4 ms·

From the bullet points that start the article: > The Soviet Union was the only country to experiment with such a craft, and Russia abandoned the effort after t

From the bullet points that start the article: > The Soviet Union was the only country to experiment with such a craft, and Russia abandoned the effort after the Cold War. I think it could be argued that the Spruce Goose [1] was an early experiment with a hybrid Ground Effect Vehicle [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_H-4_Hercules https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_H-4_Hercules [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-effect_vehicle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-effect_vehicle

masklinn 6y ago
> I think it could be argued that the Spruce Goose was an early experiment with a hybrid Ground Effect Vehicle. Since the Spruce Goose was never intended or designed to take advantage of ground-effect[0], it really can't unless you go with the approach that more or less every large plane is "an experiment in GEV". [0] quite the opposite, GE is less pronounced with high wings, which is why the Lun uses mid-wings and the Orlyonok uses low-wings
- sradman 6y ago
  > never intended or designed to take advantage of ground-effect This is a bit of a circular argument. How do you incorporate real-world empirical data in your design before you have a real-world prototype? The ground effects phenomena was known at the time and thought to be suited to large flying boats. We are both speculating about undocumented intent but I'd be surprised if the designers were unaware of the potential efficiency gains.
  - masklinn 6y ago
    > We are both speculating about undocumented intent but I'd be surprised if the designers were unaware of the potential efficiency gains. You are making a positive assertion and providing no evidence whatsoever for it. My statement is that there is no evidence for for your assertion, and that the design of the spruce goose is evidence for the opposite of your assertion.

4 ms·

From the bullet points that start the article: > The Soviet Union was the only country to experiment with such a craft, and Russia abandoned the effort after t

by sradman 6y ago

masklinn 6y ago
> I think it could be argued that the Spruce Goose was an early experiment with a hybrid Ground Effect Vehicle. Since the Spruce Goose was never intended or designed to take advantage of ground-effect[0], it really can't unless you go with the approach that more or less every large plane is "an experiment in GEV". [0] quite the opposite, GE is less pronounced with high wings, which is why the Lun uses mid-wings and the Orlyonok uses low-wings
- sradman 6y ago
  > never intended or designed to take advantage of ground-effect This is a bit of a circular argument. How do you incorporate real-world empirical data in your design before you have a real-world prototype? The ground effects phenomena was known at the time and thought to be suited to large flying boats. We are both speculating about undocumented intent but I'd be surprised if the designers were unaware of the potential efficiency gains.
  - masklinn 6y ago
    > We are both speculating about undocumented intent but I'd be surprised if the designers were unaware of the potential efficiency gains. You are making a positive assertion and providing no evidence whatsoever for it. My statement is that there is no evidence for for your assertion, and that the design of the spruce goose is evidence for the opposite of your assertion.