ANT-20 Maxim Gorky
The ANT-20 Maxim Gorky was a giant 8-engine 80-passenger aircraft with a 206.6 foot-wing span and weighing about 116,000 pounds. The ANT-20 was designed by Andrei Tupolev and constructed between July 4, 1933 and April 3, 1934. Six of the engines were mounted on the leading edge and the other two in a pusher-puller pod located above the rear fuselage. The giant wheel spats were probably the largest ever fitted to an aircraft. The crew is said to have been up to 23 people, although most of these were associated with the propaganda function. Between eight and 10 crew were involved in actually operating the aircraft.
Of course, to show the wider world the superiority of Soviet aeronautics, the Maxim Gorkii had to be the largest aircraft in the world. Only a few subsequent aircraft (such as the B-36 and the An-124) have had greater wingspans. The six engines originally fitted were not enough and an extra pair were added on a pod above the fuselage. For the first time in aviation history, this aircraft was equipped with a ladder, which would fold itself and become a part of the floor. The aircraft could be disassembled and transported by railroad if needed. The giant aircraft set a number of carrying capacity world records.
The Ant-20, became the logical development of works on further growth of the mass-and-size parameters of heavy and superheavy aircraft, with the retention in essence of that selected of the layout and design initial diagrams, started with the Ant-4 and developed in Ant-6 and Ant-16.
Initially under the designation Ant-20 in 1931, the KB projected a four-engine passenger aircraft, which would have been a further development of the Ant-16 with an increase in the size and mass. The power plant of six M-34 engines was changed to four M-35 engines of larger power. The preliminary design was prepared and presented to the customer, however, in the autumn of 1932, work were stopped by the KB when it obtained an urgent task, which completely changed the fate of initial project.
In the group of writers and journalists, headed by M.Koltsovym, was born the idea to mark the fortieth anniversary of the literary activity of M.Gorky by building the giant aircraft of previously unprecedented sizes. Built at the behest of the Union of Soviet Writers and Editors to celebrate the career of the writer Maxim Gorkii (or Gorky), it was paid for by public subscription. An All-Union Committee on the Building of Aircraft was created, and the collection of money for the building the aircraft, which gave about 6 mln. rubles, began in the entire country.
The aircraft was dedicated to the 40th anniversary of Gorky's literary and public activities. Maksim Gorky (1868-1936) - born on March 16 (New Style March 28) 1868 - pseudonym Gorky means "bitter", originally Aleksei Maximovich Peshkov, was a Russian short story writer, novelist, autobiographer and essayist, whose life was deeply interwoven with the tumultuous revolutionary period of his own country. Gorky ended his long career as the preeminent spokesman for culture under the Soviet regime of Joseph Stalin. Gorky formulated the central principles of Socialist Realism, which became doctrine in Soviet literature. The rough, socially conscious naturalism of Gorky was described by Chekhov as "a destroyer bound to destroy everything that deserved destruction."
After a technical review board was created for developing the technical specifications to the new machine, charged its design and building to the KB, work on the passenger machine Ant-20 was closed, and the cipher of the KB accepted switched over to the new aircraft, which received also nominal designation - “Maxim Gor'kiy” (“mH”).
Works on the design of separate aggregates and systems of the “mH” A.N.Tupolev at the KB laid on V.M.Petlyakov, A.A.Arkhangelsk, B.M.Kondorsk, V.N.Belyaev, N.S.Nekrasov, E.I.Pogossk, and A.A.Engibaryan. The chief engineer on “mH” was B.A.Saukke. In January 1933, they affirmed the operational and technical requirements [TTT], and in April examined the preliminary design of aircraft.
Aircraft “mH” was built in June 1934. On June 17, 1934. M.M.Gromov for the first time raised machine into air. The pilot noted the simplicity and ease of control of huge aircraft. The second flight took place in two days. “MH”, escorted by two I-4 fighters flew above Red Square showering greetings. M.M.Gromov and N.S.Zhurov on this aircraft in the same year 1934 established two world records, after raising load with the mass of 10,000 kg and 15,000 kg to a height of 5000 meters. In the August Ant-20 “mH” was transferred to the agitation squadron im.M.Gorkii, after becoming her flag officer, after replacing Ant-14. The until May the following year aircraft successfully was exploited according to its basic purpose of propaganda aircraft.
The Maxim Gorkii was lost on 18 May 1935 when a Polikarpov I-5 fighter plane (test pilot N.P.Blagin) attempted a barrel roll around it. It was rammed in midair, and the fighter pilot, all 49 occupants of the ANT-20 and three people on the ground perished [other accounts of the accident report the loss of 35 lives].
There had been other large aircraft disasters prior to the Maxim Gorky ramming. In November 1933, the first Kalinin K-7, a 7-engine flying-wing aircraft, crashed with a loss of 15 lives after a structural failure of one of the twin booms that supported the tail. Further work on two more K-7's was suspended.
Other adventurous projects that were terminated included a S.G.Kozlov design for a 12-engine flying-wing tank transporter with rear-ramp access and other Tupolev designs, the ANT-26 (TB-6) bomber and the ANT-28 military transport, that would have had 12 engines and weighed about 70 tons. By 1936, the decision was made to terminate further work on super-heavy aircraft.
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