Lun Ekranoplan

[Flankerman]

The Aleksayev Lun ekranoplan

 

 

..... has been moved from its dry dock in Kaspiisk ( https://igor113.livejournal.com/51213.html?page=1)

 

to a new location ...........

 

http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=/language_tools&u=https%3A%2F%2Fzen.yandex.ru%2Fmedia%2Flanasator%2Fekranoplan-lun-proekta-903-v-derbente-udalos-oboiti-ohranu-i-popast-vnutr-5f30e9b9bbe8572b801cebe9

 

Interesting story of a fascinating machine....

 

Ken

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Couldn't quite tell or maybe I missed it, will this be a museum restoration or full-on flying rebuild ? 

[Aardvark]

2 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

museum restoration or full-on flying rebuild ? 

For what full-on flying rebuild?

To carry tourists and shoot anti-ship missiles from it as touristic attraction?

Of course museum restoration for static show.

 

B.R.

Serge

 

P.S.

In general I don't understand 

value ekranoplan as a weapon system.

Yes, speed, yes load higher than ship (speed)  or aircraft (load) but the inability to operate them in a serious storm negates all the benefits.  For what theater of military operations was this planned if storms in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean would not allow it to operate there!  For the Baltic and the Caspian Sea?  For them, it is redundant.  Application in the Northern Fleet is also questionable, because for takeoff and landing it needs water and not ice.

Beauty, a well-solved engineering problem, but in practice a useless thing, as for my.

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

7 minutes ago, Aardvark said:

For what full-on flying rebuild?

To carry tourists

Personally Ive always had an interest in these. Yes pretty useless militarily unless operating in the perfect climate and location. However that being said I would love to go for a ride in one if these, specifically in the upper gunners position at the forward missile location. The view alone at that speed and angle would be incredibly fun. 

[Aardvark]

3 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

However that being said I would love to go for a ride in one if these, specifically in the upper gunners position at the forward missile location. The view alone at that speed and angle would be incredibly fun. 

And how much would a ticket to such an attraction cost You?  Several thousand dollars for a flight? It's unreal.

 

B.R.

Serge

[spruecutter96]

Love me some "Caspian Sea Monster" action and news. I reckon the Soviets were much more ambitious than most nations, when it came to developing promising new equipment. It's a real shame that the money for further development often seemed to run out, but at least they tried. 

 

Thanks for sharing with us. 

 

Chris. 

[Aardvark]

15 hours ago, spruecutter96 said:

It's a real shame that the money for further development often seemed to run out, but at least they tried. 

Until the end of the 80s, money did not matter, what mattered was the favor of the military-political leadership of the USSR for certain types of weapons.  As an example, Khrushchev, who replaced Stalin, preferred missiles most of all, so the hulls of the finished cruisers were scrapped, and the aircraft carriers never left the project stage.  The construction of ekranoplanes was supported by the Minister of Defense D. Ustinov, but 

after his mysterious and sudden death after Warsaw Pact 

maneuvers Щит-84 / Shield-84

(together with him also died a month or more months later, four more defense ministers of the Warsaw Pact countries.

 

"Defense Minister (USSR) Dmitry Ustinov became ill already in October of the same 1984.  According to the recollections of the head of the 4th Main Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Health Evgeny Chazov, Dmitry Fedorovich developed symptoms of a slight fever and changes in the lungs.  Then - blood poisoning and signs of sluggish pneumonia.  After some time - rupture of the aortic aneurysm.  And he urgently underwent surgery.  Further - more: the minister's blood stopped clotting, kidneys and liver failed.  As a result, on December 20, 1984, the Marshal died of heart failure - in his sleep.
 On January 15, 1985, the Minister of National Defense of Czechoslovakia Martin Dzur, who also took part in the Shield-84 exercises, died with similar symptoms: at first he started having serious lung problems and ended up with heart failure.
 11 months later (with the same frighteningly similar diagnoses), two more ministers who participated in the Shield-84 exercise die.  On December 2, 1985, the 75-year-old Minister of National Defense of the GDR Heinz Hoffmann left for another world, and 2 weeks after him, on December 15, the Minister of Defense of Hungary, General Istvan Olah."

from:

https://svpressa.ru/post/article/245651/

),

there was no one to support the building of ekranoplanes.

Likewise, the death of S. Korolyov led to the actual curtailment of the lunar space program of the USSR.

 

 

B.R.

Serge

Edited August 16, 2020 by Aardvark

[spruecutter96]

Thanks for the history lesson, Serge. That's a very weird story about all the Soviet ministers dying in rapid succession.... and there hadn't even been a recent change in the ruling party!

 

Although the Ekranoplans would certainly have needed good weather to be useful and would have made very easy targets, I've often wondered if they would have been viable in a commercial setting. Of course, we will never find out about that one.  

 

Chris.