Aircraft Super Thread Mk.VII

[M'Kyuun]

The F-32 gives me an A-7 Corsair vibe, with that large underslung intake.  If the name had stuck, it would have been the Corsair III.

[electric indigo]

The ancient Lun ekranoplan was towed to a new location where it will be the centerpiece of a future military museum.

[Shadow]

The F-14A arrives on the 18th. Looking forward to the VF-1 and VF-84 skins.

 

Edited November 13, 2020 by Shadow

[slide]

57 minutes ago, Shadow said:

The F-14A arrives on the 18th. Looking forward to the VF-1 and VF-84 skins.

 

I'm going log into some MP servers on the 18th just to listen to the song of the TF30's people: "Compressor-stall Compressor-stall, oh and Compressor-stall"

[kalvasflam]

On 11/9/2020 at 4:38 AM, electric indigo said:

The ancient Lun ekranoplan was towed to a new location where it will be the centerpiece of a future military museum.

A reminder, those hump thing on the top.  They were designed to carry anti ship missiles.

I remember the artist rendering of this plane back in the mid 80s,  it is amazing to see the actual thing.

[electric indigo]

Here's a shot of the Lun firing those missiles:

[derex3592]

Whoa -- I thought I was pretty up on my 80's aviation, but I have never seen that thing before!!! 

[sketchley]

1 hour ago, derex3592 said:

Whoa -- I thought I was pretty up on my 80's aviation, but I have never seen that thing before!!! 

Technically it's not an airplane.  It's an Ekranoplan—or ground-effect vehicle—that "flies" at around 5–10 m above a flat surface: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground-effect_vehicle

 

 

[electric indigo]

The Russians launched some amazing machines (halfway) into the air at that time. 

Here's my favorite shot of the Lun, right like something from the imagination of Mamoru Oshii:

And here's the Lun's big brother, the Caspian Sea Monster:

https://oldmachinepress.com/2019/11/05/alexeyev-km-ekranoplan-caspian-sea-monster/

The third operational Ekranoplan was the the Orlyonok:

As of 2017, there are still plans to build a Lun-based super SAR craft:

[sketchley]

11 hours ago, electric indigo said:

The Russians launched some amazing machines (halfway) into the air at that time. 

Here's my favorite shot of the Lun, right like something from the imagination of Mamoru Oshii:

 

Looking at that... and some of the support vehicles in Gundam don't seem so outrageous anymore.

It's crazy how real vehicles from the '60's and '70's look more "futuristic" than what we have now!

[slide]

2 hours ago, sketchley said:

Looking at that... and some of the support vehicles in Gundam don't seem so outrageous anymore.

It's crazy how real vehicles from the '60's and '70's look more "futuristic" than what we have now!

much like a typhoon, once you see the inside it's not so advanced-seeming...

 

[kalvasflam]

19 hours ago, electric indigo said:

Here's a shot of the Lun firing those missiles:

Nice, never saw that picture before.

such a plane might still find use in today’s combat scenarios.  As a reminder, that thing also has a couple of 23 mm turrets.  You could almost think of it like an ultrafast corvette.

[ErikElvis]

15 minutes ago, kalvasflam said:

Nice, never saw that picture before.

such a plane might still find use in today’s combat scenarios.  As a reminder, that thing also has a couple of 23 mm turrets.  You could almost think of it like an ultrafast corvette.

Yeah I’ve never saw this plane I don’t think. I could see how it could be useful still under certain conditions.  I mean makes sense as a few hundred mph missleboat I guess flying under the radar. That’s if it’s that fast. I dunno. 

[slide]

11 minutes ago, ErikElvis said:

Yeah I’ve never saw this plane I don’t think. I could see how it could be useful still under certain conditions.  I mean makes sense as a few hundred mph missleboat I guess flying under the radar. That’s if it’s that fast. I dunno. 

If Wikipedia and Soviet reports can be believed, it was:

 

Specifications

Crew: 15 (6 officers, 9 enlisted)
Capacity: 137 t (302,000 lb)
Length: 73.8 m (242 ft 2 in)
Wingspan: 44 m (144 ft 4 in)
Height: 19.2 m (63 ft 0 in)
Wing area: 550 m2 (5,900 sq ft)
Empty weight: 286,000 kg (630,522 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 380,000 kg (837,757 lb)
Powerplant: 8 × Kuznetsov NK-87 turbofans, 127.4 kN (28,600 lbf) thrust each

Performance

Maximum speed: 550 km/h (340 mph, 300 kn)
Cruise speed: 450 km/h (280 mph, 240 kn) at 2.5 m (8 ft)
Range: 2,000 km (1,200 mi, 1,100 nmi)
Service ceiling: 5 m (16 ft) in ground effect
Armament
Guns: two 23mm Pl-23 cannon in a twin tail turret and two 23mm Pl-23 cannon in a twin turret under forward missile tubes
Missiles: six launchers for P-270 Moskit Sunburn antiship missiles

[derex3592]

Cool video. I don't think that thing is gonna ever make it to a museum.  Shame. I hope I'm wrong. 

