[Yooklid]

My girlfriend sent me this "Aren't the colors amazing?" because she knows I "like that sort of thing".

http://igor113.livej....com/51213.html

I don't think I've ever seen pics this close up before. Sincere apologies if it's a repost.

[A2Keltainen]

For those unfamiliar with it, it's a Project 903 Lun missile launcher ekranoplane:

http://www.fas.org/m...row/rus/903.htm

The pictures in the link in Yooklid's post are amazing, and the plane looks like it has fallen straight out of Fallout, or some other similar dystopian after-the-big-nuclear-war computer game.

[shep854]

Those are new to TankNet, as far as I can remember. The craft has been discussed in other threads, with video links, but not these.

It's pitiful to see such an awesome machine just sitting there, slowly decaying. Granted, it's not a true airplane, but the pilot in me hurts. :mellow:

EDIT: Ekranoplan video on YouTube (check out the sidebar also): http://www.youtube.c...feature=related

For those who understand Russian, there are some interesting documentary segments there.

This post has been edited by shep854: 08 March 2010 - 1953 PM

[T19]

WOW that was amazing

[A2Keltainen]

Are the two vessels to the left in the background in this;

http://pics.livejour...13/pic/007h8qtd

picture Zubr class LCACs, and the two to the right Aist class LCACs?

This post has been edited by A2Keltainen: 08 March 2010 - 2010 PM

[Jim Martin]

Damn I love those things. Soviets get major coolness bonus points for operating them.

[A2Keltainen]

Jim Martin, on Tue 9 Mar 2010 0652, said:

Damn I love those things. Soviets get major coolness bonus points for operating them.

Some (weird?) part of my brain thinks it would be even more Fallout style cool, if the standard wear for the crew was heavy CBRN protection suits, with some really weird and evil looking gas masks with integrated night vision goggles, and hoses to air filtering systems being part of the vessel. Think Ultimate Soviet Style Doomsday One Way Mission Fantasy, with the suits just being there to enable the heavily politically indoctrinated crew to fulfill their single missile launching mission against the imperialist capitalists swines and their lackeys... :D

[T19]

I would love to see one firing while on the move... that must be awesome

[CaptLuke]

Yooklid, on Tue 9 Mar 2010 0002, said:

My girlfriend sent me this "Aren't the colors amazing?" because she knows I "like that sort of thing".

Great pics, thanks for posting.

As A2Keltainen pointed out, this is a Lun class so I think that puts it at only about 3/4 the size (very roughly) of the Caspian Sea Monster.

[Jussi Saari]

T19, on Tue 9 Mar 2010 0502, said:

I would love to see one firing while on the move... that must be awesome

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=eVTbi8kWovI

0:35 & 1:50

[Stuart Galbraith]

Yooklid, on Tue 9 Mar 2010 0002, said:

My girlfriend sent me this "Aren't the colors amazing?" because she knows I "like that sort of thing".

http://igor113.livej....com/51213.html

I don't think I've ever seen pics this close up before. Sincere apologies if it's a repost.

Marry her, she clearly is the ideal woman. :)

What a magnificent, utterly barking mad machine. They really ought to put this in a museum rather than leave it out in the elements.

One other thing, is that actually a tailgun turret? :blink: (and a nose turret as I subsequently noted) What were to defend against, flying fish?

This post has been edited by Stuart Galbraith: 09 March 2010 - 0454 AM

[bojan]

Stuart Galbraith, on Tue 9 Mar 2010 1051, said:

...One other thing, is that actually a tailgun turret? :blink: (and a nose turret as I subsequently noted) What were to defend against, flying fish?

Among other things Soviets used rear 23mm turret to fire special flare rounds enabling for those to be fired further from the aircraft.

[Tuccy]

bojan, on Tue 9 Mar 2010 1335, said:

Among other things Soviets used rear 23mm turret to fire special flare rounds enabling for those to be fired further from the aircraft.

You mean as in signal flares or IR jamming flares?
Would the special flare ammo in the latter case be found in standard ammo belts (say a flare per every 5 rounds) or in separate belt?

[shep854]

I can't help but wonder what the noise levels were in that thing. With those engines forward, the din in the main cabin could easily have been physically harmful.

[DKTanker]

shep854, on Tue 9 Mar 2010 0718, said:

I can't help but wonder what the noise levels were in that thing. With those engines forward, the din in the main cabin could easily have been physically harmful.

Well at least the cockpit is forward of the engine exhaust. But can you imagine the poor nose turret gunner when those two missiles lit off?

[shep854]

DKTanker, on Tue 9 Mar 2010 0854, said:

Well at least the cockpit is forward of the engine exhaust. But can you imagine the poor nose turret gunner when those two missiles lit off?

Yeah, that poor soul got it all if he stayed at the station.

[rmgill]

shep854, on Tue 9 Mar 2010 1005, said:

Yeah, that poor soul got it all if he stayed at the station.

Yeah, but what a view at cruising speed. I saw those photos before. The thing is a monster with access ways up through the tail and apparently a LOT of space inside for I guess radar and missile control hardware. The thing has some serious radar domes mounted all over the tail section.

[Jussi Saari]

Tuccy, on Tue 9 Mar 2010 1253, said:

You mean as in signal flares or IR jamming flares?

IR decoy flares, and there was also chaff rounds for 23mm; those, not HEI-API mix for shooting down anything, apparently were the reason why the tail guns were retained as long as they were in most large soviet aircraft. Not sure about the ammo mix, but from somewhere (cant recall where) I seem to have gotten the impression that decoy rounds would have been the only ammunition carried in modern times

[Stuart Galbraith]

rmgill, on Tue 9 Mar 2010 1837, said:

Yeah, but what a view at cruising speed. I saw those photos before. The thing is a monster with access ways up through the tail and apparently a LOT of space inside for I guess radar and missile control hardware. The thing has some serious radar domes mounted all over the tail section.

It would be like sitting in the cockpit of Firefox. Id sure as hell issue them with rubber underwear. :blink:

[ShotMagnet]

Quote

What a magnificent, utterly barking mad machine. They really ought to put this in a museum rather than leave it out in the elements.

Second. Thanks for the link.


Shot