13 votes

The strangest aircraft ever built: The Soviet Union's VVA-14

2 comments

  1. [2]
    Greg
    Link
    That was fascinating - I'd seen old photos of the thing rusting in a field, but I'd never heard the actual backstory. They did make at least one other attempt at a huge ground-effect vehicle, and...

    That was fascinating - I'd seen old photos of the thing rusting in a field, but I'd never heard the actual backstory. They did make at least one other attempt at a huge ground-effect vehicle, and a single model that made it into service, but I don't know of any that went into actual mass production.

    I assume there's a reason that ground-effect vehicles aren't as well suited to their tasks as an actual ship or an actual plane, but I haven't taken the time to read up on why. I had the opportunity to do a short trip in a passenger hovercraft, which was great fun, so I'd be all about seeing more unusual forms of transport out there in the world!

    3 votes
    1. cfabbro
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      If you're interested in the subject, you should check out the other two ekranoplan videos I have posted here: Real Engineering did a video on that "Caspian sea monster" that you mentioned, and...

      If you're interested in the subject, you should check out the other two ekranoplan videos I have posted here:

      Real Engineering did a video on that "Caspian sea monster" that you mentioned, and Mustard has another video on ekranoplans as well; Both of which talk a bit more about some of their disadvantages, and why the giant ones stopped being developed by the USSR.

      p.s. ?tag=mustard and ?tag=real_engineering for more videos on some other unique aircraft too. :)

      1 vote