PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Unfinished soviet Ekranoplan, onboard visit
Old 25th Jun 2014, 12:33
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Howard81
 
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What fantastic photos! I have known about this Ekranoplan for years, but until now only a couple of poor quality photos have existed, so it is a real treat to see it in a greater detail

The Ekranoplan in the photos is the second "Lun" class Ekranoplan built - the original still exists in an abandoned state in a shipyard in Kaspiysk:

Ekranoplan | English Russia

Here is that Lun in action:

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The second unfinished Lun class Ekranoplan shown in the original link was being built as a search and rescue vehcile known as the "Spasatel". Apparently about 90% finished, but the project simply ran out of money. Here's a model of what it would have looked like finished:

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The Caspain Sea Monster was a different Ekronoplan (an even bigger version than the Lun!). Sadly it was accidentally sunk in the hands on an inexperienced pilot in 1980.

Howard
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