Boeing Super Jumbo Jet

I remember reading in a magazine several years ago (I don't recall which one) about a jumbo jet Boeing has been supposedly working on in the Phantom works department.

This plane can apparently hold several thousand troops or dozens of tanks or other vehicles and is able to fly between 400 - 600 knts at 500' above sealevel.

It has been about 3 years since I read about it and have heard nothing since. Has anyone else read or heard about it?

Sorry I can't give any more details. I wish I would have kept the article.

That sounds like a WIG actually. I sort of remember hearing about Boeing trying to sell one to the military. I don't think that it's gone farther than design stages yet though.

Nevertheless, Boeing has recently taken interest in the WIG phenomenon and proposed a concept for a massive craft to meet a US Army need for a long-range heavy transport. Called the Pelican, the 500 ft (153 m) span vehicle would carry up to 2,800,000 lb (1,270,060 kg) of cargo while cruising as low as 20 ft (6 m) over water or up to 20,000 ft (6,100 m) over land. Unlike the Soviet concepts, the Pelican would not operate from water, but from conventional runways using a series of 76 wheels as landing gear.

The outboard wing sections, shown tilted downward in the above image to optimize efficiency in ground effect, would be swiveled upward to provide clearance for runway operations. Power for the craft would be supplied by four advanced turboprop engines. The Pelican would also have two cargo decks. The lower deck would be sized for large cargos, including up to 17 main battle tanks, while the upper deck would be used for troops or cargo pallets. With a maximum takeoff weight up to 3,000 tons, the Pelican would have a wing area of more than an acre.

www.aerospaceweb.org...

It's actually a turboprop though, not a jet.



[edit on 5/28/2006 by Zaphod58]

That's looks almost like the original picture I saw.

Thanks for posting that information!

Holy mother Mikoyan! 76 wheels on that beast? It must be a lot bigger than it looks in the pic. This type of aircraft would be difficult to detect since it is so close to the ground, so it might make a good insertion vehicle. Might be interesting to make a jet out of this thing.