Stock Photo - Jun. 06, 1959 - Britain's Flying Saucer Makes First Public Flight: Britain's Flying Saucer - the S.R.N.1 Hovercraft, today made its first public flight at the Saunders-Roe works at East Cowes, Isle of Wight, and later today made a flight over the sea. The S.R.N.1 can ride over land and sea at a height of up to 15 inches on a cushion of compressed air. It has an avoid shape, and is virtually a buoyancy tank with a number of inward pointing jets around its perimeter underneath. On top of its flat surface: the control cabin, the funnel containing the engine and the horizontal fan through which air is sucked and then ejected beneath to form the cushion of air. Photo shows This was the scene as the S.R.N.1 Flying Saucer hovers 15 inches off the ground at Cowes today. In the control cabin is Commander Peter Lamb, the Saunders-Roe chief test pilot, who put the craft through its paces. (Credit Image: © Keystone Press Agency/Keystone USA via ZUMAPRESS.com)