pictured here the alexia sm1 was an
incredible first-of-its-kind
wing and ground effect vehicle which
made its first flight on July 22nd 1961
the prototype was the brainchild of
rostislav evgenievich LX EF and was one
of the forerunners of the famed caspian
sea monster photo shows crewmembers
riding the sm one barely above the snow
and ice it was a real-life giant
landspeeder capable of traveling at 200
km/h
wig or wing and ground effect the Soviet
ekranoplans vehicles although this name
wasn't yet coined at the time we're also
referred to as ground effect or wing and
ground effect vehicles they worked
similarly to hovercrafts capable of
flying above the surface thanks to the
eridan and a ground effect in fixed-wing
aircraft this effect provokes an
increase in lift and a decrease in drag
when the wings are close to a fixed
surface such technology has been mostly
exploited for vehicles that operate from
water as flying boats or the Alexia of
sm1 was made for flight above the ground
a Crona plan meaning surface plane in
russian presents several benefits as a
transport platform they have the
advantage of being free from having to
take off and land on runways the
vehicles have often been described as a
combination of the best capabilities of
ships and aircraft the vehicles can
speed through the surface of water or
land by simulating a sliding car and
therefore consuming little fuel the fact
that they fly above the surface makes
them versatile for use over sea ice snow
or even the desert they are cheaper to
operate and can carry more than aircraft
or helicopters and are faster than
hydrofoil vessels potential military
benefits include the stealth of these
vehicles when avoiding radar detection
since ground effect vehicles fly at such
a low altitude most enemy aircraft
radars won't pick up on them at the same
time the lack of ground or water contact
makes them harder for sonar to detect
and makes it almost impossible for them
to run into a mine the USSR Ministry of
Defence saw a reasonable value in their
developments still there were challenges
with these types of vehicles that had to
be considered operating them required
specially trained personnel traveling at
low speeds with the ground effect
vehicle is nearly impossible due to the
need for high thrust speed ratios for
the vehicle to work
additionally tight turns or avoidance
terms are similarly impossible to
perform a swift change in direction
could result in the winged meeting the
ground or water and therefore crashing
the vehicle more so the high speeds
increased the likelihood of fatal
accidents
therefore arriving at a busy port or
traffic pack section would make the whig
vehicles deadly
sm1
the Soviet Navy recruited rostislav
Alexei F an engineer from nizhny
novgorod to work in their ekranoplan
project he began working on the very
first winged ship model for the Soviet
Union alekseyev would go on to become
one of the most celebrated Soviet
military designers he pioneered work on
hydrofoil ships and launched the Soviet
ground effect vehicles with a straight
wing configuration this contract led to
the design and construction of the SM
series of wing and ground effect test
vehicles most of these were built and
tested throughout the early 1960s the SM
one was the first completed full-scale
wig it came after several model tests
his team created unique catapults to
launch unpowered aerodynamic prototypes
that were tested over water or hard
surfaces with the data collected from
these high-speed tests he planned out
the first man wig the SM one served as a
three seater vehicle with room for an
additional potential person the
experimental craft was powered by a
single turbojet placed above the
fuselage without an engine cowling the
design featured two larger frontal
straight wings and two smaller ones
towards the rear the vehicle was flight
tested for the first time on July 22nd
1961 that same year it reached a maximum
speed of 200 km/h or 124 miles per hour
upon testing it showed wing stability
and dynamism when near the surface
adding to the engineering
accomplishments stemming from these
tests the SM one serves as a powerful
public relations promotional tool the
central hydrofoil design bureau arranged
for Deputy Prime Minister of the USSR
Dmitry Ustinov who would become defense
minister of the country to ride the SM
one this granted the company and Alexey
have great support from the leaders of
the Soviet Union
unfortunately the SM one was rather
unsuccessful on several fronts its
take-off required a dynamic air cushion
and wing lift furthermore the takeoff
speed was too high to be realistically
safe due to the proximity of the wing to
the ground and the high speed the plane
was difficult to handle and the crafts
reaction to controls vary depending on
the altitude at which it flew the flight
envelope was narrow which made the
turning radius much too large these
complications were exacerbated by the
vehicles over sensitivity to rough
surfaces still as a prototype like model
the SM one further the development of
ground effect vehicles
sm2 in 1962 Alexey have made several
changes to his sm1 design this new
version was the first winged craft to
introduce under wind blowing to improve
the aerodynamics of takeoff and landing
the project labeled sm2 had to be
rebuilt after completion due to a hanger
fire the vehicle still presented
problems however in particular the new
blowing system proved to aggravate the
pitch stability issue as a solution
alexei have decided to remove the aft
wing from the forward wing zone of
influence and away from the blowing zone
after these 1963 reconfigurations the
sm2 came out in the same airplane type
configuration used by the soviets in
their subsequent ekranoplans designs
while the forward wing kept the in
ground effect store under wind blowing
the rear wing was out of ground
furthering the design change alexia have
built a new SM the 2p in 1963 for the
more he designed a prototype for a
combat wing and ground effect vehicle
this 38 meter wingspan by 92 metre long
plane was given the monitor caspian sea
monster by the West that enormous plane
would become the most feared ekranoplan
ever built future wigs in 1998 the
economic crisis and lack of resources
for future developments marked a halt
for the manufacturing of a chrono plans
for the more all flights for these types
of vehicles were suspended in the
recently formed Russian Federation the
21st century has revived interest in the
construction of ground effect vehicles
in 2014 scientists from the far eastern
Federal University in Vladivostok Russia
announced they were working on an early
experimental version of a passenger wig
while the Russian Ministry of Defense
has expressed interest no funding for
the development of such a program has
been allocated
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