This  is amazing, how on earth did it ever get off the ground once let alone 11  times?

Looks  like something out of a Jules Verne novel.

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.

 

 

 

 

Here is an artical about the K-7.

 

The actual airplane did not have 8 inch gun mounts from a Heavy Cruiser, or most of the items shown in those wonderful pictures.

 

The color pictures seem more a result of some very long sessions at the Photo Shop screen.

 

This is not to say that the actual airplane was not the biggest thing in aviation then and for many years thereafter.

 

They blamed vibration from a 7th engine but the story suggests aerodynamic flutter, then not well understood as the failure mode. Some people actually survived the crash of the prototype. It was the first use of 4130 tubing used in Russia.

 

 

Lynn E. Hanover