stackyFACTS
Transport

The boat that skimmed like a plane

HERE’S THE INTERESTING PART

Alexander Lippisch created the "aerofoil boat," a terrifying seaplane-boat hybrid designed to exploit ground effect and skim just inches above the water's surface. It was the ultimate regulatory loophole machine: dodging strict aviation laws by stubbornly remaining a boat, while threatening passengers with the sheer, ungodly speed of an airplane.

The boat that skimmed like a plane
STACKY / Transport
One discovery leads to another.

Keep exploring facts in this topic.

Transport →
STACKY FOR IPHONE

A bigger world.
One discovery
at a time.

Keep discovering with Stacky. Interesting facts in an app that is always within reach.

Download on the App Store
ONE MORE DISCOVERY?

Keep exploring

All in this topic →
Hydrofoil passenger boats lift their hulls to glide faster
Transport

Hydrofoil passenger boats lift their hulls to glide faster

Water resistance makes boats annoyingly slow, so these ferries just hoist their entire bodies out of the water on metal stilts. Passengers get to blast across…

Discover more
Transport

Harbour Air flight dispatchers in British Columbia operate a scheduled seaplane network that functionally treats heavily modified aircraft as aquatic city buses for wealthy tech…

Seaplanes are notoriously maintenance-heavy and usually reserved for remote wilderness access, but in Vancouver, they operate on a high-frequency urban…

Discover more
The bridge where ships sail over a river
Transport

The bridge where ships sail over a river

The Magdeburg Water Bridge is a massive navigable aqueduct in Germany that connects two vital canals over the Elbe River. Ships literally sail across the…

Discover more
Goodyear once owned a massive global fleet of blimps, but today there are only about 25 active blimps left in the entire world, making them statistically rarer than billionaires.
Transport

Goodyear once owned a massive global fleet of blimps, but today there are only about 25 active blimps left in the entire world, making them statistically rarer than billionaires.

Goodyear once owned a massive global fleet of blimps, but today there are only about 25 active blimps left in the entire world, making them statistically…

Discover more
Why wheelchair treadmills are useful indoors
Transport

Why wheelchair treadmills are useful indoors

These unique contraptions exist primarily to allow users to exercise intensely indoors without having to violently rearrange the living room decor to clear a…

Discover more
Thomas Jefferson measured every walk with a pedometer
Transport

Thomas Jefferson measured every walk with a pedometer

Before it became a tool to shame you into taking 10,000 steps, the pedometer was designed to track physical distance. Thomas Jefferson was completely obsessed…

Discover more
StackyMore discoveries in the app
Download on the App Store