"Hooniverse K" (hooniversek)
08/21/2013 at 10:01 • Filed to: planelopnik
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"Hooniverse K" (hooniversek)
08/21/2013 at 10:01 • Filed to: planelopnik | 0
| 8 |
Full story on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
This. Is. Awesome!
doodon2whls
> Hooniverse K
08/21/2013 at 10:05 |
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Ah, yes. Ye Olde Caspian Sea Monster. An impressive 'aircraft'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lun-class…
ttyymmnn
> Hooniverse K
08/21/2013 at 10:07 |
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Did that thing every operate anywhere other than the Caspian Sea? I wonder if operations would have been possible on the open ocean in anything other than calm seas.
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doodon2whls
> ttyymmnn
08/21/2013 at 10:12 |
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I had thought about that, too.
Even though it _could_ conceivably fly at the 'top' of the ground effect zone, the wing loading was so high that it couldn't sustain that altitude for long. As a result anything other than smooth water (like 20-30 ft seas) would be, uhhhh, a problem @ 400 mph.
Also, look at the dents in the nacelles and engine inlet areas... Bird strikes or rough handling ? Remember that conventional aircraft climb out of bird flight altitude quickly and this thing flew _at_ bird flight altitude.
Many problems with this 'skimming along the water' concept...
RS Hole, I forgot my password for 8 months
> doodon2whls
08/21/2013 at 10:42 |
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The terrible quality of the footage made me think this plane was from the 60's but the wikipedia article you linked says it was in operation from the late 80's to the late 90's!
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doodon2whls
> RS Hole, I forgot my password for 8 months
08/21/2013 at 10:44 |
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Yup... Remember, HD video wasn't ubiquitous even only ten years ago - especially in Russia during the 1980's and 1990's.
ASheep
> doodon2whls
08/21/2013 at 11:01 |
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Fun Fact Time!
The Ekranoplan in the article and pictured on google maps is actually the Lun class, not the KM "Caspian Sea Monster" as it was dubbed by the CIA.
The KM/CM were actually longer and taller than the Lun, and were built much earlier (1966 compared to 1987). The KM had 10 turbojets (to the Lun's 8) but carried no armament, unlike the Lun, which had 6 heavy anti-ship missiles, and a crapton of cannons.
The video contains footage of KM-4 at the very beginning, and then the AN-225 Mriya (freakin awesome plane), and also the Orlynok Ekranoplans (Jets in the nose, huge propellers on the tail), then more KM-4 and CM-7 (Modified version of the ship with the longer body/modified bow and wings), and then finally the Lun. Freaking awesome video showing true balls-out Soviet engineering thinking: if at first it doesn't work MAKE IT BIGGER!
Sadly, the KM/CM project came to a sticky end, when the last one in testing stalled at low altitude due to pilot error, and rolled its port wing down into the water.
Here's another sweet video of Ekranoplan action, featuring CM-1, CM-2, KM-4 and CM-7 (it's all the same plane, just with heavy modifications), as well as Lun doing it's thing:
In case anyone missed it, I'm a huge fan of Soviet Aviation...
Menebrio
> Hooniverse K
08/21/2013 at 11:57 |
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How did this not qualify for the lowest flybys ever?
pdthedeuce
> Hooniverse K
08/21/2013 at 14:46 |
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build your own ekranoplan ...
http://www.hovercraft.com/content/index.…