Message posted by Beltway_Bandit on July 12, 2004 at 20:13:29 PST:

Perhaps you'd notice the subject "It's a lifting body, not an Ekranoplan."

The message, then goes on to explain that the thermoplan (flying saucer) was a lifting body design for a large cargo/passenger aircraft.

It then explains that an ekranoplan is something *completely different*.

Yes, I spent more time explaining the ekranoplan, but that's because the thermoplan is essentially a fuselage shaped like a scaled-up wing cross-section and therefore not that revolutionary or interesting. (Plus the structural rigidity necessary for passenger or cargo use would have required an extreme amount of internal bracing, eliminating much of the design's advantage.

In Reply to: Again posted by Thud on July 09, 2004 at 14:50:05 PST:

Replies: