In the 1930s the leaders and the scientists of the Soviet armed forces were fascinated with the concept of creating huge planes. They were proposing to have as many propellers as possible to help carry these huge flying fortresses into the air; as at that time jet propulsion had not yet been implemented.
Not many photos were saved since that time, due to the high secrecy levels of such projects and because of the purges of Stalin and the subsequent difficulties of the war years. Still, in theses photos you can see one of these planes planes - a heavy bomber K-7.
Nowadays modern history lovers in Russia try to reconstruct the look of this incredible beast in full color, according the plans recovered from top-secret Russian army archives. This is one example based on ideas of Russian aviation engineers of that era.
These last series of illustrations depict the gigantic monster in conceptual combat against the experimental Nazi UFO - rumored to have been recovered by Allied scientists at the war's end and whisked away to Area 51 for future exploitation.
The concept isn't that far fetched considering the Maxim Gorky was actually in service until a drunk fighter pilot tried to loop around it and stuck his plane in it's wing.
ReplyDelete(the Maxim Gorky actually had offices in the wing roots)
Thanks Lots for posting the pics.
Umm... very interesting but I feel compelled to point out that the "...last series of illustrations depict the gigantic monster in conceptual combat against the experimental Nazi UFO..." does not show the same plane as was being described earlier until, perhaps, the final picture. The first two pictures are some other plane entirely. Note single vs. dual tails, for example.
ReplyDeleteKnuck-
ReplyDeleteDid you realize that these are not photographs, but rather 3D model generated art? The plane is different in almost every picture.
The Russian artists are amazing. I've seen 3D model CAD generated renderings of guns created by modelers, artists really, that are better than any photograph of a real piece, and these people never even held one. They do the work from photos and drawings, such is the state of modern mechanical engineering software (CAD).
These images look a lot like CAD models that have been rendered well. I wish I had time to make such cool planes. Thanks for posting this.
I don't see any inconsistency, KH. In the 2nd and 3rd illustration from last only the starboard fuselage is visible. The port fuselage is simply outside the left edge of the drawing. Hence, no obvious inconsistency. (Sorry if I'm not using the proper terminology, but you get the idea.)
ReplyDeleteFree Live Free - Gene Wolfe.
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