VICKERS in South Marston produced aircraft from the 1940s until the 1960s – and parts for others including Concorde for several years after that.

Machines which rolled off its production line included the Spitfire and the Supermarine Swift fighter, which in 1953 took the world speed record.

One day in April of 1962, the long roll of aerodynamic exquisiteness was joined by a levitating Land Rover.

We said: “The first public demonstration of a new Vickers Armstrongs hovercraft crop sprayer was given to the Press at the South Marston factory today.

“Vickers have taken a farm vehicle and converted it into a hovercraft – but one with contact with the ground.

“The crop sprayer is in all respects an ordinary vehicle whose wheels touch the ground and provide traction in the normal way while an air cushion acts as an additional form of suspension.”

Exploded diagrams available online reveal a remarkable feat of engineering, with air carefully gathered and redirected toward the ground with enough force to ensure the machine would never become bogged down.

We added: “In the demonstration today, over 40 yards of wet ground the hovercraft skimmed the surface; but an ordinary farm vehicle travelled only five yards before getting stuck.

“At a Press conference before the demonstration Mr S Woodley, general manager of Vickers-Armstrongs, South Marston, Ltd, said the cost of the converted farm vehicle would be approximately £3,500.”

He said it was designed mainly for use on flat land, and added that while it was intended primarily for the British market,Vickers hoped the hovercraft would capture the world market as well.

Sadly that hope was in vain, perhaps because potential customers simply couldn’t appreciate something so unusual. The price, which was more than enough to buy a sizeable family home with a large garden, may have been a factor.

The firm also took the opportunity to display a more conventional hovercraft, one which scored a world first for Swindon.

Called the Vickers VA-3, the machine was set to operate the planet’s first scheduled hovercraft service that summer, plying its trade across the Dee Estuary between Hoylake on the Wirral Peninsula and Rhyl on the North Wales coast.

Although the VA-3’s service across the Dee lasted only until the autumn, when the hovercraft was damaged by foul weather, it marked a significant stage in the advancement of passenger hovercraft.