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The Soviet flying beast that never really took off
The only surviving prototype of this unusual plane now sits dilapidated in a field near Moscow, but it was once the hope of the Soviet Union against US submarine attacks. The Bartini Beriev VVA-14 -- the letters are an acronym for "vertical take-off amphibious aircraft" and 14 was the number of engines -- was designed to take off from anywhere without a runway and to be capable of sustained flight just above the water surface. (www.cnn.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
A Ukrainian company released a 1/72 plastic model kit of this beast some years back.
"a suitable engine type was never developed" Mainly one that could consume vast amounts of salt water spray when landing/taking off vertically! 8+|
I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that Robert Bartini was more of a promoter in the style of P.T. Barnum than a military aircraft designer.
He was the Lysenko of Aviation.
The information in this article went beyond what I've read in the past. Thank you! Very interesting.
Russians seem to specialize in really ugly looking airplanes.