[electric indigo]

Dunno if that video is 100% accurate. It mixes footage of the KM and Lun Ekranoplan, and the Lun is not randomly stranded on some beach and rotting away. The wear is the result of it being stored in the open until it was towed to Derbent this summer. This report clearly shows it arriving at the construction site and being towed on the beach:

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/caspian-sea-monster-ekranoplan/index.html

Here's an interesting size comparison shot:

The Tu-95 at the top is roughly the same size as a B-52.

The interior of the Lun shows the ship-like nature of the craft:

https://rusue.com/interiors-of-the-abandoned-lun-ekranoplan/

 

Edited November 17, 2020 by electric indigo
more content

[David Hingtgen]

Guppy love.  

[Dobber]

Ha Ha! Love it!

Chris

[Dobber]

After a drunken night of passion between the Douglas C-54 Skymaster

and the Boeing 747SP

 

You get their unholy Love child the Convair Goldfinger

 

Chris

[derex3592]

LOOOL!!!

[electric indigo]

Pretty amazing display of the Anigrand 1/144 Lun:

 

[slide]

The Virtual Festival of Aerobatic Teams is streaming this weekend.

Day1:

 

[Shadow]

Nice to see this shared. Been watching VFAT going all the way back to 2008. It's shrunk in recent years but the displays continue to impress.

 

[David Hingtgen]

I guess this would be an Su-57UB?  

[anime52k8]

that's nasty.

[slide]

11 hours ago, David Hingtgen said:

I guess this would be an Su-57UB?  

Sort of depends I guess...

Going by Sukhoi's previous naming conventions: if it's a 2-seat trainer/fighter variant of the 57 it'll be the 57UB, if it's a multirole/strike variant or major avionics upgrade it'll be the Su-60 

Edited December 16, 2020 by slide

[Dobber]

Is that even real? Gotta say that looks photoshopped to me.

Chris

[slide]

Just now, Dobber said:

Is that even real? Gotta say that looks photoshopped to me.

Chris

It has exactly the same profile as a Su-30-series cockpit, so it's a 50/50 considering how good some photoshop users are.

[Dobber]

2 minutes ago, slide said:

It has exactly the same profile as a Su-30-series cockpit, so it's a 50/50 considering how good some photoshop users are.

It’s definitely well done if it is one, just something looks “off” to me.

Chris

[electric indigo]

A bit suspicious since the "White Shark" paint scheme was abandoned in favor of the recent pixel camo. I'd say it's a 'shop job on the blue "056", the position of the markings match.

[Shadow]

The new clouds look amazing. Also, that reveal at the end.

 

Edited December 19, 2020 by Shadow

[Dobber]

The photo realism is insane! Their attention to detail is stunning and the beauty of their skies and settings is breathtaking.

Chris

[kalvasflam]

On 12/16/2020 at 9:45 AM, Dobber said:

Is that even real? Gotta say that looks photoshopped to me.

Chris

Even if it is photoshopped I like it.  The Russians know how to build beautiful planes.  That’s for certain.  
 

hopefully these types can also perform well.

[M'Kyuun]

14 hours ago, Dobber said:

The photo realism is insane! Their attention to detail is stunning and the beauty of their skies and settings is breathtaking.

Chris

QTF. Absolutely gorgeous. The only thing that looked remotely fake to me were the cows. As someone born in the early 70s, to see this kind of evolution in computer graphics in all forms of visual media over the past few decades is just incredible, to the point where it's gone beyond the sci-fi of my childhood.  Don't even get me started on Boston Dynamics and what they're doing for robotics. Sheesh.

Pertaining to the Russian plane everyone's commenting on, I'll just chime in that something about it looks off to me, too. Specifically, the cockpit section looks too big in contrast to the rest of the plane, giving the whole an oddly disproportionate, almost super-deformed, look.

[slide]

Sukhoi has a proclivity for that... this is the Su-25 Grach we all know and love:

THIS is the Su-25T:

And as a single-seater:

Su-27:

Su-30

Fugly-beautiful two-seaters... It's just how they do over at Sukhoi

Edited December 20, 2020 by slide