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I'd guess that it isn't technically an Aircraft,. . .but a ground effect water cruiser. . . . Probably Russian or Eastern European in origin ? They seemed to master that sort of tech in the 60s. . .and probably before that. . . lots of examples on the interwebbythingummy. . .

 

 

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A WIG craft... Wing In Ground effect.

 

There was a company set up not far from where I live that was going to make small ones - haven't heard what happened to them, must've had more ambition than capability. Or found out the legislative restrictions were going to be harsher over here than the US - I believe you can drive one with a powerboat licence over there, they're not classified as an aircraft because they can't go higher than half the wingspan.

 

 

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flightship 8 ... or airfish 8 depending on when the pic was taken (it got renamed) and it was Australian designed and built in Qld ... just checked - designed and built in Germany, brought to Australia - Australian company went bust, all assets and IP sold to Singapore ... nothing much happening since 2010

 

 

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A flying friend of mine was heavily involved with the firm that built them in Cairns. Talking to him last weekend he said the biggest problem with them was longitudinal stability. The most competent auto pilots were not good enough to control them.

 

The Russians built a lot of them as troop transports, but they are reputedly laid up and gently corroding away.

 

 

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A flying friend of mine was heavily involved with the firm that built them in Cairns. Talking to him last weekend he said the biggest problem with them was longitudinal stability. The most competent auto pilots were not good enough to control them.The Russians built a lot of them as troop transports, but they are reputedly laid up and gently corroding away.

Yep, all flying wings have an issue with the level of longitudinal stability - without a long moment arm on a second flying surface they are limited and will react to air movement ... the tailplane on these WIGs is an attempt at reducing the impact BUT when you are using ground effect over waves on water the upsets from waves generally impacts the stability and introduces a very umpleasant rocking ... welcome to seasickness in the air.

The issue is lessened the larger the WIG is - the Kaspian sea monster for example at over 90m long and with a weight around 500t simply beat the waves into submission and was like many ekranoplan operationally workable ... but none appear to have given much service over the years.

 

 

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Yes lots of power and quite a few engines ... but remember you are pushing several hundred tons of aircraft along at turboprop speeds - lots of power yes but its efficiency is greater than the same load being lifted out of ground effect

 

 

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That's interesting. Does anyone have any thoughts on the aerodynamics behind the large horizontal stabilizers.

 

I can only think of the large dihedral shape being for roll resistance and to counteract the weight of all those engines, being mounted high and lateral. Even without the engines, is there an ever present roll instability in ground effect? I don't know much about ground effect forces.

 

Cheers, Willie.

 

 

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Probably similar to boats. once they have enough power to lift them up on the plane, power can be reduced to around 1/3rd and they will just about stay there.

 

These beasts would be similar I would have thought, in that once they become unstuck and in ground effect, it would probably be similar scenario.

 

At first sight 8 big jets look like a bit of an overkill, but that's probably what they need for the initial lift. Just glad I'm not paying the fuel bill.

 

 

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  • 3 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

This aircraft is not too hard to pick - the nationality is obvious, also that it's an ejection testbed.

 

Question is, what aircraft is it, and what has it got to do with the U.S.A. ?

 

seat.jpg.b0efb825256542cd8ddcb91e972e4b61.jpg

 

 

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looks like the ar$e end of an AN12 - the russian equivalent of the C130 Herc so there is a weak link to the USA

Correct there, Kasper; it's the An-12MLL testbed. That's not the link to the U.S.A. though.

 

More related to the F-22 and F-35. The seat is the clue.

 

Cheers, Willie.

 

 

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Well, it is the Bears shooting a Man out the test capsule... the US did it the other way and had Men shooting Bears out of their test rigs.

 

Part of the research for the B58 Hustler system included drugging man sized bears and strapping them into the ejection seat capsules the B58 was to use and poping them out in various ways, face first, arse first, sideways, etc. Then once that was all done they got put down and autopsied to see what happens internally

 

 

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Well, it is the Bears shooting a Man out the test capsule... the US did it the other way and had Men shooting Bears out of their test rigs.Part of the research for the B58 Hustler system included drugging man sized bears and strapping them into the ejection seat capsules the B58 was to use and poping them out in various ways, face first, **** first, sideways, etc. Then once that was all done they got put down and autopsied to see what happens internally

Just like the cosmetics industry...not tested on animals...much.

 

 

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