Gear

Fifty Years of Hovercraft: The Tech That Barely Takes Off

A Jetsons-era cultural dream silently became a reality, but it never quite fulfilled its promise. What happened? Take the Wired News tour of future technology's past.
Visions of Hovercars Danced in Their Heads
Image courtesy ofPopular Mechanics
It All Started With a Hair Dryer and Two Tin Cans

Archive photos from the

Hovercraft Museum
The '60s Rock n' Roll LSD and Floating Cars

, via

Finkbuilt
Flying Around the British Isles Since the 1970s
Photo by Graeme Hart, Perthshire Picture Agency, courtesy of Stagecoach
A Royal Line of Hovercraft
Photo by Andrew Berridge, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5
Back to the Future 2.0

Product photo from

Future Horizons
Skateboard Meets Flying Saucer

Photo courtesy of Alura Intelligent Products/

InternationalRobotics.com
Hovering for Sport
Photo courtesy of Phoenix Marine Systems
2007 DIY Rally

Photo courtesy of

George Lange
PostApocalyptic Crowd Control

, courtesy of

Survival Research Labs
The Pulse of a Forgotten Future

Photos courtesy of

Survival Research Labs
Go Navy
Photo by Seaman Apprentice Charles A. Ordoqui, courtesy of the U.S. Navy