Société d'Etude et de Développement des Aéroglisseurs Marins

Société d'Étude et de Développement des Aéroglisseurs Marins
Founded1965 (1965)
FounderJean Bertin
Defunct1982 (1982)
Headquarters
Pauillac
,
France
ProductsHovercraft
Parent1965- Bertin et Cie, -1982 Chantiers Dubigeon-Normandie

The Société d'Étude et de Développement des Aéroglisseurs Marins (SEDAM) was a French-based hovercraft manufacturer which designed and produced multiple vehicles intended for both commercial and civil purposes.

History

Foundation

The firm was founded in 1965 by inventor Jean Bertin[1] with backing from the French government under Georges Pompidou, in an attempt to create a French rival to the British Hovercraft Corporation's SR.N4 Mountbatten Class hovercraft.[2] The firm was initially a subsidiary of Bertin's company Bertin et Cie along with separate companies for Bertin's Aérotrain and Terraplane projects.[3]

Production

The company produced several different craft, which they called Naviplanes including the N.101, N.102 and N.122 types.

The first French commercial hovercraft was the SEDAM N.300 Naviplane, which was first announced in 1966.[4] The N.300 was first operational in the Mediterranean with Société Naviplane Côte d'Azur, with the technical and economical aspects of designing and operating the craft being presented by SEDAM President and Director General Abel Thomas and Bertin at the Second International Hovercraft Conference in Southampton in 1971.[5]

The N.300 was seen by the company as prototype for a much larger craft, designed for operation across the English Channel or between France and Corsica in the Mediterranean Sea. This larger craft was originally proposed to carry 500 passengers[4] and evolved in the N.500 Naviplane project.[6]

The N.500 project started in 1973 with the commencement of detailed research which involved scale models to test all aspects of the crafts operation. Two orders had been made by SNCF[2] and the first of these craft, Côte d'Argent was launched in November 1976,[7] with the second, Ingénieur Jean Bertin being constructed almost simultaneously.[8] After skirt damage to Côte d'Argent during the first test flight on 19 April 1977, she was sent for repair at SEDAM's Pauillac factory after an unsatisfactory skirt repair by the skirt manufacturer, in advance of her inauguration during a private visit on 9 May 1977 by Queen Elizabeth II, the Prince of Wales and Baron Philippe de Rothschild. During this repair work damage to a lightbulb by an operative ignited the adhesive being used to repair the skirt and the resulting fire completely destroyed her.[9] Ingénieur Jean Bertin was finally delivered to Seaspeed in November 1977 although its entry into service was beset by technical problems[7] which included an inability to mount the Dover Hoverport pad in anything other than calm weather.[2]

Despite this, the craft managed a record crossing performance between Dover and Calais 22 minutes and 15 seconds[a][2] and there was interest from Hoverlloyd[7] and from as far away as Canada.[12] Ultimately this would not transpire into further orders and a temporary withdrawal in September 1981 of Ingénieur Jean Bertin would see it remain out of service until 1983 to receive extensive modifications at a cost of £500,000 in efforts to improve reliability for new operators Hoverspeed.[7] Ultimately the modifications failed to improve reliability and the craft was returned, it's failure sealing the fate of the craft itself, which was broken up at the Boulogne Hoverport in 1985.[13]

Closure

The modifications to Ingénieur Jean Bertin and failure to secure further orders saw the collapse of SEDAM, by now owned by Chantiers Dubigeon-Normandie,[12][14] in 1982[15] After closure, the factory site was re-developed for non-aviation usage.[16]

Craft

Notes

  1. ^ This record is now held by The Princess Anne after a 22 minute run on 14 September 1995[10][11]

References

  1. ^ technologie La SEDAM (Société d'Etude et de Développement des Aéroglisseurs Marins) (est une filiale de la Société BERTIN au même titre que la Société de l'Aérotrain. elle était basée à Marignane.../ SEDAM ...is a subsidiary of BERTIN as also was Société de l'Aérotrain. It was based in Marignane...) Archived 2020-10-31 at the Wayback Machine (see Aérotrain, Jean Bertin) at gil-sun.skyrock.com (in French). Accessed 8 March 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d "Ships of the Past > Ingenieur Jean Bertin". Nautilus International. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
  3. ^ Biography of Jean Bertin aernav.free.fr, accessed 12 June 2018
  4. ^ a b "French Plan Hovercraft". Evening Mail and Despatch. 1 June 1966. p. 1o.
  5. ^ "Hovercraft's Vital Period". Southern Evening Echo. 27 November 1970. p. 28.
  6. ^ "SEDAM N500 Naviplane". James' Hovercraft Site. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d Cowsill, Miles and, Hendy, John (1991). The Hoverspeed Story. Kilgetty, Pembrokeshire: Ferry Publications.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ "HSC Cote d'Argent (LV.365.852) - Past and Present". Dover Ferry Photos. Ray Goodfellow and Nigel Thornton. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
  9. ^ "L'incendie du Naviplane N500-01 « Côte d'Argent »". Les Naviplanes (in French). Retrieved 19 December 2025.
  10. ^ "HSC The Princess Anne (GH-2007) - Past and Present". Dover Ferry Photos. Ray Goodfellow and Nigel Thornton. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
  11. ^ "Fastest crossing of the English Channel by hovercraft". Guinness World Records. Guinness World Records Limited. Retrieved 19 December 2025.
  12. ^ a b "Quebec Hovering Over Ferry Replacement". The Calgary Herald. 13 July 1978. p. A9.
  13. ^ "HSC Ingenieur Jean Bertin (Bl.341.931) - Past and Present". Dover Ferry Photos. Ray Goodfellow and Nigel Thornton. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
  14. ^ Cotten, Alain (October 2007). "Quand Pauillac Construisait des Naviplanes" (PDF). L’ Estuarien (in French) (22). Retrieved 19 December 2025.
  15. ^ "Aérotrain et Naviplanes - l'Histoire de la SEDAM et des Naviplanes" (in French).
  16. ^ "Aérotrain et Naviplanes - l'Histoire de la SEDAM et des Naviplanes" (in French).
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