<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">On Nov 3, 2020, at 5:06 AM, John Grigg via extropy-chat <extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org> wrote:<blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div>
<div class="gmail-Paragraph__component"><span>"Beached on the western shores of
the Caspian Sea, it looks like a colossal aquatic beast -- a bizarre
creation more at home in the deep than above the waves. It certainly
doesn't look like something that could ever fly.But fly it did -- albeit a long time ago. </span></div><div class="gmail-Paragraph__component"><span><br></span></div><div class="gmail-Paragraph__component"><span>After
lying dormant for more than three decades, the Caspian Sea Monster has
been on the move again. One of the most eye-catching flying machines
ever built, it's completing what could be its final journey. </span></div><div class="gmail-Paragraph__component"><span><br></span></div><div class="gmail-Paragraph__component"><span>In
July of this year after 14 hours at sea, a flotilla of three tugs and
two escort vessels maneuvered slowly along the shores of the Caspian Sea
to deliver their bulky special cargo to its <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/travel/destinations" target="_blank">destination</a>, a stretch of coast near Russia's southernmost point.</span></div><div class="gmail-Paragraph__component"><span><br></span></div><div class="gmail-Paragraph__component"><span>It's
here, next to the ancient city of Derbent, in Russia's republic of
Dagestan, that the 380-ton "Lun-class Ekranoplan" has found its new, and
most likely definitive, home.</span></div><div class="gmail-Paragraph__component"><span>The
last of its breed to sail the waters of the Caspian, "Lun" was
abandoned after the 1990s collapse of the Soviet Union, condemned to
rust away at Kaspiysk naval base, some 100 kilometers (62 miles) up the
coast from Derbent."</span></div>
</div><div><br></div><div>The plane weighs more than a 747! There are drones and planes now under construction using the same "ground effect" principle. I would suspect China is considering building something along these lines, for the future invasion of Taiwan.<br></div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/caspian-sea-monster-ekranoplan/index.html">https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/caspian-sea-monster-ekranoplan/index.html</a></div></div></div></blockquote><br><div>A few years ago I saw a documentary on this plane on YouTube. Quite a sight. Reminds me vaguely of the British V bombers.<br><br><div dir="ltr">Regards,</div></div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">Dan</div></body></html>