Russian “Ecranoplanes”

reply to post by riff_raff


Actually the Lun and several other ekranoplanes could really fly, the lun could fly up to 23,000' and some of the smaller planes to about 13,000'.
The ekranoplanes could also operate over dry land as long as it was basicaly flat.
The steppes of central eurasia are a perfect operating theater for such as vehicle.
Corrosion is a non issue there are plenty of aluminum framed and skinned flying boats out there. There are stil PBY catalinas flying and they are almost seventy yaers old.

Thirty years ago control was a big issue with these aircraft, but with todays modern systems that is also a non issue.
As we explore the more remote polar reaches of the world I would expect to see a resurgance of such designs for carriyng freight to remote oil platforms and mines in the arctic and anarctic.