Lun (Project 903) missile-carrier WIG

[boxkite]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeUe6aVib08&mode=related&search=

A nice video showing (among other things) the Lun Ekranoplan at its final resting place in Kaspisk(?).

 

[Triton]

The second Lun ekranoplane was 80 percent complete when work was stopped. It was proposed that this ekranoplane should be completed as a a Search and Rescue (SAR) aircraft named ‘Spasatel", Russian for "rescue worker." Due to insufficient funding work was never completed.
http://avicopress.ru/category.php?id=53

 

[Matej]

The second Lun ekranoplane was 80 percent complete when work was stopped.

 

[Deino]

Here are close-up pictures of the Lun no. 1 ???

http://igor113.livejournal.com/52174.html
http://igor113.livejournal.com/51213.html


Deino

 

[Sundog]

Wow, those Lun photos are amazing. I was really surprised at the complexity of the hull design, with all of it's steps and the retractable step. I also found the cockpit gauges informative. Especially the "artificial horizon" which apparently uses the water surface as the reference and has the strip gauges for height above the water on each side. I wonder if the height on each side was based off of wingtip height above the water? Perhaps it's in the text, but beautiful pictures of a very interesting WIG.

 

[LowObservable]

Great photos. To paraphrase Wellington, I don't know what this thing would have done to the enemy, but by God, it frightens me.

And what in the blue blazes were they planning to shoot at with a forward-looking dual 23 mm turret?

 

[Stargazer]

These Lun photo galleries are stunning. I don't know the present status of that craft, but given the amazing complexity of the details and the engineering stunt they represent, plus the uniqueness of the design, this really ought to be restored and displayed as a living testimony of a past era.

 

[Kokoro]

Is the Spasatel still around? Or was it broken up. Pics of it sitting in the hanger have been around a long time.

Are there any campaigns to save the Lun? I was reading the other day the campaign to save the hulk of the City of Adeleide, although a noble cause I cannot believe that the Lun doesn't have it's own rescue campaign.

 

[OM]

....<I>Boing Boing</i> posted this link to a whole - no pun intended - boatload of pics of a Soviet WIG transport. It's in Russian, and it actually pushed my transliteration skills quite a bit:

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

 

[Michel Van]

OMG Wat for Picture !
Zillion thanks OM for the link

that not a Transporter
this is Lun-class ekranoplan with 6 Anti-Surface Warfare P-270 Moskit rockets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lun-class_ekranoplan

 

[saintkatanalegacy]

The plane deserves to be restored and preserved rather than just be left out and go into rust imho

poor thing :'(

 

[flateric]

Lun autonomous dock, an engineering wonder per ce, and the only way for her to be transported to the shore
http://igor113.livejournal.com/52878.html

 

[covert_shores]

Hi, fantastic tours n LiveJournal

Anyone know of an internal schematic or sketch? I feel a cutaway coming on....

 

[kaiserbill]

What a magnificent machine...I do hope it is preserved properly at some stage.
That must have been some ride.

 

[covert_shores]

Re the radars on the tail of LUN, does anyone know which radome relates to which radar set?

 

[paralay]

Passive radar for search purposes anti-ship missiles "Mosquito"

http://www.typhoon-jsc.ru/index.php/production-and-services/special-purpose/mineral-me

 

[covert_shores]

brilliant, thanks. Just two more radomes to go

 

[paralay]

At the top, most likely, the navigation radar may "Vaigach"

 

[covert_shores]

There's a radar a lot like that in the nose radome. I wondered whether the top one was air search?

Nose radar:

 

[paralay]

Navigation radar "Don-2". The radar before the cockpit

Radio equipment:
- Generic detection radar "Получас"
- Navigation radar "Дон-2"
- A set of electronic warfare, "Хиппер"
- Communication Complex "Редан-2"

 

[covert_shores]

Fantastic

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Navigation radar "Don-2". The radar before the cockpit

Radio equipment:
- Generic detection radar "Получас"

Polyuchas

- Navigation radar "Дон-2"

Don-2

- A set of electronic warfare, "Хиппер"

Khipper

- Communication Complex "Редан-2"

Redan-2

 

[zebedee]

Thought I had posted this before but obviously not... Spasatel was moved from its hanger in August 2016... looks like it could with a good clean!

Zeb

http://ruslet.webnode.cz/technika/ruska-technika/ekranoplany/r-e-alexejev/pr-9037-spasatel/

 

[NUSNA_Moebius]

I know many Ekranoplan models were supposed to still have a basic flight capability. The Bartini model is the only one I've seen engaged in the activity, does anyone else have pictures of any of the more famous models engaged in "regular" flight?

Or did the Soviets never test that capability?

 

[paralay]

"Orlyonok" was flying at an altitude of 3000 m, if I'm not mistaken

 

[NUSNA_Moebius]

"Orlyonok" was flying at an altitude of 3000 m, if I'm not mistaken

Yeah I've seen plenty of sites mentioning rudimentary "high altitude" flight available to most Soviet Ekranoplanes as well as many smaller civilian WiG aircraft. The problem is I've never seen any pictures or video footage of these craft engaging in it.

The typically short stubby wings will require ALOT of speed and probably quite a bit of AoA, but Soviet Ekranoplans seem to be built more as tandem wing "aircraft", of which there is actually quite a decent bit of lifting surface to get them airborne once they've hit enough airspeed..

 

[paralay]

The WIG - is bad flying aircraft. For a flight from one sea to another across the continent enough height 1000 - 3000 meters.

 

[royabulgaf]

REDRUM?

 

[Jason Dykstra (Wyvern)]

The plane deserves to be restored and preserved rather than just be left out and go into rust imho

poor thing :'(

I believe that there are plans to restore it and turn it into a museum

 

[covert_shores]

My attempt at a cutaway, from http://www.hisutton.com/Russian-Navy-Ekranoplan-WIG.html
This was drawn before many of the latest photographs from inside it have come out. I will update it some time, there are a few things to change. But hopefully still cool.



Also re its's fate, it is, as-of yesterday. still stuck on the beach where it could get damaged or destroyed by a storm. Not good.

 

[Archibald]

Amazing machines, amazing thread.

 

[Richard N]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2xVSmzPzW4

 

[citizensnip]

Lun 3D model

 

[athpilot]

RUSSIA'S unique missile carrier, the rocket ship ekranoplane of the project 903 "Lun" is currently on shore near Derbend city in Dagestan, Russia, located on the Caspian Sea. (The Sun)

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View: https://www.youtube.com/embed/oFUlqZsjfwY
" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[foiling]

Lun 3D model

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Excellent.

 

[Kat Tsun]

I suppose it would have been posted already but do any of the native Russian speakers on the forum (or adjacent to the Russian milhist blogosphere) have any further deets on the Rescuer? Was it just a one off by a Russian Tyler Rogoway/Kyle Mizokami type pseudo-journalist or is it actually getting refurbished and finished?

 

[gabrielorosco]

I suppose it would have been posted already but do any of the native Russian speakers on the forum (or adjacent to the Russian milhist blogosphere) have any further deets on the Rescuer? Was it just a one off by a Russian Tyler Rogoway/Kyle Mizokami type pseudo-journalist or is it actually getting refurbished and finished?

The second Lun, known as Spasatel, is not being finished or refurbished. It is in a "protected" condition for storage. According to the Alexeev Bureau, it can still be finished and used for different purposes, but it can't take too long to happen, because in some years it will deteriorate beyong a safe margin to be refurbished. Alexeev can't afford to finish it alone, it would be necessary investors to complete the work. There are also ideas to assemble it and put in a museum display.