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The genesis of Neoteric Hovercraft, Inc. occurred in July 1959 when the company's founder, Chris Fitzgerald, watched a television program about the British Saunders Roe Nautical Model One (SRN1) Hovercraft crossing the English Channel. He was inspired by the prospect of being able to fly “safely”, albeit close to the ground, without having to be immensely rich like an aviator. Even though Chris was only 15 years old at the time, he began pondering the idea of inventing a smaller version of hovercraft, and marketing it to the world for a vast number of applications ranging from recreation to rescue.

At the time of the SRN1's crossing, Chris' father, Gerald, and his two uncles Bill and Jack were the Fitzgeralds’ third generation to own and run the family sheet metal business, which started when the family arrived in Australia from Ireland during the 1850s Ballarat Gold Rush in Victoria. They supplied billys, buckets, pans, funnels, and many other sheet metal items needed on the gold field. When the gold source was eventually depleted, the Fitzgeralds moved to Melbourne where they started W. Fitzgerald and Sons in a half basement on Elizabeth Street, causing them to be known as the "Underground Tinsmiths". By the time of World War I, the family had become so prosperous that they had to expand to two locations, one at the Haymarket in a building that still stands in the alley-way behind the Melbourne Motor Inn, (demolished during 2022) and one on Swanston Street that later became Melbourne University's Child Minding Center. In 1972, W. Fitzgerald and Sons was sold to a private individual.

The Fitzgerald independent spirit so influenced Chris that in 1956, when he was 12 years old, he was already in the business of creating and selling model aircraft. At age 14 he joined the Royal Australian Air Force Air Training Corps and, at the same time, became the youngest member of the Australian Experimental Aircraft Association (then known as the Ultralight Aircraft Association of Australia), seeing both affiliations as an introduction to the world of flight. When, at age 15, he started working on his own hovercraft designs, Chris attracted the interest of the Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne and they soon employed him as a technical assistant. Work was done on various hovercraft projects such as crevasse jumping and ejector driven recirculation annular jets. During this time, Chris served as a Technical Assistant to Dr. David Warren, who was then developing the world's first "Black Box" flight recorder. (Early boxes were not black, but bright orange.) He was also an assistant to Bill Howard, Dennis Frith, Murdock Culley, Alan Cox, and others.

Measuring over water drag on a statically hovering man-carrying hovercraft. This plenum chamber hovercraft used a 2-cycle 3½ HP lawn mower engine for lift.			Hovercraft experiments conducted at the Aeronautical Research Laboratory in Melbourne included crevasse jumping tests, as Australia had an active interest in Arctic transportation. This experiment consisted of a 60-foot long platform 8 feet wide and 4 feet off the hangar floor. Scale model hovercraft were catapulted along the center at various speeds and adjustable crevasse widths. At speed, the model could jump a crevasse of width almost 3/4 the length of the craft. Notice these tests were conducted on models that utilized the annular jet principle, before the days of hovercraft skirts.

In the early 1960s, while in the Royal Australian Air Force Air Training Corps, Chris found a ready supply of material with which to develop his hovercraft designs, and formed a club/business relationship with several fellow Cadets to help expedite his goal of creating a functional, personal-sized hovercraft. Together, Chris, Robert Wilson, Peter Kolf, and Alan Schwartz, as well as other members from outside the Air Training Corps — Eddy Thomas, Arthur Boyd, Bernard Sutcher, Laurie Fair and Sam Ciliauro - established the Hovercraft Research Organization. Their home base was located in a suburb of Melbourne at the Brunswick Boys’ Club, and the partners operated a Jazz Club to raise funds for their hovercraft research.

As an interesting side note, during this time they hired a new band, known as The Seekers, to perform at the Jazz Club. The very next week, The Seekers were called to England to perform the title song of the 1966 British film Georgy Girl, starring Lynn Redgrave. The title song became a hit single and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The Seekers were the first Australian popular music group to achieve significant chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States.

