Naval, long-range, reconnaissance, heavy bomber, flying boat with three M-34RN engines. 15 April 1934 crashed at take-off during factory tests.
The ANT-27bis was a naval torpedo carrier, bomber/flying boat, in small serial production.
ANT-27bis Engines: 3 x AM-34R, 610hp Max take-off weight: 16250 kg / 35825 lb Empty weight: 10521 kg / 23195 lb Wingspan: 39.4 m / 129 ft 3 in Length: 21.9 m / 72 ft 10 in Height: 8.6 m / 28 ft 3 in Wing area: 177.5 sq.m / 1910.59 sq ft Max. speed: 225 km/h / 140 mph Ceiling: 4470 m / 14650 ft Range: 2000 km / 1243 miles Crew: 5
In 1924, Pavel Sukhoi joined the Central Aero and Hydrodynamic Institute, or TsAGI, collaborating in the design of the ANT 25. Design teams headed by P O Sukhoi and A A Arkhangelski but under Tupolev’s general direction, were responsible before the second World War for a series of high¬ speed and long range bombers, including the ANT 25 (RD).
The ANT-25 was of conventiomal all-metal construction with additional fabric covering on the wings, lacquered and highly polished for maximum efficiency. The wing had a 10:1 aspect ratio and external chordwise ribbing. Engine was 900-1000 hp AM-3R liquid cooled V-12 with cooling system specialy modified for best cold weather operation. The narrow fuselage had cockpit fitted with blind flying instruments, but no autopilot. Next aft was a bunk, then navigator’s station, then second cockpit with full controls. Complete navigation and radio gear was carried. Cabin heat was supplied from exhaust system heat exchanger. Crew had oxygen system and emergency equipment including three inflatable floatation bags in wing and nose, inflatable rubber raft, electrically heated floatation suits and a month’s rations stowed in wing leading edge compartments.
The first prototype flew on June 22, 1933.
On June 18-20, 1937 RD piloted by Chkalov, Baidukov and Beljakov flew non-stop from Moscow to Portland (USA), covering 9130km in 63 hours and 25 minutes.
On July 12-14, 1937 RD piloted by Gromov, Yumashev and Danilin flew non-stop from Moscow via the North Pole to San Jacinto (USA), covering 11500km in 62 hours and 17 minutes.
A total of 2 aircraft were built, followed by 20 ANT-36s.
ANT-25 Engine: 1 x M-34 Max take-off weight: 11500 kg / 25353 lb Empty weight: 4200 kg / 9259 lb Wingspan: 34.0 m / 112 ft 7 in Length: 13.9 m / 46 ft 7 in Height: 5.5 m / 18 ft 1 in Wing area: 87.9 sq.m / 946.15 sq ft Max. speed: 210 km/h / 130 mph Cruise speed: 165 km/h / 103 mph Ceiling: 7000 m / 22950 ft Range w/max.fuel: 13000 km / 8078 miles Crew: 3
Of unconventional design in employing a tandem fore-and-aft engine arrangement and twin tailbooms embodying recoilless gun tubes as integral, but non-load-carrying, structural components, the ANT-23 single-seat fighter was conceived at the AGOS TsAGI by Viktor N Chernyshov, one of Tupolev’s brigade leaders. Of all-metal construction with smooth stressed skinning for the fuselage and wing – the latter and the tail surfaces being strengthened by externally-attached inverted “U” strips – and tail covering, the fighter was powered by two 525hp Gnome-Rhone 9AK nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engines.
Armament consisted of two 76mm Kurchevski APK-4 recoilless weapons which were embodied in the tailbooms, the gun gases being discharged from their tails. Known unofficially as the Baumanskii Komsomolyets – in memory of the pre-revolutionary Communist after whom the district in which the TsAGI was situated was named – and officially as the I-12, the ANT-23 was first flown in late December 1931. Flight testing continued through early 1932, but, on 19 May, the port gun exploded, the tail-boom collapsing on touchdown. The aircraft was overweight and suffered substantially higher drag than had been calculated. Chernyshov and his team were developing a means of jettisoning the aft propeller to afford safe escape for the pilot in an emergency, but, at the beginning of 1933, the ANT-23 was abandoned.
