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Post by holyan on Sept 19, 2014 12:00:40 GMT
Hello there. I`ve recently encountered a BBC News video of former energy secretary Tony Benn boarding a hydrofoil in 1975, bound for Medway estuary. The hydrofoil looks like Soviet Kometa, which was exported to some Western countries (Italy, Greece, France) in the 70s. But, as my Russian sources suggest, there was no direct export of Kometas to the UK. As your website confirms, Raketa type hydrofoils were exported to the UK and were operated by Airavia LTD on the Thames from 1974. But what about that Kometa, what flag was it flying? If it was carrying government officials from Tower Pier, I suppose, it should have sailed under GB flag. I did not manage to find clues either in Russian archives or online IMO databases. Please, help me to solve that mystery. My guesses so far: - that Kometa was leased to the UK by another country (there were talks by the goverment in the 60-70s about encouraging companies to start building hydrofoils and they needed to demonstrate technology); - the Russians decided to sell Kometas to the UK in addition to three Raketas, provided a "test-drive", but the deal never happened; - that vessel was under some Commonwealth island flag for a short time, hence no records. P.S. Here is the link to video BBC News, first broadcast 18 June 1975 www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-29210567
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Post by Ben on Feb 2, 2015 11:41:13 GMT
Which video on the page? There are a few
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