Ford Air cushion Machine
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DETA1LS were given in America last month of an experimental aircushion machine at present being built by the Aeronutronic Division of the Ford Motor Co., Newport Beach, California. It will weigh 3.5 tons and is expected to be able to carry a 1-ton payload at 40 m.p.h. over a distance of 100 miles, over dry land, water or swampy combinations of the two. The vehicle is intended to travel 2 to 3 ft. above the ground and will 'incorporate a flexible skirt around the outer edge of the body to reduce the escaping flow of air from under the vehicle, thus reducing engine-power requirements. The machine will he 21 ft. long and 8 ft. wide.
Speaking at the Sixth Joint IndustryMilitary Symposium on Packaging and Materials Handling, sponsored by the National Security Industrial Association, Mr. Murray F. Southcote, of Ford's. said that although ground-effect machines such as this would not put the wheel out of business, they do promise to revolutionize a number of aspects of surface transportation. "Wheeled vehicles will remain best for on-road travel, but many places to which wheeled and tracked vehicles can't go will be accessible with the air-cushion vehicle.
"The high ground clearance and air cushion ride will flatten out rugged terrain, provide a much smoother' ride and permit the vehicle to move over mud, swamps, rivers, lakes, or other obstacles that now stop wheeled and tracked vehicles. The air-cushion iiehicle is not a universal answer. to the world's transportation needs, but it does promise to be a revolutionary and complementary addition to our transportation methods," said Mr, Southcote.
He went on: "A railroads opened the vast American West, so 'also can aircushion machines help open the world's underdeveloped lands," and he pointed out that, despite today's world of orbital space flights and high-performance aircraft, . countless millions still were isolated from man's progress because they could be reached only by foot, ox-cart or raft.