Caspian Sea Monster

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5SpQmPAVdI[/video]

Socialism.

Where’s the Tu-244? There was one in the Russian Air Force museum near Moscow when I was there but it had more space.

The bottom one is in a back yard in Kazan.

shaggy – Member

Caspian Sea Monster

IIRC the hull was so full of the computers required to keep it out the water that it was too heavy to carry weapons!

That Caspian Sea Monster is the most mental plane I’ve ever seen!

For adventures in concrete check out some of the Soviet architecture.

Ahhh, Buran, Awesome.

Thanks Harry. Fascinating but sad to see. I was working with a bunch of ex Space City and KGB people. They were truly a lovely bunch of people who’d ended up on the losing side and were being stiffed by Western companies but were still generous to a fault.

Shame that the hangar wasn’t quite so awesome.

They way stuff was abandoned is quite haunting. Like one day people just disappeared

That Tupelov is exactly what ChrisL’s garden would look like if he was allowed.

(nerding out for a moment but the shuttle pic up there isn’t the shuttle Buran itself, it’s the engineering mockup. I think it still exists alongside an incomplete shuttle)

I could never work out what advantages an ekronoplan would have, over, well, anything really.

Efficiency. Carry more weight than a plane, for less fuel, and much quicker than a boat.

I want to know how rough of a sea they can handle…

That Caspian Sea Monster is the most mental plane I’ve ever seen!

Plane?

Well I suppose it “planed” but i wasn’t an aircraft.

Corbyn

There is a Buran at Speyer museum in Germany – it was a jet engined prototype to develop the unmanned autopilot and landing.

Also a Tupolev and Concord that you can clamber in on the roof of its sister museum at Sinsheim.

That Caspian Sea Monster is the most mental plane I’ve ever seen!

Plane?
Well I suppose it “planed” but i wasn’t an aircraft.
Wasnt a boat, either, as it does technically fly, it has clear air underneath it.

Must visit Sinsheim and Speyer some time. driven past many times though.

Only soviet era plane I’ve been in was the Tu144 at Samara State Aerospace University “museum”.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU-4KnrSVJw[/video]

Jeez that’s looking a bit sick these days. Electrics were all powered up the day we went, with students doing lab work or something.

Seeing the pics in he first post also reminds me of a Sukhoi that they had in a back yard on campus, that I have no idea how they got it there (probably built buildings round it). Vaguley recall it was a swing wing prototype of something that was normally fixed (I’d have to find my ye olde worlde photos to try to work out what).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37979572

Not quite a relic. Huge project though

Wasnt a boat, either, as it does technically fly, it has clear air underneath it.

Definitely an aircraft, just that the altitude limit is a bit lower than most. Perfectly possible to design a ground effect vehicle (/ekranoplan) that is capable of ‘free’ flight too.

Although technically if it isn’t capable of sustained flight out of ground effect it doesn’t require certification as an aircraft.

Did my final year design project at uni on a ground effect vehicle- they have some very interesting problems to solve. The stability calculations were my area and they were, well, a pain.

the Antonov – I used to live near Farnborough and it was a regular visitor, it was bloody huge 🙂 great to see it go up in the air and pull some really graceful turns then plonk back onto the tarmac, I reckon the pilot was probably some old russian geezer that was a cut above the others

More here – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-36764708

The bottom one is in a back yard in Kazan.

IIIRC its some collage/university campus.

if anyone is passing through Riga airport maybe try to find time to visit Riga Airport Latvia Russian Aircraft Museum

Ah – I recognise Buzludzha scuttler – I was there in the Summer!

Amazing place

Rachel

this is a good book

https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/photography/all/05744/facts.frederic_chaubin_cosmic_communist_constructions_photographed.htm

What is that? ^

Have stayed here.

https://goo.gl/maps/sZazdPQs29o

It’s definitely a relic.

The T34 just off the Old Kent road is a more accessible relic, in fact I can include it on my daily commute if I really want to

https://www.strava.com/activities/719130234

EDIT: It’s in Mandela Way Ashley, more on Wiki

swanny853 – Member

Did my final year design project at uni on a ground effect vehicle-

Small-ish world. I did my final year project looking at an aerofoil operating in ground effect using CFD.
My tutor wanted me to stay on after completing my degree and carrying it on into a PhD, but I’d been at uni too long so passed up on that particular offer!