Yo Ralph,

I once saw a documentary about the russian "Ekranoplans" of which you posted a picture above. That thing was indeed very fast. They did have a lot of stability problems with it however. When it came off the water the pressure point shifted so that the vehicle tended to pitch up severely. It was basically packed with electronic equipment just to keep it going.
It only used 2 engines during flight...the other 6 (!) were needed just to get it off the water!
It was conceived to patrol the Black Sea during the cold war. It was a formidable weapon.
When american intelligence got hold of some high altitude pictures of it, they saw an enormous hull with tiny stubs for wings. Initially they thought the soviets were building an enormous airplane, unmatched by anything else in the world, and they were quite worried and puzzled about it...

I know, I know...this post is completely off topic. I just got carried away. Just love the sight of that thing...