Charles J. Fletcher
Technology General Corporation, Franklin
W
hile serving as a pilot in the U.S. Navy in Norfolk, Va., Charles J. Fletcher sketched the design for a vehicle envisioned to rise above the water or terrain (approximately 10 inches to two feet) depending on available horsepower. The vehicle would generate an airflow trapped against a uniform surface such as the ground or water, freeing it from the surface and eliminating friction. Positive control and movement would be attained using aircraft control techniques and the release of air. What Fletcher called the "Glidemobile" is known today ad the hovercraft.
The hovercraft has proven to be a major advance in military land assault vehicles and modern inter-waterway travel. Hovercrafts are manufactured in the U.S. today and by Bell Aerosystems and sell for between $800,00 and $1.5 million each.
Fletcher's claim as an inventor of the hovercraft, undocumented because the U.S. military suppressed the patent to keep the idea a secret, was recently validated during resolution of a lawsuit brought by British Hovercraft Ltd. against the United States, seeking royalties of $104 million. Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice found a 1960 edition of
Design News which featured an article on Fletcher's hovercraft. Fletcher was tracked down and his records on the project which included 16 mm films of the "Glidemobile," documentation regarding his conceptual drawings, subsequent work, model flight trials, and various news articles proved easy to destroy the Hovercraft Ltd. case.
Fletcher earned a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering from the academy of Aeronautics at New York University in 1950. He holds 17 aeronautical patents on vertical lift and rocket engines plus five additional patents for industrial products.
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