Boeing Jetfoil

A Jetfoil is the name for a passenger-carrying waterjet-propelled hydrofoil design by Boeing.

Boeing began adapting many systems used in jet airplanes for hydrofoils. Robert Bateman led development. Boeing launched its first passenger-carrying waterjet-propelled hydrofoil, in April 1974. It could carry from 167 to 400 passengers. It was based on the same technology pioneered by the patrol hydrofoil Tucumcari, and used some of the same technology used in the Pegasus class military patrol hydrofoils. Currently this product line is sold to the Japanese company Kawasaki Heavy Industries. [ [http://www.boeing.com/history/boeing/hydro.html http://www.boeing.com/history/boeing/hydro.html] Boeing history page]

About two dozen Boeing Jetfoils saw service in Hong Kong-Macau, Japan, South Korea, the English Channel, the Canary Islands, the Korea Strait, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. Seaflite Inc., based in Honolulu, Hawai'i operated 3 Boeing Jetfoils between 1975 to the company's demise in 1978. All 3 Jetfoils were sold to a Hong Kong-based ferry operator. Fact|date=March 2007

In 1979, the Royal Navy purchased a Boeing Jetfoil, HMS "Speedy", to provide the Royal Navy with an opportunity to gain practical experience in the operation and support of a modern hydrofoil, to establish technical and performance characteristics, and to assess the capability of a hydrofoil in the Fishery Protection Squadron. [cite web |url=http://ntlsearch.bts.gov/tris/record/tris/00649154.html |title=TRIS Online: THE EVALUATION OF THE HYDROFOIL HMS SPEEDY |quote=HMS SPEEDY was procured in 1979 to provide the Royal Navy with an opportunity to gain practical experience in the operation and support of a modern hydrofoil, to establish technical and performance characteristics, and to assess the capability of a hydrofoil in the UK 'Offshore Tapestry' role. The present paper describes the operational and technical evaluation of HMS SPEEDY undertaken in 1980-82, and outlines the results obtained. ]

In 1980 B&I shipping lines opened a Jetfoil service from Dublin to Liverpool with the jetfoil "Cu Na Mara". The service was not a success and the service was discontinued at the end of the 1981 season. [ [http://www.irishships.com/a_history_of_roll_on.htm A History of Roll on ] ]

In North America, the Boeing Jetfoil saw regularly scheduled service between Seattle, WA and Victoria, BC during the summer tourist season of 1980. Leased from Boeing, a single Jetfoil, the "Flying Princess", was operated by the non-profit Flying Princess Transportation Corp., with the close co-operation and assistance of the B.C. Steamship Company. ["HistoryLink.org Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History," "Princess Marguerite I, II, and III: Three Historic Vessels" (by Daryl C. McClary), http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=7478 (accessed December 11, 2006).] [ [http://www.leg.bc.ca/HANSARD/32nd2nd/32p_02s_800703p.htm#03135 http://www.leg.bc.ca/HANSARD/32nd2nd/32p_02s_800703p.htm#03135] ] Regularly scheduled service ran from Seattle to Victoria to Vancouver from April to September, 1985, by Island Jetfoil. Boeing reclaimed the Island Jetfoil boat and sold it for service in Japan. [ [http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=2567665&date=19971022&query=Hydrofoil+Comeback+Proposed Hydrofoil Comeback Proposed] ]

References

* Brown, DK, JP Catchpole, and AM Shand, "The Evaluation of the Hydrofoil HMS SPEEDY," Royal Institution of Naval Architects Transactions, Volume: 126, 1984, 16p., ISSN: 0035-8967.

ee also

*Pegasus class hydrofoil

External links

* [http://www.kjps.co.jp/english/eindex.html Kawasaki Jetfoil homepage]