Message posted by Beltway_Bandit on July 09, 2004 at 12:30:47 PST:
The design shown was a lifting-body design that the Russians were trying to float as a cargo or large-capacity passenger aircraft. The fuselage shape generated a significant amount of lift, as it was, in essence, an enlarged wing in cross-section. The design worked well in model form, but scaling the structure to a workable commercial design presented engineering challenges that investors didn't feel were worth the investment, given the abundance of heavy-lift aircraft already on the market. Ekranoplans are not aircraft in the traditional sense, as they cannot climb above the cushion of ground effect (hence "Wing In Ground-effect/WIG"). The so-called 'Caspian Sea Monster' (designated 'KM') was the largest of the initial Ekranoplan designs, but it is not the aircraft pictured in your link. The WIG concept still has merit, though its applications are best suited to transport over bodies of water.
In Reply to: Re: Russian "flying saucer" posted by Terry on July 09, 2004 at 10:30:24 PST:
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