Re: Northrop Giant Delta Flying Boat Design

On Apr 29, 1:59�pm, Dan <B...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
David E. Powell wrote:
On Apr 29, 12:51 pm, Rob Arndt <teuton...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
http://modelarchives.free.fr/archives_P/Aplane/img8.jpg

Rob

Makes me wonder why the "Wingship" (Ekranoplan) hasn't taken off for
transatlantic travel? Cheaper fuel costs, ground effect, no high
altitude worries, and pretty fast. Plus a hull could be made pretty
big for cargo and passengers and stuff.

   It would be a bumpy ride on the open ocean, I would think. Large
swells and waves would make the ground effect vary.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired

Lippisch proposed the same idea with his WIG-craft decades ago, but
the West German govt. as well as the private sector ultimately
rejected this type of craft as a large passenger carrier. Lippisch's
types were much smaller than the giant Russian Ekranoplans and more
suited to private passenger flights as opposed to huge ocean liner
types.

I think Dan is absolutely right about the conditions that any civilian
Ekranoplan would face. The Russian military craft usually operated in
near calm waters for maximum effect and were IIRC to be used in
reserve for guarding the coasts against enemy warships... despite what
was reported in issues of Soviet Military Power. I can't picture them
in either the Pacific or Atlantic Oceans...

Rob


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