Bez tytułu @oldandfunny - Tumblr Blog

Tak, nastał poniedziałek, ale nie można się poddawać. Nie można tanio sprzedać mu swojej skóry! Bądźmy zatem dla poniedziałku jak 20 groszy brakujące przy kasie, jak kamień w sandale legionisty, jak jogurt pękający w torbie z zakupami! Walczmy! ;-)

chomikiemirysikiem

Wydaje mi się, że już od jakiegoś czasu mamy wiosnę. W związku z powyższym, życzę wszystkim udanych, weekendowych spacerów. Oby wasze stopy kroczyły ostrożnie, a dary wiosny nie lepiły się za mocno do podeszw :-)

chomikiemirysikiem

Grunt to pocieszyć, a później się zobaczy ;-)

chomikiemirysikiem

I jak minął kwietniowy weekend? Porządki w ogródku zrobione? :-)

chomikiemirysikiem

Znawcy mawiają, że z grilla wszystko jest lepsze - nawet sernik z rodzynkami i kasza manna. ;-)

chomikiemirysikiem

Nie zapominajmy o codziennej porcji warzyw, bo to sam smak i zdrowie :-)

chomikiemirysikiem

Jedni gnają jachtem na drugi koniec Wysp Kanaryjskich, a inni autobusem do roboty na drugi koniec miasta. Ach, ta nieposkromiona chęć podróżowania :-)

shiverandqueeef

how measurements work in canada (ie/ badly)

suspiciouslyscientific

The Ekranoplan: A bit of flying, as a treat

The ekranoplan represents one of those fascinating possibilities that never was, in any real sense, but perhaps could have been.

They tend to look like short-winged, stubby aircraft with a weird engine configuration, with profiles ranging from relatively normal:

To... less normal:

(I promise, it's not missing its wings, it just looked like that)

These aircraft were built to skim the sea at an extremely low altitude, practically touching the wavetops. There, the wings could compress air against the water, creating a zone of high pressure that the aircraft could ride, dramatically increasing the efficiency of its wings, and allowing the carriage of a hefty payload.

They were only ever seriously tested in military applications (both images are Soviet military prototypes), but a part of me can't help but wonder if these machines couldn't have served a lot better in a civilian role.

Now, obviously, there were issues, the inherent danger of flying this close to the waves not least among them. But I do wonder if, perhaps, they couldn't have been solvable.

The efficiency of this concept actually increases as the aircraft is scaled up, letting it ride higher above the water and carry a bigger payload. Perhaps, in some alternate world, instead of transatlantic passenger transport being dominated by aircraft, which mercilessly outcompeted passenger liners, we could have gotten ship-planes which combined the speed of an aircraft with the comfort and capacity of a ship.