Never seen these before. I bet that was one noisy beast.
I wonder why there is a grill over just one engine?
There are pictures of these (although not as close) on the Wikipedia site.
I never heard of the ekranoplan before I read Sebastien Faulks’ Devil May care, intoi which it fit perfectly. But why wasn’t there much about it before then? This has been out in the open for years now.
I’ve know about the plane (?) just never saw these pictures. Think all I saw where drawings.
I’ve seen it before but never that close up.
Don’t know. It doesn’t seem to be there in other pics on the web.
The plane in the pics is clearly decommissioned, possibly abandoned, like a lot of old Soviet military hardware (you gotta go see the pics of old Soviet submarine bases … shocking to see rusted out nuke subs listing and sinking alongside the abandoned docks). The one engine grill is probably because either the other grills were removed, or just one got put on, before all work on this craft was abandoned. The entire base appears to be abandoned, which I’d deduce from the fact that the photographer was clearly able to wander around and climb aboard the craft unimpeded, which would not be allowed if the base was active.
I remember reading about ekranoplans in either Popular Science or Popular Mechanics magazine several years ago. There are civilian versions currently in use for transport as alternatives to ferries across large inland bodies of water in or around the old Soviet Union territories IIRC. The one in this photo set just happens to be an old military model as you can see from the missile tubes and gun turrets on the top of the craft. I don’t know that this particular craft is the biggest one ever made, but that may very well be the case … I’ve seen quite a few pics and this one is certainly the largest I’ve ever seen pictures of.
Other cool pics here: Friday Freaks – The Ekronoplan – Random Connections
Yep, one of the largest ever built.
And to think that the “Spruce Goose” was ridiculed as a boondoggle!