| What an unusual machine ? I thought at first that it was one of your Photo shop things Greg ! so it did exist.
The problem with these Russian machines is that they are more suited to wide open spaces,I cannot imagine our Civil Aviation Authority allowing them to skim across the UK ? the developments in vectored blown flap research etc are areas for further development,the Hunting Jet Flap research aircraft ( now in the museum at Cosford ) is a good example of just what can be achieved,and that aircraft was only for development.
As regards Airships,some years ago British Caledonian,were thinking of developing large airships to transport hevy goods and passengers across nations,it is true that the advances in airship design, appear to have been neglected in recent years in favour of conventional energy guzzling and environmentally unfriendly large aircraft.
But I do think that one day aircraft design will change radically,the one thing that is ancient is running a machine down a runway to get airborne,but the sheer power needed to lift into the vertical has precluded large VTOL designs,they can be for the time being only be dreams,but the answer is out there somewhere ? if a designer finds the answer then the jet airliner as we know it today would be made quickly redundant overnight.
__________________ 'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !' www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/ |