Engines: two 525hp Gnome-Rhone 9AK nine-cylinder air-cooled radial. Max take-off weight: 2400 kg / 5291 lb Wingspan: 15.60 m / 51 ft 2 in Length: 9.50 m / 31 ft 2 in Wing area: 30.00 sq.m / 322.92 sq ft Max. speed: 300 km/h / 186 mph Armament: two 76mm Kurchevski APK-4 recoilless
The Tupolev ANT-22 or MK-1 with six 619kW M-34R engines was a long-range bomber reconnaissance flying-boat, with a twin-hull. Test flown for the first time on 8 August 1934, it established several weight-to-height world records in December 1936, but was abandoned soon afterwards.
Armament comprised eight 7.7mm ShKAS machine-guns, one 20mm cannon and a bombload of up to 6000kg.
ANT-22 Engines: 6 x AM-34R Max take-off weight: 33560 kg / 73988 lb Wingspan: 51.0 m / 167 ft 4 in Length: 24.1 m / 79 ft 1 in Height: 6.4 m / 21 ft 0 in Max. speed: 223 km/h Ceiling: 3500 m / 11500 ft Armament: 2 x 20mm cannons, 6 x 12.7mm machine-guns Bombload: 6000kg Crew: 3
Designed at the KOSOS (Konstruktorski otdel opytnovo samolyetostroeniya, or Design Department for Experimental Aircraft Construction) within TsAGI by a brigade headed by Aleksandr A Arkhangel’sky, the ANT-21 MI (mnogomestnyi istrebitel – multi-seat fighter) was, by international standards of its day, very much state-of-the-art. Featuring all-metal stressed-skin semi-monocoque construction with partial flush-riveting and a retractable main undercarriage, the ANT-21, which was assigned the service designation MI-3, was powered by two M-17B (BMW VI) 12-cylinder water-cooled engines of 680hp. Proposed armament consisted of one 12.7mm machine gun or 20mm cannon on a pivoted nose mounting, two 7.62mm guns firing from a dorsal position and a single 7.62mm gun firing from a ventral tunnel. Three crew members were carried.
Work on the ANT-21 began on 18 January 1932, first flight taking place in August 1933. On 14 September, the starboard rudder suffered damage and separated as a result of violent flutter in a shallow dive. Arkhangel’sky elected to undertake major redesign as the ANT-21bis.
ANT-21bis
Retaining the wings, engines and undercarriage of the ANT-21, the ANT-21bis alias MI-3D (the suffix letter indicating dubler, or, literally, “understudy”) mated these elements with an entirely new fuselage, which provided enclosed cockpits for all crew members, and a single fin-and-rudder. Completed in April 1934, the ANT-21bis had provision for the same armament as that of the ANT-21, but the ventral tunnel was omitted, the gun being fired instead through a trap. During initial flight trials some tail oscillation at certain power settings led to the introduction of tailplane bracing struts. State acceptance trials were conducted between July and December 1934, but the results were somewhat academic as there was little official interest in an M-17B-powered aircraft which had, in any case, been largely overtaken by the ANT-29. Consequently, further work on the ANT-21bis was discontined.
