Finding the KM Ekranoplan

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Whereisit

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Hello World,

Do any of you know what I could do to find the coordinates of the final resting place of the KM (KM-1) Ekranoplan? This is the Ekranoplan that sank in the Caspian in 1980 and was not (as far as we know) recovered. This is not the LUN missile carrier that is currently beached in Dagestan.
I ask this as I may be able to get sonar images of the wreck from colleagues in the oil & gas sector in the Caspian Sea.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I have so far:

Contacted the publishers and authors of the book "Soviet and Russian Ekranoplans New Expanded Edition". They did not know.

Spoke with the Russian Aviation Research Trust in the UK, they do not have this either.

All the best,
Will
 

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Of course you always can try to write to Alekseev design bureau.

Контакты

ckbspk.ru ckbspk.ru
Trying to get sonar images of KM in vicinity of Kaspiysk naval base ...good luck in these interesting times.
AFAIK parts of KM like black boxes etc were recovered for investigation.
 
flateric said:
Of course you always can try to write to Alekseev design bureau.

Контакты

ckbspk.ru ckbspk.ru
Trying to get sonar images of KM in vicinity of Kaspiysk naval base ...good luck in these interesting times.
AFAIK parts of KM like black boxes etc were recovered for investigation.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the suggestion, I had no idea the Alekseev design bureau were still in operation. Please let me know your source for the black box recovery. I ask as I've only had this book on Ekranoplans to go on.
 
As far as I know, the Alexeiev Korabl Maket (KM) was recovered and scrapped shortly after its crash. The attached picture shows a part of the wing on Caspian sea beach after the crash.
 

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PhR said:
As far as I know, the Alexeiev Korabl Maket (KM) was recovered and scrapped shortly after its crash. The attached picture shows a part of the wing on Caspian sea beach after the crash.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much for the photo, I've already asked the Alexeev bureau what was the ultimate fate and will let you all know what I find out from them.

What a f*** about trying to find out what happened to all these secret projects, would be nice if everything secret from every government was, Idk, published in an open library...
 
Whilst we're on the topic of Caspian happenings, is there anything else that may still lie in this sea?

I could ask my colleagues in geo survey and the subsea planning department when I go back that way, but we would need at least a rough area. The Caspian has been surveyed extensively following some of the largest reserves of hydrocarbons found, and with all our pipeline development plans. If it's in there, someone from our sector may have noted it.
 
PhR said:
Previous photo of the crash (message #6) comes from this book:
Click to expand...
Thank you for the source. You all answered in a day what has taken me 3 months of backwards & forwardsing to nowhere. If it wasn't for the video maker Alexander the OK telling us where the latest info dump on Soviet rockets came from (here), I would probably still be looking for this thing like a mong. Thanks again for helping me avoid that.
 
This link provides few interesting details about KM crash: https://oldmachinepress.com/2019/11/05/alexeyev-km-ekranoplan-caspian-sea-monster/
"In December 1980, the KM was lost after an accident occurred during takeoff. Excessive elevator was applied and resulted in a relatively high angle of attack. Rather than applying power and correcting the pitch angle, the angle was held and power was reduced. A stall occurred with the KM rolling to the left and impacting the water. The crew escaped unharmed, but the KM was left to slowly sink to the bottom of the Caspian Sea. Reportedly, the craft floated for a week before finally sinking. Either the Soviets were done with the KM, or its immense size prevented reasonable efforts to salvage the machine."

I don't know the location of the crash, but as it was starting a test flight, it was probably close to Kaspiysk base.

I also found this picture of the KM sinking in another book about Alexeiev:
 

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PhR said:
This link provides few interesting details about KM crash: https://oldmachinepress.com/2019/11/05/alexeyev-km-ekranoplan-caspian-sea-monster/
"In December 1980, the KM was lost after an accident occurred during takeoff. Excessive elevator was applied and resulted in a relatively high angle of attack. Rather than applying power and correcting the pitch angle, the angle was held and power was reduced. A stall occurred with the KM rolling to the left and impacting the water. The crew escaped unharmed, but the KM was left to slowly sink to the bottom of the Caspian Sea. Reportedly, the craft floated for a week before finally sinking. Either the Soviets were done with the KM, or its immense size prevented reasonable efforts to salvage the machine."

I don't know the location of the crash, but as it was starting a test flight, it was probably close to Kaspiysk base.

I also found this picture of the KM sinking in another book about Alexeiev:
Click to expand...
Interesting, we have two scenarios here.

1 - It was fully salvaged in pieces to be scrapped as the photo of the KMs wing foil suggests. Refer to the video below on how this can be done by cutting the craft in to pieces. This video is on the salvage of the ship the tricolor.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuiTr1mhBTQ


2 - It was partially salvaged but there's still something big down there. Then what is left? And will it fit in the back of a Renault Clio Campus (1.2l three careful owners with docs)?

I will contact these authors:
– WIG Craft and Ekranoplan by Liang Lu, Alan Bliault, and Johnny Doo (2010)


On a note about the sources used in oldmachinepress:
I have spoken with the authors Yefim Gordon, Sergei Kamissarov and they did not have the location or where I could go to. Wikipedia cited their book regarding the fate of the KM.
The author of The Register article has sadly passed away.
 
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Whereisit said:
Interesting, we have two scenarios here.

1 - It was fully salvaged in pieces to be scrapped as the photo of the KMs wing foil suggests. Refer to the video below on how this can be done by cutting the craft in to pieces. This video is on the salvage of the ship the tricolor.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuiTr1mhBTQ


2 - It was partially salvaged but there's still something big down there. Then what is left? And will it fit in the back of a Renault Clio Campus (1.2l three careful owners with docs)?

I will contact these authors:
– WIG Craft and Ekranoplan by Liang Lu, Alan Bliault, and Johnny Doo (2010)


On a note about the sources used in oldmachinepress:
I have spoken with the authors Yefim Gordon, Sergei Kamissarov and they did not have the location or where I could go to. Wikipedia cited their book regarding the fate of the KM.
The author of The Register article has sadly passed away.
Click to expand...
I wrote to a researcher at the Dagestan university regarding this. He wrote back immediately that he thinks I'm working for the FSB.

This might be one we keep on the back burner until it all chills out. Then when I am Azerbaijan on contract, I will see if I can go to Dagestan in person, and properly network with researchers and officials on this. This is history that needs to be documented, not cause hassle over.
 
Whereisit said:
I wrote to a researcher at the Dagestan university regarding this. He wrote back immediately that he thinks I'm working for the FSB.

This might be one we keep on the back burner until it all chills out. Then when I am Azerbaijan on contract, I will see if I can go to Dagestan in person, and properly network with researchers and officials on this. This is history that needs to be documented, not cause hassle over.
Click to expand...
To add to this, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan may be more forthcoming with other missing things. They are not in conflict and I have few friends who are currently working in these regions.
 

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