a louvered wing ground effect wing craft

[skeatesy]

a louvered wing ground effect craft would be very efficient
<a href=http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?664e364ea4.jpg><img src=http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/th.664e364ea4.jpg alt="Free Image Hosting by FreeImageHosting.net"></a>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2yLEIOsE6I
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/d2yLEIOsE6I?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/d2yLEIOsE6I?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

[cthippo]

It's an interesting concept but skip the video.

[Submarine Tom]

Soooooo... what's the question?

-Tom

[kach22i]

This looks like something which can easily be proven or disproved with a working scale model.

There have been tandem wing WIG's before.

Universal Hovercraft example video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SoyFWgZGB0


Weber Hovercraft example (somewhat similar):
http://www.idealuniverse.com/hover/N...lCruise98.html


A model found on the Internet:
http://www.seaircraft.com/experimental.htm

[Petros]

These are known as ground effects aircraft, not boats at all. The idea has been around for over half a century, I do not think any have been commercially viable. There was a company in Germany about 30 years (?) ago that proposed making a high speed ferry that uses such a concept, carry people across the north sea fast and safe. they built a man carrying prototype very similar to those pictures and it worked, carried a crew of two.

but they could not get the investment to make a full sized model. looked like something out of the future. I guess the economics never penciled out where anyone would invest in it.