ANT-21 / MI-3 Engines: two M-17B (BMW VI) 12-cylinder, 680hp Max take-off weight: 5500 kg / 12125 lb Empty weight: 3670 kg / 8091 lb Wingspan: 20.76 m / 68 ft 1 in Length: 11.70 m / 38 ft 5 in Wing area: 55.10 sq.m / 593.09 sq ft Max. speed: 359 km/h / 223 mph Range: 1120 km / 696 miles
ANT-21bis / MI-3D Engines: two M-17B (BMW VI) 12-cylinder, 680hp Max take-off weight: 5260 kg / 11596 lb Empty weight: 3800 kg / 8378 lb Wingspan: 20.76 m / 68 ft 1 in Length: 12.30 m / 40 ft 4 in Wing area: 55.10 sq.m / 593.09 sq ft Max. speed: 356 km/h / 221 mph
Unshaken by this official lack of confidence, Tupolev began planning the world’s largest aircraft and found support in Union of Soviet Writers and Publishers to celebrate the career of the writer Maxim Gorkii (or Gorky). Workers all over Russia donated money for the construction of not just one giant aircraft, but a whole Maxim Gorki Propaganda Squadron of them, for which 6,000,000 roubles were collected.
This aircraft flew for the first time on 19 May 1934. When it appeared at Moscow’s Central Airport in the spring of 1934, Tupolev’s first ANT 20 Maxim Gorki spann¬ed 63 m (206 ft), with eight engines totalling 7200 hp, and a gross weight of 52.8 tonnes (52 tons). Within its fuselage and wings were seats for up to 80 passen-gers, a cinema, newspaper office, darkroom, printing press, radio station, buffet bar, toilets, sleeping quarters and an internal telephone exchange. Beneath its wings loud¬speakers and illuminated signs were installed to broadcast political slogans; engineers could walk through the inside of the struc¬ture to attend to its engines.
The six engines originally fitted were not enough and an extra pair were added on a pod above the fuselage. The giant ANT-20 toured the otherwise inaccessible areas of the USSR, bringing the communist message to the masses.
Four smaller auxiliary engines were required to drive various devices, including the giant sound system and a series of lights for displaying propaganda slogans at night. 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.
In 1934 workers at the institute were invited to fly in the giant machine which they had designed and built. Thirty six passengers boarded, along with 11 crew, and Maxim Gorki took off, accom¬panied by a Polikarpov I-5 fighter which was to formate with it for air to air photographs. During the flight the fighter pilot, disorientated during a barrel roll, collided with the Gorki, which broke up in the air and exploded in a fire¬ball, throwing bodies and equipment out in full view of spectators at the airport. The fighter pilot, all 47 aboard the giant aircraft and three bystanders died. The Russians subscribed for three more ANT 20s, with just six engines of greater power, and eventually 16 were built, eight of which survived World War II.
A re¬placement aircraft for the ANT 20 Maxim Gorki, with only six engines but the same dimensions and an even ¬greater all up weight, was built as the PS 124 or ANT 20bis.
ANT-20 Engine: 6 x AM-34FRNV, Max take-off weight: 44000 kg / 97004 lb Wingspan: 64.0 m / 210 ft 12 in Length: 34.1 m / 112 ft 11 in Height: 7.0 m / 23 ft 12 in Wing area: 486.0 sq.m / 5231.26 sq ft Max. speed: 275 km/h / 171 mph Cruise speed: 225 km/h / 140 mph Ceiling: 5500 m / 18050 ft Range: 900 km / 559 miles Crew: 8 Passengers: 64
In May 1933 Tupolev’s TB 6 (ANT 16) six engined bomber succeeded the TB 3 as the world’s largest landplane. The Tupolev ANT-16 or TB-4 was a super-heavy bomber powered by six 619kW M-34 engines, two of them mounted in tandem above the fuselage. Armament comprised two 20mm cannon and 10 machine-guns, plus a maximum bombload of 10000kg.
First flown on 3 July 1933, performance was so poor that the Soviet government declined further support for Tupolev’s large aircraft. It did not go into production, but served as the prototype of the even larger eight engined ANT 20 Maxim Gorki, built to commemorate the great Soviet writer’s fortieth anni¬versary.
