Air cushion craft development, first revision

The development of air cushion craft from their inception to the present day is described. Both aerostatic craft known as air cushion vehicles and surface effect ships as well as aerodynamic craft such as wing-in-ground effect vehicles are covered. The various available theories, empirical laws, and experimental data were brought together and expressed in unified form. Emphasis is given to reducing the data and analysis to their simplest forms for easy understanding and isolation of fundamental parameters. Currently operational craft, those still in their construction jigs, or in some cases those still on the drawing board are assessed and compared to the basic theories to give a measure of the state-of-the-art. Such topics as performance, propulsion, ride quality, and high speed aerodynamic craft are included.