What Became of the Ekranoplan, a Strange Boat Plane Hybrid

When American intelligence officers saw the first satellite images of the Soviet ekranoplan prototype, they didn’t know what it was they were looking at. 😕 They dubbed the bizarre aircraft “Caspian Sea Monster.” Some years later, that prototype was developed into a new class of Soviet ground-effect vehicles. ✈️ But only one Lun-class Ekranoplan has ever been built to completion…