Airliner Number 4

en.wikipedia.org

85 points·birriel··8 comments

The bulk of it reminds me of the (very different) Ekranoplane. They were just massive.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lun-class_ekranoplan

Mustard on YouTube has many interesting videos on obscure aircraft, including the ekranoplan: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1ZBQ-F-yktYD4m5AzM6pww/vid...

To me it brings to mind the giant airplanes of Miyazaki's Nausicaa.

Also the Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano in The Wind Rises.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caproni_Ca.60

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/632/23129734031_5e808a81a5.jp...

But would it have flown?

Probably not. At a glance the hydrodynamic drag looks way too high to allow it to reach takeoff speed. Consider how far those floats would have to extend down into the water to support so much weight.

Not to mention the massive bulges of those floats are going to create drag down below the center of mads while all the thrust appears to be well above the center of mass.

This is going cause the aircraft to pitch want to pitch down and give it some negative flight characteristics (especially without the leverage of a proportionally long tail to help counteract those forces.

"He was in the habit of giving his staff ambitious or unusual projects when they were between client commissions such as "Get a thousand luxury lovers from New York to Paris fast. Forget the limitations."" he could have inspired Elon Musk with this

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