Apparently the Russians were moving the Ekranoplan to a park earlier this month when something happened and the plane broke free and is now stranded on a beach under apparently very light guard. A couple people snuck in and got some cool shots inside it.
Wow, that's really cool - thanks for sharing. I am amazed at how well preserved it is inside.
In reply to Duke :
Pretty cool right? I expected it to be a wreck inside. Gotta love all that Soviet green paint.
It's not THE ekranoplan (as in the first article), it's AN ekranoplan. It is THE Lun, though. I hope they can save it.
There have been some really thorough photos taken of the interior in the past, I posted a link the last time we were talking about this thing. Seeing it sitting in the water instead of drydock makes it look much more imposing, though.
Here is a thorough interior investigation.
Keith Tanner said:Here is a thorough interior investigation.
Now, imagine all that stuff hurtling across the Caspian Sea at 300 knots, in the same direction at the same time.
Oof, putin probably already had someone killed for this
I didn't realize they were that fast. 300+ mph at 3" above the water sounds like a fun ride.
Patrick (Forum Supporter) said:Oof, putin probably already had someone killed for this
Let's deal with the facts shall we:
I believe the guard committed suicide by shooting himself six times in the back of the head then jumping out of a 3 story window.... sad someone would do something like that to themselves.
bluej (Forum Supporter) said:I didn't realize they were that fast. 300+ mph at 3" above the water sounds like a fun ride.
Top speed was about 340-350 mph. Typically they'd run anywhere from 5 ft - 10 ft above the water.
Still one of the coolest, and absolute nuttiest, things to come out of the Soviet Union.
Thats amazing.
One interesting aspect of the design, which I believe is highlighted incorrectly in the video above, is the front engine are used to "blow" the front wing (insert teenage giggle). This sends high speed air over the tops of the wings to greatly increase lift (the video implies they some how create a cushion of air for the rear wing!?)
This technique was used in an extreme way in a NASA research plane and it result in a ridiculously slow take off speed. A variation of this was seen in older jets in the form of blown flaps that used engine bleed air to shoot air over the tops of the flaps.
There was another one that was even more extreme than this one (QSRA)
The F104 was one such plane, and as you can imagine, needed as much help as possible. Of course, that meant that a dead stick landing (no engine) would be an extreme landing speed experience! Realistically, I doubt an F104 was ever deadstick landed anyway. Their glide ratio has to be horrific, you would have be perfectly set up for at and would need a VERY long runway.. Probably far safer to just eject.
I was watching pelicans fly low in formation at the beach last weekend which caused me to Google my suspension they were using ground effect, they were. Interesting tidbit, ground effect is also called compression gliding in birds and it only works if they are within the length of their wingspan from the water. Pelicans have a 7' span, so it works within 7 feet ofthe water.
I wonder how loud it was inside this thing during operation? My thoughts are that it was likely deafening.
In reply to 1SlowVW :
It's Soviet, so sound insulation is non-existent and safety is an afterthought!
I love it when an ekranoplan comes together.
In reply to aircooled :
Javelin (Forum Supporter) said:Still one of the coolest, and absolute nuttiest, things to come out of the Soviet Union.
that we know of...
slantvaliant (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to aircooled :
Ground effect is essentially what makes this thing work, but blowing high speed exhaust under a wing, even in ground effect, is almost certainly going to decrease lift (aerodynamics can be crazy complicated of course). The essence of a wing is higher speed air on top of the wing (thus the shape), more increase in speed (normally done with a thicker wing shape), more lift.
Now, normally, blowing air under a rear wing (horizontal stabilizer on a plane) would increase lift, because the horizontal stabilizer on a plane produces lift downwards (like the wing on the back of a race car), in order to keep the nose up. In this case, it seems pretty obvious the rear wing is creating upward lift.
The interesting question is why the rear wing is mounted so high. Mounting it lower would put it in ground effect (under one span length, and more the lower it is), which it seems to be mostly out of. Lower would likely expose it to a lot of spray (drag) and turbulence (drag and a rough ride). Putting it up high in clean air, makes it a lot more stable I am sure. The rather large dihedral (upward cant) is also for roll stability. As the wing rolls the low side flattens, giving it a more upward lift vector, while the high side angles more, giving it a more outward lift vector, creating roll forces back to center.
Javelin (Forum Supporter) said:Still one of the coolest, and absolute nuttiest, things to come out of the Soviet Union.
They are the home of the multi-turreted tank (T35):
Crazy that the KM (Korabl Maket) Caspian Sea Monster was another 100 tons larger.
One thing I always wondered is how the ground effect vehicles could handle rough seas? Would they be limited to fair weather only?
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