Giroboat Aka Giro Boat: The Boat That Flies (1961) | British Pathé

Check out this archive footage of a super unique innovation in water sports, the Giro Boat or essentially a boat that flies. 26 year old designer, John Hofstetter, came up with this invention that never quite took off in popular culture. For Archive Licensing Enquiries Visit: Explore Our Online Channel For FULL Documentaries, Fascinating Interviews & Classic Movies: #BritishPathé #History #Boat #Scotland #WaterSports Subscribe to the British Pathé YT Channel: (FILM ID:) Glasgow, Scotland. L/S of Dougal Campbell, Scottish water-skiing champion in action. L/S of speedboats pulling the ’Giroboats’ which are dinghies with helicopter blades attached so that when they are going fast enough they take off. M/S of the giroboats in the water, one of them has ’Evinrude’ written on the side. M/S of another giroboat with ’Cameron & Campbell’ written on the side, it takes off and starts to fly while still attached to the boat. The giroboat must reach a speed of 20 miles per hour to get out of the water. M/S of the designer carrying a propellor to the boats on the shore. He is their designer, 26 year old John Hofstetter. M/S as he fits the propellor to the boat, C/U as he adjusts it with a spanner. M/S of several speedboats in the water, the one in the foreground is called ’Miss Evinrude’. C/U of the giroboat being pulled along by the speedboat. M/S of Miss Evinrude, M/S of the giroboat getting up speed, it has Cameron & Campbell on the side. M/S of Miss Evinrude and M/S of the giroboat taking off. L/S as it flies through the air behind the speedboat. M/S of the giroboat from the point of view of the speedboat. M/S as the giroboat flies past the camera. C/U of a couple watching from the river bank. M/S as the giroboat flies along. C/U of the couple watching again and M/S of the giroboat flying past. Note: this story has been transferred to Digibeta twice. Picture quality is better on the first version () but second version in in sync () - time codes as per this record The mute neg for this item is out of sync with track due to black leader within the neg, please use print if using film version. Also present in the scene: John’s wife Shelagh Hofstetter seen flying a giroboat and driving a speedboat. Gordon Cameron, Scottish speedboat champion, is seen driving one of the towing boats. BRITISH PATHÉ’S STORY Before television, people came to movie theatres to watch the news. British Pathé was at the forefront of cinematic journalism, blending information with entertainment to popular effect. Over the course of a century, it documented everything from major armed conflicts and seismic political crises to the curious hobbies and eccentric lives of ordinary people. If it happened, British Pathé filmed it. Now considered to be the finest newsreel archive in the world, British Pathé is a treasure trove of 85,000 films unrivalled in their historical and cultural significance. British Pathé also represents the Reuters historical collection, which includes more than 136,000 items from the news agencies Gaumont Graphic (1910-1932), Empire News Bulletin (1926-1930), British Paramount (1931-1957), and Gaumont British (1934-1959), as well as Visnews content from 1957 to the end of 1984. All footage can be viewed on the British Pathé website.