Book excerpt: This book is dedicated to the memory of a distinguished Russian engineer, Rostislav E. Alexeyev, who was the first in the world to develop the largest ground effect machine - Ekranoplan. One of Alexeyev's design concepts with the aerodynamic configuration of a jlying wing can be seen on the front page. The book presents a description of a mathematical model of flow past a lifting system, performing steady and unsteady motions in close proximity to the underlying solid surface (ground). This case is interesting for practical purposes because both the aerodynamic and the economic efficiency of the system near the ground are most pronounced. Use of the method of matched asymptotic expansions enables closed form solutions for the aerodynamic characteristics of the wings-in-ground effect. These can be used for design, identification, and processing of experimental data in the course of developing ground effect vehicles. The term extreme ground effect, widely used through out the book, is associated with very small relative ground clearances of the order of 10% or less. The theory of a lifting surface, moving in immediate proximity to the ground, represents one of the few limiting cases that can be treated analytically. The author would like to acknowledge that this work has been influenced by the ideas of Professor Sheila E. Widnall, who was the first to apply the matched asymptotics techniques to treat lifting flows with the ground effect. Saint Petersburg, Russia February 2000 Kirill V. Rozhdestvensky Contents 1. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .