Lee Taylor's Discovery II rocket boat

[FranklinRatliff]

WIGs

Returning to the subject of Ekranoplans as candidates for an attempt on the Water Speed Record, the Lun class http://www.se-technology.com/wig/html/main.php?open=showpic&code=&pic=406
is reputed to having a speed around 297 knots. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lun-class_ekranoplan

Assuming it were available and it was flown with a foil or extended keel of some kind in permanent contact with the water during the flight, who would consider such a endeavour as a genuine contender for the WSR?

Pericles

Personally, I would favor any WSR vehicle with implications that extended into the larger world beyond just racing or setting a record. For example, an early instance of a craft that set the WSR while intended for greater purposes was the Bell/Baldwin hydrofoil boat.

 

[Verytricky]

IMNSHO:
The speed record *should* be limited to propulsion via immersed propellor, and nothing else.

What about modifying a fighter jet to takeoff and land on the water - it has already been done! ~So that could be a contender for the WWSR!

Rubbish!

It should be limited to craft deriving propulsion from a propellor which is at least partially immerced!

 

[FranklinRatliff]

What defines a boat

IMNSHO:
The speed record *should* be limited to propulsion via immersed propellor, and nothing else.

What about modifying a fighter jet to takeoff and land on the water - it has already been done! ~So that could be a contender for the WWSR!

Rubbish!

It should be limited to craft deriving propulsion from a propellor which is at least partially immerced!

Jet hydroplanes are subject to the same blowovers and sponson walking as prop-driven boats. Drivers can still get killed just as dead in a jet hydroplane.

 

[TamaraLee]

Thank You!

Hi guys, for those of you who have talked about Lee Taylor with such high regard, Thank You! He was my grandpa. I can still remember the day we got the call that the water was too choppy and he had crashed. I was and am so proud of him. I still wish he was here today. So yes thank you for posting pics and articles... So blessed!!!

 

[Fitness1gym]

U.S. Discovery II Files and Blueprints

I actually just bought all of Lee's Discovery Company's Paper work including the blueprints to this rocket boat from the estate of Fred Madsen who built the boot for Lee. It is a huge collection of work dealing with the Discovery and Discovery II. Pretty amazing collection. I believe a lot could be learned from it.
Dan

 

[tom28571]

Maybe someone new will get inspired to go further based on Lee's work. High speed on water has severe issues that land and air attempts do not face.

 

[Rostislav]

Warby

Warby's secret weapon was Dr. Bob Apathy (I'm not making up that last name). Apathy did some wind tunnel testing on a scale model of Warby's boat and advised him to relocate the engine farther forward as well as coming up with the idea for the T-tail. Between Warby's practical experience and Apathy's academic background they made a winning combination.

FranklinRatliff: I realise your post was from some years back, but what you wrote is influencing how Google AI understands the team that supported Ken Warby. A biography about Ken's achievements was written by Bill Tuckey in 2009. While the book has some incorrectly identified photos and perhaps other errors slipped through, it describes in reasonable detail how the team came together. Major Robert (Bob) Apathy had apparently met Ken for first time during trials of the boat at Blowering in March 1976. He has apparently been with the Australian Army for 17 years at that stage. His organisational skills at that time lead him to become what would now be called the Crew Chief. However technical advice on matters such as the hydrodynamics and aerodynamic improvements to the craft generally came from Professor Tom Fink from the University of New South Wales in Sydney who Ken had met there to discuss the dynamics of his boat. It seems that Tom thereafter frequently joined Ken for trials of the boat as a source of on-the-spot technical advice about the overall boat. The wind tunnel testing of a model of Spirit of Australia (that Ken had built of balsawood) had been conducted by Dr Lawrence (Lawry) Doctors also from UNSW. This is all covered in the chapter "Fink, Doctors and Bark Paintings" in Bill Tuckey's book. Also all outlined in newspaper articles from those times. So I think it would be more correct to say the success was based on Ken's practical experience and drive, Tom's theoretical expertise, and Bob's organisational skills. Clearly also Ken received significant support from the various RAAF personnel in obtaining greater performance from his gas turbines. The tailplane was informed by Lawry's wind tunnel testing and analysis of alternative configurations (but constrained by allowable span due to road transport rules). The book also shows an earlier configuration of testing the boat at Lake Munmorah with an aerofoil mounted above the cockpit at the time when the engine was still positioned well aft. That may have pre-dated UNSW involvement.

 

[Rostislav]

U.S. Discovery II Files and Blueprints

I actually just bought all of Lee's Discovery Company's Paper work including the blueprints to this rocket boat from the estate of Fred Madsen who built the boot for Lee. It is a huge collection of work dealing with the Discovery and Discovery II. Pretty amazing collection. I believe a lot could be learned from it.
Dan

Hi Dan,
More than a decade later, has the information you obtained been applied? Do you still hold it?

 

[Rostislav]

IMNSHO:
The speed record *should* be limited to propulsion via immersed propellor, and nothing else.

What about modifying a fighter jet to takeoff and land on the water - it has already been done! ~So that could be a contender for the WWSR!

Rubbish!

It should be limited to craft deriving propulsion from a propellor which is at least partially immerced!

Hmmm, I think the record should be restricted to craft driven by sail, or perhaps paddle wheels.



There are multiple classes of water speed records with various constraints as to what is permitted for each class. The unlimited speed record should be free of any random constraints short of somehow skimming an actual aircraft across the surface of the water as you indicate.

 

[Rostislav]

Rules



I'm not sure about an ekranoplan, but nothing forbids hydrofoils. It's just that the previous attempts using hydrofoils (in the thirties and early fifties) were done before the technology was mature enough. In theory a boat with supercavitating foils should work. (Look up "Hanning-Lee" and "White Hawk".)

Or in the meantime, the Thrust WSH bid.

If course the Bell-Baldwin HD-4, a hydrofoil, held the record in 1919 before the time such records were ratified by UIM.