Ekranoplan - Experimental "GEV" Vehicles - Pics!

Small numbers of experimental vehicles were built in Scandinavia just before WW2. By the 1960s, the technology started to improve, in large part due to the contributions of the Russian Rostislav Alexeev and the German Alexander Lippisch. They independently worked on GEV technology arriving to very different solutions. Alexeev worked from his background as a ship designer whereas Lippisch worked from his own background as an aeronautical engineer. The influence of Alexeev and Lippisch is still noticeable in most GEV vehicles seen today.

www.moscowtopnews.com...

[edit on 9-6-2009 by JanusFIN]

I'd never seen that before. Thanks for posting the link and pictures. Have you seen anywhere what the cruising speed is of those thing? Btw they are HUGE!

I'd hate t in one of those things in the high seas or rough storms

Second line

It's so monstrous and lumpy. If I saw that thing bearing down I would get out in a hurry. It must be an absolute bit** to land on the water. It's a flying missle battery, a lumpy monstrous missle battery

I think they dont fly like regular planes...what i mean is that they fly in ground effect and cant fly no higher then probably 100 feet or so. They are big though.

These are not a new technology. In the 1960's/70's, these machines were referred to as 'WIG'--Wing in Ground Effect-- aircraft. There were several types of these, mostly developed by the Soviets. This one was commonly referred to as the "Caspian Sea Monster" by NATO observers back then. One type, the 'Alekseyev A-90 Orlyonok' actually spent some time in Soviet Military service.

Here is an excellent link/website/article on the subject:

Ekranoplans--Article with Pics on 'DarkRoastedBlend'



[edit on 9-6-2009 by CreeWolf]

A blog I read found 2 of the 3 made on Google Maps a few years ago, so I don't know if the imagery is still around. Check it out here, got a brief explanation and the links - GoogleSightSeeing - Ekranoplans

[edit on 14-6-2009 by Propaganda]

already a thread on this subject.

Russian ekranoplanes
You have pics of three different aircraft, the monster of the caspian, the Lun and the third Im not sure of.
The first two photos are the Lun,
im not sure about the third

The Lun is the shown firing a salvo of sunburn missles
the remainders are the monster of the caspian.

The Lun could fly up to 23,000' in altitude.






[edit on 15-6-2009 by punkinworks09]