The hovercraft was invented by Sir Christopher Cockerell in 1956. The theory behind one of the most successful inventions of the 20th century, the hovercraft was originally tested using an empty cat food tin inside a coffee tin, an industrial air blower and a pair of kitchen scales. Cockerell developed and led unto production the first hovercraft to be produced commercially, the SRN1.

With a number of early hovercraft designs coming up for disposal in 1986, the British Hovercraft Museum trust was formed, storing theemerging collection in an old fort at Eastney, owned by English Heritage. The museum movedin December 1992 into two hangars at the former HMS Daedalus, permitting greater public access and improving the quality of storage. The ultimate aim is to house the entire collection under one roof.

Amongst the craft in its care are SR.N4 Mk II (002) Swift, SR.N6 MK 6 (twin prop) in fully operational condition and ex Royal Navy BH.7 Mk 2. SR.N6 Mk 1S (009) Sea Hawk and the SR.N5 along with a number of smaller craft are also on display in the hangars. Other examples are: several working Hover Hawks, AV Tiger 12, HD.2, Marine Swift (similar to a Crossbow), two Britten Norman CC.7s (see entry) as well as the SR.N4 cockpit, SR.N5, SR.N6s and BH.7. The museum also has an SR.N6 Mk 5 (well deck variant) build number 003, currently being restored to operational condition on site.

Other craft in the collection include a Hovermidget, Clarkcushion, Hoverscout, Hoverlark, Skima 4s, GP Too and a fully restored Skima 12 which was purchased for the Museum by Mike Pinder from the Sultan of Oman and restored by the crew on the TV programme Salvage Squad.

There are numerous manufacturer's concept models, as well as models of actual full size craft. There is also a replica of the Sir Christopher Cockerell coffee tin experiment, one of the first radio controlled models to prove the hovercraft concept; and the large 1:6 scale SR.N1 model built to demonstrate the craft before the full sized item was built, now fully restored with a Carnegie grant.

The trust holds the largest film, book and video library on hovercraft in the world, a proportion of which are currently being scanned for online access. It includes the Science Museum's entire hovercraft archive.

More recently, hovercraft from North America have been added to the collection which now claims to be the only hovercraft museum in the world.