IT was the shape of things to come.

Readers of the Daily Echo marvelled at the pictures of this revolutionary silver machine in an age when the explosion of experimental vehicles, such as the recent headline-grabbing hovercraft – which was patented 60 years ago this month in December 1955 – was really capturing people’s imagination.

Over half a century ago, in June 1962, Mr Kenneth Gray revealed to the world his air-riding craft, which he had been secretly building, with his brother Robert’s assistance, in his workshop hidden away at his Dibden Purlieu home in the New Forest.

The Echo reported that his was not just another hovercraft.

The experimental four-ton and 26-foot long ACD-1, operated on a different principle to the hovercraft and represented a new concept in air-riding vehicles.

As Mr Gray explained, when he was interviewed by the Echo as he stepped out of his workshop still dressed in his oily overalls, the ACD-1 demonstrated greater control, better manoeuvrability and more efficient engine use than any other air cushion vehicle in operation at the time.

Such was the expectation in this craft that later that month Mr Gray was asked to demonstrate the ACD-1 before the prime minister and other government ministers on the 80-acre lake at the home of Major General Sir Harold Hoo, as part of the Luton Hoo Conservative Fete, where around 50,000 people were expected to attend to watch the ACD-1 put through its paces.