On board for the maiden flight in 1959 was an anxious Cockerell, serving as “moveable ballast”
YOU knew you were living in the age of the hovercraft when James Bond (Sean Connery), impersonating a jewel smuggler, boarded one to cross the English Channel in Diamonds Are Forever (1971). They even blasted out the thrilling 007 theme as the camera zoomed in on a hovercraft symbol above the Port of Dover entrance as if it was an exotic beast, then cut to the SR-N4 Princess Margaret surfing away from the white cliffs.
Time would in 1995, the SR-N4 completed the Dover-Calais run in 22 minutes, with an unofficial record for the crossing being a little over 15 minutes.
