Abstract: An air or gas bearing supports a moving mass on a thin column of gas which is partially constrained in a pressurized cavity. The gas to the cavity is supplied through a fluidic amplifier. Pressure in the thin supporting column above the bearing pad, or the position of the mass surface relative to the open end of the pressurized cavity, is sensed. The resulting feedback pressure signal is dynamically compensated to produce a pressure signal to the input ports of the fluidic amplifier which is a function of the velocity of the mass. The compensation network consists of orifices, or flow resistors, and volume cavities, or compressible fluid capacitors. The compensated feedback pressure is amplified by the fluidic amplifier to provide an output pressure to the bearing cavity which is indicative of and nearly proportional to the mass velocity perpendicular to the bearing pad and achieve a high degree of damping without use of extremely small orifices or complicated electromechanical damping means.