A ground effect vehicle is one that attains level flight near the surface of the Earth, made possible by a cushion of high-pressure air created by the aerodynamic interaction between the wings and the surface known as ground effect.
Also known as a flarecraft, sea skimmer, or ekranoplan, a ground effect vehicle can be seen as a transition between a hovercraft and an aircraft.
Here is a Russian site with lots of amazing pictures of the Ekranoplan 'Lun' Project 903, designed in 1987 by Vladimir Kirillov.
(via Boing Boing)
No comments:
Post a Comment