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Built in Russia during the 1930s, it flew 11 times before
crashing and killing 15 people. The
designer, Konstantin
Kalinin, wanted to build two more planes, but the project
was scrapped. Later,
Stalin had Kalinin executed. Evidently,
it was not good to fail on an expensive project under Stalin
.
It's got propellers on the back of the wings, too. You can
count 12 engines facing front.�The size�would be equivalent to the Empire State Building on its
side, with cannons.
And you think the 747 was big... not only a bunch of engines,
but check out the cannons the thing was carrying.
In the 1930s, the Russian army was obsessed by the idea of
creating huge planes.
At that time, they were proposed to have as many propellers
as possible to help carrying those huge�flying fortresses into
the air; jet propulsion has not been implemented yet.
Not many photos were saved from those times because of the
high secrecy levels of such projects and because a lot of
time has already passed.
Still, on the attached photos you can see one
such plane - a heavy bomber K-7. |