Beriev Be-1

The Beriev Be-1 was an experimental wing-in-ground-effect aircraft developed in the Soviet Union, the first experimental prototype built to explore the stability and control of such craft. In 1956 the designer Robert Ludvigovich Bartini approached the Beriev design bureau with a proposal for a wing-in-ground-effect vehicle, and the Be-1 was the result. It carried two floats with very low aspect ratio wing sections between them and small conventional wing panels outside the floats, with surface-piercing hydrofoils mounted under the floats. A single Tumansky RU-19 turbojet sat above the wing, and the craft also had landing gear. It was operated between 1961 and 1964, and the first flight from water was made in 1964. The later Bartini Beriev VVA-14 is listed as its related development.