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Designed by World War I aviator Konstantin Kalinin with a wingspan
greater than a B-52's and a much greater wing area, the K-7 was one of
the biggest aircraft built before the jet age. It was only one engine short of
the B-52 as well, having the curious arrangement of six pulling on the wing
leading edge and one pushing at the rear.
The K-7's very brief first flight showed up instability and serious vibration
caused by the airframe resonating with the engine frequency. The solution to
this 'flutter' was thought to be to shorten and strengthen the tail booms, little
being known then about the natural frequencies of structures and their
response to vibration. On the 11th flight, during a speed test, the port
tailboom vibrated, fractured, jammed the elevator and caused the giant
aircraft to plough into the ground, killing 15.
Undaunted by this disaster, Kalinin's team began construction of two
further K-7s in a new factory, but the vicissitudes of Stalin's Russia
saw the project abandoned, and in 1938 the arrest and execution
of Kalinin on trumped up espionage and sabotage charges.
Jim Winchester "The World's Worst Aircraft", 2005
 | A three-view drawing (800 x 964) |
| CREW | 12 |
| PASSENGERS | 128 |
| ENGINE | 7 x M34F, 550kW |
| WEIGHTS |
| Take-off weight | 38000 kg | 83776 lb |
| Empty weight | 24400 kg | 53793 lb |
| DIMENSIONS |
| Wingspan | 53.0 m | 174 ft 11 in |
| Length | 28.0 m | 92 ft 10 in |
| Wing area | 454.0 m2 | 4886.81 sq ft |
| PERFORMANCE |
| Max. speed | 234 km/h | 145 mph |
| Cruise speed | 180 km/h | 112 mph |
| Ceiling | 4000 m | 13100 ft |
| Range | 3030 km | 1883 miles |
| Graeme, ldereski=canada.com, 30.03.2010 Why are there all sorts of fake images of the K-7 if you Google it?!?
Too bad the real one crashed - during a high speed test, one of the tailbooms fluttered, jammed the elevator, and kept the aircraft in the dive. 15 died.
If you like this aircraft, check out the Tupolev ANT-20 Maxim Gorki - the ultimate propaganda machine!
Thank you,
Graeme | | Marv, sokulsky=aol.com, 27.03.2010 Too bad Konstntin Kalinin could not have defected to the West B4 Stalin had him off'ed. Look at the contributions Mr. Sikorski made to air flight in his lifetime. | | jimmy neutron, yo, 01.02.2010 it has wrong engine duh!!!! lol hi peace | | Patsy Elders, patsyw26=hotmail.com, 29.01.2010 Thanks guys for the heads up. I just received the picture of the fake one. Looks awesome, but it is not real. | | George Silberbauer, george.silberbauer=gmail.com, 05.01.2010 If all those guns were fired at the same time the poor old dear would snap into a really spectacular stall, despite the momentum of those 38000-odd kgs. (It could get tricky even on a Spitfire Mk XII and only 8 .303's if you didn't have enough on the ASI.)Mind you, with that very low aspect-ratio wing, she may simply have mushed and wallowed horribly. | | Trevor de Varyer, Australia, 31.10.2009 It is interesting that in Bill Gunston's book "Back to the Drawing Board", there is aa photo of a full scale mock-up with a different engine arrangement of the completed example. It is photographed with the same background as one of the photos of the completed aircraft. | | William Robison, kaybee1=iland.net, 16.09.2009 Why aren't there photos of it in flight?? I wonder if it
actually ever got airborne.... | | tom friedman, fbt9598=yahoo.com, 10.09.2009 if it's ugly & boxy it's either russian or french!! | | Mac, mcgilwe=comcast.net, 13.06.2009 Sorry, a B-52s wingspan was 185 feet, which is 11 feet, one inch longer than the K-7s. Trust me, I piloted B-52s for nearly nine years. | | OH Minto, 00mint=gmail.com, 05.05.2009 I found some nice pictures of it. It's beautiful I would I could live in one.
http://englishrussia.com/?p=2231 | | jeff, jeffhegness=gmail.com, 30.04.2009 clearly no canons like battle ships according to these pictures | | Tomas K. Hoiaas, hoiaas=tribunaonline.com.br, 07.04.2009 Hi, Folks !!
A fev days ago I got an E-mail from a Norwegian friend,showing a BIG Kalinin K-7.Somewhere later I read something saying;"This aircraft is not the real K-7".Could you tell me if this is right ? Greatings from: Tom in Brazil..... | | Steve, sseeplane=gmail.com, 03.03.2009 A more complete description of this design, and an inflight photo is available at
http://www.pilotfriend.com/photo_albums/potty/8.htm
The final version, which crashed due to flutter, had 6 tractor engines and one pusher engine.
A scale model version is shown at
http://www.internetmodeler.com/artman/publish/aviation/Scratchbuilt_Kalinin_K-7.php | | Randy, randys_clan(=)yahoo.com, 01.03.2009 There are urban legend 'photos' of this plane floating around the web. They are actually computer-generated graphics, embellished by the artists. The photo on this page is the only actual photograph I have seen of the plane yet. | | Mel Young, sugarbear76=verizon.net, 24.02.2009 Check other photos. This plane has six engines on the leading edge and four more, back-to-back engine installations on top of the wings....four pulling and four pushing.
I can send you the photos if you wish.
Mel Young
Westminster, CA | | Bill, skybaby1=comcast.net, 24.02.2009 does it come in a kit form..???? |
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Do you have any comments about this aircraft ?
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FACTS AND FIGURES© The K-7 was one of the
first metal aircraft with a
twin-boom layout. © As originally designed the
K-7 was to have engines in
the undercarriage sponsons.
As completed the bomber
had gun positions, the bomb
load and an internal staircase
as well as two large wheels in
each massive sponson. © The K-7's control surfaces
were all deflected by the use
of large trim tab surfaces
mounted on struts. © The K-7 was said to have
had a pilot, 18 crew
members and one passenger
when it crashed, killing all
but five crew. It is not clear
what they all did, but no
doubt tending to the engines
was a full-time task.
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