History
- N500-01 - "Côte d'Argent" registered LV 365.832 port of Le Verdon, Gironde estuary.
- First flight on April 19, 1977 on the Gironde, demonstrating a speed of 40-45 knots (74–83 km/h). She was destroyed by a fire at her construction site on May 3, 1977.
- N500-02 - "Ingénieur Jean Bertin" registered BL 341.931 port of Boulogne Sur Mer.
- Built for Seaspeed by SNCF in 1977. Transferred to Hoverspeed in 1983 after a number of modifications but was returned to SNCF later that year after Hoverspeed decided she was not suitable for their services. Broken up in 1985 at the Boulogne Hoverport.
The N500 was one of the world's largest hovercraft; it could transport 400 passengers, 55 cars and 5 buses. It was also one of the fastest and reached a speed record for a travel from Boulogne to Dover at an average speed of 74 knots (137 km/h).
The mass of the N500 was 260 tons, it was 50 m long and 23 m wide.
Read more about this topic: N500 Naviplane
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