The Wight Aviation Museum are appealing to Islanders to help save an original Cushioncraft CC7 built at St Helen’s Duver here on the Isle of Wight.
Around £15,000 needs to be raised to cover the purchase, transportation and refurbishment of the Cushioncraft, which is said to be an important part of the Island’s hovercraft story.
In 1960, Britten-Norman Ltd began trials of their new ‘Cushioncraft’ – their name for an air-cushion vehicle built which needed to be flown above the terrain. It was used initially to assess the potential of this type of vehicle for the carriage of bananas from plantations in the Southern Cameroons. Together with its associated company, Crop Culture (Aerial) Ltd, Britten-Norman studied the potential for the Cushioncraft in many different countries. These investigations revealed the possibility of a break-through market in transportation techniques by the use of air cushion vehicles which could accelerate the pace of development in territories where roads are non-existent and costly to build and where rivers are seasonally unnavigable.
Cushioncraft was eventually sold to The British Hovercraft Corporation in 1972.
The museum is aiming to bring the craft back to home soil and place it on public display at Sandown Airport.
The reason for the urgent request is the unexpected availability of the craft. The Trustees of the museum have to act quickly if they are to secure this icon of engineering excellence for British aviation heritage, as it is highly likely it will be sold off to a potential buyer from overseas at auction in January.
Additionally, the Trustees would like to hear from anyone who was originally involved in the Cushioncraft’s production who are able to offer assistance to the museum.
John Kenyon, Chair of Trustees of Wight Aviation Museum, has said:
“This will be a fitting tribute to those who worked at St Helens and later went on to manufacture a wide range of hovercraft that continued right up its transfer to Griffon Hoverwork in 2008.
“Should we not be successful in raising the total sum needed we guarantee that all money donated will be placed into restricted funds and will be used only to purchase further acquisitions for the museum”.
You can make a donation at https://mydonate.bt.com/events/wightaviationmuseum/479553.
You can find out more about the museum on their website at www.wightaviationmuseum.org.uk.