In the mid-1960s, the Hovercraft Research Organization changed its name to Australian Air Cushion Vehicles Development. More than 50 Melbourne businesses agreed to donate materials to aid the group in the building of an experimental man-carrying model. Considered an extracurricular activity at the Air training Corps, the Cadet members worked after hours at the facility, and then at various backyard sheds and garages, crafting many different models and test rigs. Most valuable to the project at this time was Robert Wilson, who is still involved today with design and product development at Neoteric Hovercraft, Inc. David Atkins, who was introduced to the team by Arthur Boyd, is still the company’s aesthetic and ergonomic design engineer. Other members have gone on to such professions as Qantas Performance Engineer, Royal Australian Navy Engineer, Professor of Naval Architecture, General Motors Australia Design Engineer and Pfizer Australia Marketing Manager.

Construction of the hovercraft that introduced practical engineering design concepts took place at Melbourne University’s Mechanical Engineering School from 1962 to 1964; this craft was entered in the World’s First Hovercraft Race on March 14, 1964 in Canberra, Australia, the official name for this event was the world’s first ground Effect machine race. The Canberra Branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society organized this event. Much to the chagrin of the Melbourne University’s Chancellor, it made its first run on his back lawn during an early Sunday morning in the early part of 1964. After participating in the first race, the group moved into W. Fitzgerald & Sons factory on Swanston Street in Melbourne, where development continued.

By 1968 Chris had left Aeronautical Research Laboratories and joined the family business along with Robert Wilson. Involvement at W. Fitzgerald & Sons lasted until 1969 when Robert Wilson resumed his engineering education and Chris Fitzgerald won a Rotary Club scholarship to study aeronautical engineering in the UK at the Farnborough Technical School and to work as an intern at British Hovercraft Corporation (formerly Saunders Roe), and then to travel the world to survey the latest in hovercraft technology.

In 1973, Australian Air Cushion Vehicles Development was renamed and incorporated as Neoteric Engineering Affiliates Pty Ltd. In 1975, Chris moved to the United States and incorporated Neoteric, Inc. in Indiana. It also traded as Neoteric USA Inc. and much later became Neoteric Hovercraft, Inc.

Following is A Photo History of Neoteric Hovercraft from 1959-1969 1960 - present

Since 1960, Neoteric Hovercraft, Inc. has collected hovercraft related publications, technical publications, photographs, 8mm and 16 mm early movies, videos and an extensive library of supplier’s catalogs. These libraries are constantly being cataloged. The 35 mm slide library has been cataloged and contains several thousand items. The goal is to eventually publish and/or to display them on the Neoteric website or at a Museum that will be created.

The Melbourne Sun Newspaper, Australia			Australian Air Cushion Vehicles Development Craft #5 (AACVD5) on demonstration day at Moorabbin Airport, near Melbourne around 1967		Rob Wilson (on the left) and Chris Fitzgerald (on the right) with their AACVD5 hovercraft on demonstration day at Moorabbin Airport, near Melbourne around 1967

1961 - present

Neoteric Australia slowly began providing technical services, prototype components, occasional manufactured parts and to undertake experimental testing and model building to help the company. The company continues presently to operate its testing facility at Hastings, Victoria, Australia.

1961 - 1973

Research, development and experimentation continued: reverse thrust was developed and tested; trials undertaken and models constructed along with test rigs and full size hovercraft such as AACVD 5 (cannibalized in 1973). Some of the persons who assisted during this time were Dr. Laurence Doctors, James McCreedy and Bill Burke.

The Melbourne Age newspaper, 23 June 1962			The Melbourne Age Newspaper, 13 March, 1964

Gascor News, June-July 1966			The Colac Herald, Monday 11 July, 1966

14 March 1964

Chris Fitzgerald, Rob Wilson, Eddy Thomas and Ron Davies participated in the world's first hovercraft race in Canberra, Australia, as Australian Air Cushion Vehicles Development. Due to transmission difficulties the team was scratched from the race.

1968 - 1971

During this time land was found and purchased. a small hangar/shed was constructed along the Hastings seashore, Victoria, Australia. This is a salt-water tidal mudflat area and ideal for prototype Hovercraft development and testing.

1969 - 1970

Chris surveyed world hovercraft developments under the sponsorship of Rotary International.

1963-1972

Rob Wilson, President, Neoteric Engineering Affiliates, Pty. Ltd, Australia; Technical Director, Neoteric Hovercraft, Inc. compiled the History of the AACVD developments.

