pre ww11 russian bomber

[goo]

i couldn't post this on the internet if it wasn't true.
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http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3388/...c05d3c.jpg?v=0
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http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3628/...b51b5b.jpg?v=0

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Mike Josephic]

Thanks for posting that. I'm an "old airplaine" buff and I've never see that bad boy before!! Makes the Spruce Goose look small!!

Do you know if it ever successfully flew?

[dryheat]

from wikpedia: K-7 first flew on 11 August 1933. Then on 21 November 1933 the aircraft crashed due to structural failure of one of the tail booms, killing 14 people aboard and one on the ground. Although two more prototypes were ordered in 1933, the project was canceled in 1935 before they could be completed.[1] --Keep in mind that the posted picture is computer rendering of the original and waaay bigger than the actual aircraft.

[jon_norstog]

Goo, Mike,

I want to see it in person before I will believe .... Is it possible? If so, the Soviets probably gave it a shot. Is it photoshop?

Well I tracked the images down, Gizmag says they are "computer generated" but there really was an aircraft built and flown. But it crashed. Meanwhile we still go the Ant 225 to look at:

Antonov An-225 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Supposedly there are 2 of these planes in existence. Meanwhile it's a good question: did the K-7 really exist? This guy says so:

K-7, Airplane-Giant

Well, thanks for bringing this up, guys!

jn

[jjroth]

its a sight to see either coming inor taking off.

I recall reading a book about "The battle of Kursk", the soviets had a armored cargo plane that got jumped by nazi fighters, they expended all ammo without downing the Soviet.
The parting group commanders' comment was something about trying to bite a porcupine is rear.

[Fredtheobviouspseudonym]

its a sight to see either coming inor taking off.

I recall reading a book about "The battle of Kursk", the soviets had a armored cargo plane that got jumped by nazi fighters, they expended all ammo without downing the Soviet.
The parting group commanders' comment was something about trying to bite a porcupine is rear.

It was a Sturmovik IL-2 ground attack plane.

Heavy armor around the engine, gas tanks, and pilot's seat.

The tail gunner was on his own (and they died like flies.)

The Soviets built 37,000 of them; but they were destroyed so often despite the armor that the largest number they ever had at one time was 12,000.

I'd guess that they lost a lot of them to accidents; heavy aircraft + badly-trained pilots = oops.

Nonetheless they put a pile of hurt on the Nazis. Carried 2 cannon -- 20 mm, 23 mm, or 37 mm. Hit the German tanks in the roof where the armor wasn't so thick. Carried eight rockets and a pile of small bomblets -- would fly over the enemy and drop them to fire a shaped charge through the tank roofs.

Normal attacking height was 20 feet. Yes, feet.

I'm no fan of the Communists by any stretch but a lot of gutsy young men and women (in Sov Russia they did use women for combat pilots some) died to stop Adolf.

[Bill H]

A few years ago I flew into what used to be Pease AFB in Maine, and we taxied almost under the wing of the big Russian cargo plane. Needless to say, our little single engine Piper was dwarfed by it.

It was preparing to take off for Germany with a very large printing press, which took up almost the entire cargo area.

We were able to walk through the plane, as they had not closed the doors.

Made a 747 look like a toy.

[P. Greaney]

Isn't every plane flying now pre WW11?

[Kirk]

No; they are pre-WWIV

[Dan Wilson]

And the AN-226 itself is a pretty large puppy (the AN-124, which the 225 was enlarged from, was just a touch larger than our C5) been inside of it a time or two, they originally built it for their bootlegged space shuttle that never flew and after the wall fell they had to start selling its flight time commercially and it used to make it into Rhine Main AB in Germany on occasion while I was there.

Dan