Russian efforts in creating a Wing-In-Ground effect vehicle started in 1960 at the Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau in high secrecy. This bureau was engaged in designing hydrofoil ships at that time. Their first WIG vehicle the three ton SM-1 showed some problems: bad manoeuvrability and an extremely high take-off speed. The latter was later found to be a typical problem for WIG vehicles.The developments at the Central Hydrofoil Design Bureau were lead by Rostislav Alexeiev, who is now called the father of the Ekranoplan, which is the Common Russian name for a WIG vehicle.

In 1962 Alexeiev designed the first Ekranoplan as we know it now. Initially a lot of stability problems were encountered, but they were minimised by installing an extremely large and high T-tail. This stability is also a typical WIG vehicle problem.

When the new configuration of the Ekranoplan passed all flight tests successfully, a very ambitious program was launched in 1963, the KM (Caspian Sea Monster). The 550 ton KM was way ahead of its time. The object of building such a large craft was to investigate the consequences of size on the concept of the Ekranoplan.

The KM was finished in 1966 and successfully tested in 1967-1969 it proved to be capable of stable flight up to speeds of 500 km/h and heights of 20 m. The maximum wave height for operating the KM is 3 metres. Eight KM's are reported to have been built, all of them were different.

 

 

 The full info:

here: Russian Ekranoplans

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

... and here: The WIG Page

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this of course, is a plastic kit

 

Return to Dreamland