History of AACVD development by Rob Wilson - start

Introduction

AACVD5 was the first full sized man carrying hovercraft constructed by Neoteric, then known as Australian Air Cushion Vehicles Development. Many models and test rigs had been made and run in the years dating back to 1960, so a significant knowledge of the air cushion principle was available before AACVD5 was built. However, little was known about the construction of a full sized craft with its complex and inherent engine, transmission and operational environment problems - and nothing was known about flexible skirts. The learning curve was very steep with many mistakes being made. It has been estimated that for every hour of the machine’s recorded total of 91 hours and 16 minutes of lift engine running time, 218 hours of construction, repair, modification and maintenance was required. That’s nearly 20,000 hours of labor or about 2,000 hours per year over the life of the craft - not a minor effort for a small group of part timers. Here is how it progressed over the years:

July 1963

The first run of the AACVD5 was completed, in its original configuration of 12-foot diameter circular plan-form with annular air jets. Four segmental sections in the air jets actuated by a cockpit control stick enabled selective restriction of jet discharge area and hence tilted the craft to give forward, reverse or side force for low speed maneuvering. A 3-foot diameter, centrally mounted, cast aluminum axial fan was driven by a 350cc BSA single cylinder motorcycle engine with gearbox and single chain via a 90-degree bevel gearbox. No additional propulsion system was fitted. Fig. 1 through 5 shows the original construction.

March 1964

The AACVD5 was transported by road to Canberra for the World’s First Hovercraft Race. A 40hp outboard motor was fitted at the stern and a steerable/retractable water fin fitted to the bow. Fig. 6 shows the cockpit layout and Fig. 7 the outboard installation at that time. Numerous mechanical problems with the chain drive design limited running time to minutes between breakdowns. Fundamental trim problems negated the powerful thrust available from the outboard engine and the hovercraft was withdrawn from competition at an early stage.

September 1964

A more powerful 500cc Triumph 5T motorcycle engine was fitted to drive the lift fan (Fig. 8). No motorcycle gearbox or clutch was used and the chain drive was directly coupled to the fan right angle gearbox via a countershaft to give the necessary speed reduction and to reduce the center distance of the chain drive. A one-way overrunning clutch installed on the countershaft and chain-coupled to an aircraft starter motor provided electric starting. Due to the high fan inertia and direct drive, shock loads were high and numerous shaft failures occurred. The overrunning clutch on the starter drive was totally inadequate for the duty involved and soon burned out. After several transmission rebuilds and modifications, extending over many months, a reliable arrangement using a centrifugal clutch to decouple the fan and a saw-tooth clutch with a centrifugal weight release mechanism to disengage the starter was developed. Fig. 9 shows this arrangement.

November 1964

The first flexible skirt was fitted. Given that the AACVD5 was a circular plan-form hovercraft, the skirt shape was conical, six inches deep and fitted to the outer air jet wall only. To avoid the anticipated snagging on obstacles due to the 45-degree skirt angle, elastic panels were built into the fabric. The air jet flaps, shown to be effective in tilting the craft in its original configuration, were retained but proved to be completely ineffective with a skirt fitted to the outer jet wall. Worst of all, the stretchable panels resulted in skirt flutter and severe craft vibrations.

December 1964

In an effort to make the air jet controls effective, a second skirt was fitted to the inner jet wall. The stretchable panels on the outer skirt were mostly replaced. Unfortunately, the air jet controls were still ineffective and the inner skirt unstable, often sticking to the outer skirt, blocking airflow and causing loss of lift on that side of the craft.

January 1965

Since the elastic panel skirt method of providing stretchability had been unsuccessful, a partially stretchable material for the outer skirt was tried.

February 1965

In an attempt to continue water screw propulsion, it was decided to replace the heavy 180 pound, 40 horsepower Johnson outboard motor with a much lighter 18 horsepower outboard weighing 80 pounds. A new single 45-degree conical skirt with minimal stretchability and good abrasion resistance was installed, along with a reinforced higher cable travel lifting system. Simple flap type stability skirts were also fitted laterally and longitudinally. This layout is shown in Fig. 10 and Fig. 11. Water testing at Lake Eppalock showed that the relatively high thrust moments generated by the outboard propulsor could mot be matched by the much lower stabilizing moments generated by the circular air cushion. A trim balance between bow-in plough and stern scooping was impossible to control.

September 1965

The original BSA lift engine was set up on a steel tubing frame to turn a 6 foot diameter wooden light aircraft propeller via a chain reduction drive. This propulsion unit was fitted to the craft and some thrust measurements recorded. The installation was unreliable but the basic concept of airscrew propulsion was shown to be viable.

