Amazing aircraft for it's time.


https://www.warhistoryonline.c...took-to-the-air.html

Opus, that site says this beast actually left the ground. Would love to know more.

A few even managed to land safely. Or at least in one piece mostly.

Here's a follow up from 1933:

F L I G H T , NOVEMBER 30, 1933


The K-7 disaster
O N Wednesday, November 22, the Russian aircraft K-7, claimed to be the largest landplane in the world,crashed near Kharkhoff, 420 miles south-west of Moscow . Fourteen lives were lost. I t is reported that M. K. A. Kalinin, the designer and director of the Kharkhoff aeroplane works, and Snegireff, one of the best-known pilots in Russia, are among the dead. It seems that sabotage is suspected by the authorities, for the O.G.P.U. (Soviet secret police) is represented on the commission of experts investigating the disaster. Twenty trial flights had been successfully made before the crash.

The design and construction of the K-7 took five years. She had a span of 208 ft., weighed about 20 tons and accommodated 120 passengers. She was considered to be a big stride forward in the approach to the " all-wing" aircraft, and most of the accommodation and equipment was in the wing. A few days before t h e accident 1he existence of t h e K-7 was revealed t o the general public by " P r a v d a . " I t was declared that the aircraft represented a " victory of the utmost political importance," as she was constructed entirely of Soviet steel from the mills at Dnepropetrovsk. Hitherto Russia had relied on imported materials for her aircraft.


I found it here:

https://www.flightglobal.com/p...1933%20-%201117.html


Here is very good write-up, the pictures that follow are from the article too:

http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/m...raft/Kalinin-K7.html







During construction: