Monday 7th June 2010

The Tupolev TU 007 - Boat, Plane Or Both?

Reality beats James Bond fantasy with Cold War 'aerosled'

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This utterly fantastic creation is called the Tupolev TU 007 Aerosled and has gone straight to the top of the PH office's 'I want' gadget list.

It may look like a prop from a James Bond movie, but this is actually the real Soviet deal - designed by Russian aviation legend Andrei Tupolev. It was the craft that the USSR used in the 1960s to recover is cosmonaut comrades who landed back on earth with a bump in the frozen wastes of Siberia.

The Aerosled is powered by a 365hp Vedenyev M14P 9-cylinder radial aircraft engine and was designed to skim over the surfaces of lakes, bogs, marshes and snow at speeds of up to 80mph.

We've also read that it earned its designer the rather grand accolade of 'Diploma of Finest Engineer in the USSR', so it's in that rather grandiose spirit that we've decided to name it the 'PistonHeads finest Soviet-era Device that is Neither Boat Nor Aeroplane'. A fitting tribute, we think.

This particular example was brought to the US from Russia in 1999 and is currently starring at the Greenwich Concours d'Elegance in Connecticut.

[Mark Wibble]

Uses the good ol' wing-in-ground-effect principle, which the Ruskies developed waaaaaaaay before the rest of the world. IIRC you can get small versions for private use now, although I'd think getting permission to use them anywhere at all is tricky.

[concours g60]

I thnk it might be a 'ekranoplan' it uses ground effect to fly just above the water line those russians are amazing glad they dont have the kind of money the USA have or we would be in trouble. The most famous one was called the Caspian Sea Monster it was fitted with missiles and was designed to travel at 300mph under enemy radar and destory them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSYmSnpQ360&fea...

[Denorth]

Mark Wibble said:

Uses the good ol' wing-in-ground-effect principle, which the Ruskies developed waaaaaaaay before the rest of the world. IIRC you can get small versions for private use now, although I'd think getting permission to use them anywhere at all is tricky.

I am not sure that wing-in-ground is a correct description. Those things are sleds pushed by the prop engine. They didn't 'fly' they were sliding on the surface, contacting surface. Due to the shape of the bottom the contact area was kept at minimum (to have good speed and keep the damage of both bottom and nature at minimum)
Here you can see some videos of modern stuff (it is the offical web-site of THE Tupolev).
http://www.tupolev.ru/Russian/Show.asp?SectionID=7...
They even offer the test-drive

The one in the article was designed in 1964 and were used in Soviet Union (something like 700 of them) and sold to Canada, Finland and Hungary. Official name 'Aerolsed A-3' (it was waaaay before Audi with A3 )

Caspian monster it's another story...

EDIT: tried to find all mistakes, sure there are still plenty

Edited by Denorth on Monday 7th June 14:35

Edited by Denorth on Monday 7th June 14:36

[Snoggledog]

That's not a wing in ground effect craft although it's very

[jamespink]

You aint seen nothin yet! There is some great original footage of what Russian inventors have been up to at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUTWWsh6iGA Real Boys Own stuff! Enjoy

[pistonlager]

They're amazing. Channel 4 did an hour long documentary a few years back.

[gasman]

If anyone fancies a restoration project there's one of these in Barentsburg in Svalbard (the High Arctic)

[Flintstone]

concours g60 said:

...... designed to travel at 300mph under enemy radar and destory them.

What? Take away their Ladybird books sort of thing? "Niet! Snow White is an imperialist lie that has no place in the beautiful socialist plans we have for the world!".

[soad]

Unusual (to me) and quite different, therefore cool!