1.
TV Cushioncraft
0.05

2.
SV ditto
0.08

3.
RV pilot enters
0.14

4.
CU designer of cushioncraft, John Britten
0.19

5.
CU wheel and peripheral compressor rotate
0.26

6.
SCU ditto
0.28

7.
SV PAN ditto
0.32

8.
SV Cushioncraft off the ground
0.40

9.
TV ditto
0.49



Initials BA/V/MR/BA



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Another British vehicle designed to travel on a cushion of air - this time it's the Cushioncraft developed at Bembridge airport, Isle of Wight, by Britten Norman Ltd., and resembling the earlier, still-experimental Hovercraft.

Trials will soon begin, and the banana firm Elders and Fyffes Ltd. - the Cushioncraft's sponsors - plan to ship it to West Africa for further tests. If successful, the Cushioncraft would save big road building costs for banana transportation.

19 feet in diameter and weighing one ton empty, the Cushioncraft is powered by a sports-car engine, providing lift, and horizontal thrust. important new feature of the Cushioncraft is its compressor which 'orbits' round the machine's circumference, giving the 15-inch deep air cushion.