehicles were judged by Professor T.D.J. Leech, of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority; Air Vice-Marshal E, Hey, Air Member for Technical Services, RAAF; and Professor P.T. Fink, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sydney.

They considered materials, structure, ease of maintenance, engine configuration, means of propulsion, safety features, buoyancy, mechanical controls, aerodynamics, stability, overall control, maneuverability, ducting, and means of braking, if any.

The eight airmen of the Amberley group built "THE HOVERNAUT" as a hobby project at a cost exceeding £A1500. Based on an aluminium alloy and aluminium pontoon, with a plywood decking and aluminium cowling, it included a large propulsion fan at the rear. This was the tail rotor of a helicopter, cut down from 6ft. to 4ft, The rotor blades, costing about £A750, were donated by the Officers' Mess at an Australian Army camp at Wacol, Queensland, after officers had become interested in the project.

"THE HOVERNAUT" showed its ability to hover successfully at 0.45 ins., but did not complete the circuit in the formula race.

"The motor hasn't enough power," said Corporal John K. Murray, of Brisbane, the pilot. "We could have completed the course, but time was against us."

There was no second prize for ingenuity, but the judges recommended highly the entry by Messrs. Selge and McLeod.

All entrants were given medallions to commemorate their part in "the world's first hovercraft race" and almost every entrant, as enthusiastic as ever at the end of the day, announced his intention of pulling down his craft to rebuild and improve it in the light of the knowledge gained from the day's experience, or to build new craft.

The sunken machine? It was located and fished out of the lake by Water Police, with the aid of grapnels, four days after the race.

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Photographs supplied: L46908-16

IH/FJMcL/PEM
E643/404