January 1966

A 1200cc Volkswagen industrial engine was obtained and set up on a tubing frame as a pusher propulsion unit using the same propeller as that used in the BSA engine test. Direct chain drive was employed and weight minimized by discarding the VW flywheel, cooling system, generator and starter. Starting was by hand swinging the propeller and a magneto ignition system eliminated the need for a battery. Fig. 12 shows detail of this installation. The assembly was strapped to the craft, enabling easy removal for road transportation.

A large fin, operated by a foot-actuated hydraulic system, was fitted behind the propeller. To minimize the effects of plough-in and water spray, a triangular bow was made from steel tubing and covered with plywood, extending the craft length by 3 feet. A cabin with adequate headroom and a windscreen wiper/washer system was added.

Because of the bow extension a new skirt was fitted. Initially this skirt was the same conical design as previously, except for straight sections along the bow. The skirt lifting cables were replaced by chains enclosed in tubes; skirt lift was subsequently proved to be largely ineffective and this system was abandoned. The straight skirt bow sections blew out and were replaced by convoluted fingers. It was found that the extra cushion lift generated by the bow section produced excessive bow-up trim; this was alleviated by restricting the air flow to this section via calibrated holes in the conical front section of the main skirt. Fig. 13 shows the bow section of this installation.

February 1966

Trials in a salt-water swamp at Point Cook in Melbourne proved the viability of the propulsion, skirt and control systems. These trials also introduced the crew to accelerated corrosion conditions inherent in salt-water operations.

March 1966

A public demonstration at Devonport, Tasmania (Fig. 14a) provided experience in salt water with ocean swell conditions. A demonstration of how dangerous chain drives can be when they come apart and become entangled in a propeller. This was a none-too-subtle reminder of the potential for unfortunate accidents.

April 1966

A further public demonstration at Moorabbin Airport showed the effectiveness of the craft operating on the unprepared verges of aircraft runways. See photo 14b.

July 1966

Trials over a farmer's unprepared grass field and adjoining Lake Colac showed the advantages of a relatively large lift air supply and ample thrust in rough conditions. Also demonstrated was the need to allow for adequate stopping distances when no reverse thrust is available and skidding on wet grass is the only means of braking?

February 1967

Trials at Bacchus Marsh on a standby airstrip presented the opportunity to determine the top speed potential of the AACVD5 on dry flat ground. Instrumentation installed included a calibrated anemometer and aircraft type data recorder. On long flat gravel runways and verges, speeds up to 55 feet per second (38 mph) were measured. Fig. 15 is a photograph taken at this time. At the end of this trial period the first deep skirt was fitted (Fig. 16a). Because of the trim implications of the extended bow section, squaring off the stern with a tubing structure covered with fabric. This additional lift area provided a balancing cushion area at the stern. The design was a basic 'C-skirt' configuration with supporting fabric diaphragms fastened back to the base structure (Fig. 16b). Although the 2 foot ground clearance obtained was impressive, stability was very poor and the craft unusable in that state.

September 1968

To obtain a more stable cushion, the bow was rounded off via a tubular structure bent in a semi-circle and braced back to the existing bow structure. The side and rear sections of the 'C-skirt' were pressurized by adding an inner wall, this being attached to the diaphragms. The top edge of this wall was left open to allow passage of air into the cushion.

October 1968

Trials were held at Lake Modewarre outside of Colac in Victoria to check the performance of the 2-foot-deep skirts over water. Also, obstacle performance of the craft was found to be improved with the increased cushion depth, but drag was higher and maneuverability much impaired.

November 1968

A bag-type longitudinal stability skirt was fitted with inflation from the plenum near the fan. A bow thruster unit using a 2-cycle, 2-cylinder McCulloch drone engine, driving a small propeller and mounted on a rotatable pylon, was fitted to aid maneuverability. The craft was transported by road to the first Australian Hovercraft Conference at Adelaide and demonstrated over beach and shallow water (see Fig. 17a). A massive skirt tuck-under and plough-in ended the demonstration. Fig. 17b was photographed at that event. The bow thruster was found to be effective when operational but extreme engine unreliability limited its use to a few very brief tests.

History of AACVD development by Rob Wilson - finish.

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