Stabilization and motion alleviation of air cushion borne vehicles

An automatic pitch stabilization and motion alleviation system for air cushion borne vehicles comprising:

• means on the vehicle hull for supplying pressurized air to the air cushion system comprising a forward and an aft air cushion compartment, and a seal system means for sealing said air cushion system, said seal system means further comprising transverse seal means for dividing the air cushion into the forward air cushion compartment and the aft air cushion compartment, side seal means for sealing the sides of the air cushion compartments, bow seal means for sealing the bow of the forward air cushion compartment, and stern seal means for sealing the stern of the aft air cushion compartment;
• means for causing a controllable pressure drop from said aft air cushion compartment to said forward air cushion compartment, said means further comprising an air ducting system feeding pressurized air to the seal sytem means and to the forward and aft air cushion compartments, a control valve operating in said ducting system and regulating the differential over-pressure of said seal means, bow seal means, and stern seal means relative to the aft air cushion compartment, and a pressure differential control valve operating in said ducting system regulating differential over-pressure of the aft cushion compartment relative to the forward cushion compartment.