TB-4 Engines: 6 x AM-34R Max take-off weight: 33280 kg / 73370 lb Empty weight: 21400 kg / 47179 lb Wingspan: 54.0 m / 177 ft 2 in Length: 32.0 m / 105 ft 0 in Height: 11.7 m / 38 ft 5 in Wing area: 422.0 sq.m / 4542.37 sq ft Max. speed: 200 km/h / 124 mph Ceiling: 2750 m / 9000 ft Range: 1450 km / 901 miles Range w/max.payload: 775 km / 482 miles Armament: 4 x 20mm cannons, 10 x 7.62mm machine-guns Bombload: 4000kg Crew: 12
Andrei Nikolaevich Tupolev designed the ANT 14, a five engined airliner powered by Soviet built 358kW Bristol Jupiter radial engines: this spanned 40 m (132 ft) and could carry 42 people over 1200 km (745 miles), sufficient to fly in stages from Moscow to Vladivostock.
The one-off ANT-14 Pravda, served as flagship of the propaganda squadron. The ANT 14 was modestly successful, serv¬ing on the Moscow Berlin route and on scientific explorations in Siberia and the Arctic.
Pravda carried over 40,000 passengers before being grounded in 1941.
ANT-14 Engines: 5 x Gnome et Rhone Jupiter 9AKK Max take-off weight: 17146 kg / 37801 lb Empty weight: 10650 kg / 23479 lb Wingspan: 40.4 m / 133 ft 7 in Length: 26.5 m / 87 ft 11 in Height: 5.4 m / 18 ft 9 in Wing area: 240.0 sq.m / 2583.34 sq ft Max. speed: 236 km/h / 147 mph Cruise speed: 195 km/h / 121 mph Ceiling: 4220 m / 13850 ft Range: 1200 km / 746 miles Crew: 4-5 Passengers: 36
Conceived to make use of new high-strength steels obtainable from Germany in the late 1920s, the ANT-13 was a small unequal-span staggered biplane single-seat fighter. Utilising steel for the wing spars and the welded truss fuselage – the remainder of the structure being dural – the ANT-13 was fabric covered and powered by a 600hp Curtiss V-1570 Conqueror 12-cylinder water-cooled engine. Armament consisted of twin 7.62mm synchronised guns.
Construction of the prototype, designated I-8, was threatened with cancellation in 1929 through the pressures of higher priority projects at the AGOS, but each worker donated 70 hours to completing the I-8, which was flown on 28 October 1930. Dubbed unofficially the Zhokei (Jockey), the fighter was the first aircraft to exceed 300km/h in the Soviet Union, but the decision not to licence manufacture the Conqueror engine worked against series production of the ANT-13.
Engine: 600hp Curtiss V-1570 Conqueror 12-cylinder water-cooled Max take-off weight: 1424 kg / 3139 lb Empty weight: 960 kg / 2116 lb Wingspan: 9.00 m / 30 ft 6 in Max. speed: 313 km/h / 194 mph Range: 440 km / 273 miles Armament: 2 x 7.62mm synchronised machine guns
Under the military designation R-7, a single ANT-10 was built as a possible alternative to Polikarpov’s R-5, which first flew in 1928 and went on to have a production run of 4,995 in the 1930s.
Tupolev’s project was an all-metal sesquiplane. The shortage of metal was one of the factors which worked in favour of the simple wooden airframe chosen by Polikarpov. For both aircraft the BMW-VI engine was specified, due to its planned Soviet production as the Mikulin M-17.
TsAGI began design work on the R-7 in 1928, when the R-5 was already flying. Its first flight was made on 30 January 1930, flown by Mikhail Gromov. As it was not appreciably better than the R-5, the programme was discontinued six months later.
Engine: 1 x BMW VI, 500hp Max take-off weight: 2920 kg / 6438 lb Empty weight: 1720 kg / 3792 lb Wingspan: 15.2 m / 50 ft 10 in Length: 10.9 m / 36 ft 9 in Height: 3.6 m / 12 ft 10 in Wing area: 49 sq.m / 527.43 sq ft Max. speed: 235 km/h / 146 mph Ceiling: 5500 m / 18050 ft
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