Boeing Pelican

The Boeing Pelican ULTRA, short for Ultra Large Transport Aircraft, was a proposed ground effect fixed-wing aircraft studied by Boeing Phantom Works in the early 2000s. It was conceived as an enormous cargo carrier, first for military use and possibly later as a commercial freighter, flying low over the surface so that the cushion of air beneath its drooping wings would give extra lift. The concept grew out of a United States Armed Forces wish to move troops and heavy equipment across the world far faster than ships could. It was never built, so it survives only as a design study and as patents and artist drawings.