Ground effect vehicles

[Jon]

Ground effect vehicles rely on ground effect, the increased lift and reduced drag generated by an aircraft's wings when they are close to the surface. They're extremely similar to airplanes, although they're generally designed to stay within 100 feet or so of the ground. Because they usually don't enter free flight, they're not really considered airplanes, and are often instead classified as ships.

Ground effect vehicles are faster than airplanes that travel at normal altitude, and they're also much faster than ships that experience drag from contacting water. They can potentially be useful as low-cost transport vehicles; for this reason, many of history's ground effect vehicles were enormous.

However, ground effect vehicles have questionable utility, so their production has been limited. And flying close to the ground (or the sea) leaves limited options in an emergency.

Ground effect vehicles have some interesting history. They were first seen in the early '70s, pioneered by Russian designer Rotislav Alexeyev and the German engineer Alexander Lippisch, who came to the United States under Operation Paperclip. They were revolutionary technology at inception, and photos today are largely limited to satellite images, artist renderings, or photos of abandoned ground effect vehicles built by now-defunct governments. Some samples:

The famed Russian Caspian Sea Monster:


The Russian A-90 Orlyonok:


The German Skimmerfoil Jörg IV:


Don't worry though, you can easily build your own ground effect vehicle; Universal Hovercraft offers a kit! By adding wings on to one of their hovercraft kits, they've created the only ground effect vehicle available to build as a kit. Life insurance policy sold separately.