Patent ID: 7059259

Claim:
A wing in ground effect vehicle having a fuselage, a wing structure with opposing wing tip portions and a pair of supercavitating endplates, each of said supercavitating endplates extending downwardly from a respective one of said wing tip portions below said fuselage and said wing structure for immersion in water during overwater flight of the vehicle, each said endplate comprising: a proximal root; a distal tip; a forward portion including a nose defining a leading edge of said endplate and terminating in a nose lateral edge on each lateral side of said endplate, said nose being adapted to generate a cavity extending rearwardly from each said nose lateral edge between a respective one of said lateral sides of said endplate and water passing over said endplate, in use, at a zero yaw condition at speeds up to and including a design cruise speed with said endplate immersed in water to a design immersion depth, said cavities forming a supercavity at said design cruise speed; an aft portion terminating in a trailing edge; and means supporting at least part of said forward portion of each said endplate laterally fixed with respect to a respective one of said wing tip portions and supporting said trailing edge of each said endplate laterally displaceable, with respect to a respective one of said wing tip portions, in response to water flowing over said endplate in use.