OT: Strangely interesting article

havent looked at the link, but do you mean an ekranoplan? there is a chap in se london with an awesome model of one (rc)

Si

That's the one, never heard of one before, or not that I remember anyway. The video is worth watching, 10 min documentary with lots of "flying" shots.

Yes

Also known as WIGE (Wing In Ground Effect) craft I believe. I have no idea if that's pronounced "wig", "wiggy" or "widge"! Takes shed loads of oomph to get them going but once they're on the cushion you can switch almost everything off and they'll stay up on a mouse fart.

Anyone ever built a model?

On the video clip they show one leaping off a ramp into the sea after already picking up the required speed, given the size of the things, quite scary.

There's a TV documentary about these which is fascinating - only it has stupid title something like "Dragons That Fly" or whatever. Well worth a look when it's repeated.

Richard

: >> havent looked at the link, but do you mean an ekranoplan? there is a : >> chap : > in : >> se london with an awesome model of one (rc) : >>

: >

: > Also known as WIGE (Wing In Ground Effect) craft I believe. I have no : > idea : > if that's pronounced "wig", "wiggy" or "widge"! Takes shed loads of : > oomph : > to get them going but once they're on the cushion you can switch almost : > everything off and they'll stay up on a mouse fart. : : Anyone ever built a model?

yep

Si

: >> havent looked at the link, but do you mean an ekranoplan? there is a : >> chap : > in : >> se london with an awesome model of one (rc) : >>

: >

: > Also known as WIGE (Wing In Ground Effect) craft I believe. I have no : > idea : > if that's pronounced "wig", "wiggy" or "widge"! Takes shed loads of : > oomph : > to get them going but once they're on the cushion you can switch almost : > everything off and they'll stay up on a mouse fart. : : Anyone ever built a model?

Si

I'm sure I've seen a proggy on TV (discovery?) about a civilain application of the technology a very much smaller boat planned as a prototype for future ferries Derek

application

If I remember correctly the argument is was that big ones could carry freight around the world far faster than ships but far cheaper than air freight. The down side is that anything which leaves the ground/sea is subject to the huge regulatory burden of aircraft, which is what killed the big hovercraft in the end. Greg

The americans and their military used the existence of WIGE to try and evade the patents on Hovercraft for many years, though they lost in the end AFAIK.

Steve

From the documentary it seems that the major problem as that the sea has a depressing habbit of not being very flat most of the time.

Richard

Yes, I know someone in the merchant navy and it's not unheard of to be on the bridge of his rather large freighter, as high as a tower block, and to look _UP_ at the sea 8-). Greg

In article , beamendsltd writes

Might have started out as a Horizon programme, "The Caspian Sea Monster" or some such name.

Adrian

That was the one!

Richard