&host=www.rt.com&uri=/news/prime-time/plane-maxim-gorky-crashes/&via=1.1 8.26.207.11:80 (Footprint 4.8/FPMCP)&ua=CCBot/1.0 (+http://www.commoncrawl.org/bot.html))
Infamous past of luxury Soviet airliner
Published: 18 May, 2010, 21:02
Edited: 19 July, 2010, 04:55
TAGS: Russia, Accident, Vehicles, Prime Time Russia
The largest Soviet plane in its time, the "Maxim Gorky" had its own library and individual lounge rooms on board. However, the fabulous luxury ended in disaster.
Developed in the early 1930s, the plane “Tupolev ANT-20”, more commonly known as the "Maxim Gorky", remains one of the largest aircraft ever to fly.
This monster of flight led the way for many safety features of modern aviation such as the auto-pilot, as well as providing a level of luxury onboard that was unheard of at the time. The resulting rigid and tough construction was quite enough for the speeds those machines were capable of – 250-300 kilometers per hour. This is confirmed by the fact that in Germany, planes based on the Tupolev design remained in service even after the war.
Read more about Andrey Tupolev on Russiapedia
In that period, manufacturers did their best to create larger and larger planes in an attempt to dominate the commercial and military markets. However, the airliner “Bristol Brabazon” was an expensive failure in Britain, and in the US Howard Hughes' “Hurricane,” or “Spruce Goose”, cost the tycoon his reputation as an industry leader.
Unfortunately, “Maxim Gorky” is also best remembered for a tragic crash that took place on this day 75 years ago.
While flying in formation with two other aircraft on May 18, 1935, an aerial stunt went badly wrong and one of the smaller planes collided with the “Maxim Gorky”. All on board both aircraft were killed.
The 10 person crew and 37 passengers on the “Maxim Gorky”, as well the pilot of the other plane, were given a state funeral at Novodevichy cemetery.
Igor Melnikov was just a small child when the accident happened close to his home.
“We boys rushed to the crash site as soon as the word spread,” Melnikov recalls. “We sneaked through the cordon and started picking up pieces of the wreckage. I got a bit of the plane that had hit the ‘Maxim Gorky’.”
That was not where Melnikov’s links with the tale of this plane crash ended. Some years later he married the daughter of Nikolay Blagin, who had been flying the plane which caused the accident.
“When I was discharged from the army, I met a girl while waiting at a trolley bus stop. Later we married. She was Blagin's daughter,” Melnikov told RT.
Although Blagin was blamed for the crash by the authorities, Melnikov believes that such claims are reckless and unfair. He says that Blagin has been made a scapegoat.
“When the accident happened, opinions among pilots were divided: some stuck with the party line, believing Blagin to be to blame, while others looked at the other possibilities, like the strength of the wind that day. I have a view of my own. I know the whole story,” Melnikov said.
17.05.2010, 21:22
North Caucasus to rival the AlpsNearly $15 billion will be allocated to an ambitious project aimed at boosting ski tourism in the Northern Caucasus, according to Russian government plans. |
18.05.2010, 22:18
25% Russian computer retail raise Jolly Roger on Microsoft software licensesMystery shoppers from Microsoft have held a series of checks across the country to reveal stores which offer bootlegged software. The results proved worrying. |
Howard Hughes' plane the "Hurcles" was also know as the "Spruce Goose" in reference to the wood it was made out of because of the wartime shortage of aluminum. It was designed for the sole purpose of bypassing the Nazi U-Boats which were denying supplies to the Allies. Had the US not been succesful in countering the U-Baot menace these airplanes might have been making trips with supplies for the Soviet Unoin from the west caost of America to the Soviet far east, an extremely hazardous trip made by the US Merchant Marines to Murmansk at a huge cost in mens lives, lost ships and materials. The "Spruce Goose was not needed in the end because of the successes of the British and American navies. The heroic struggle of the Soviet peoples against the Fascist was greatly aided by Americas war production and the sacrafice of her sailors to deliver the war materials in spite of horific losses. This is a chapter of Soviet history that has been overlooked for to long as it was hidden by Stalins propaganda ministry to denty the west any positive role in the war against tyrany.
June 17, 2010, 06:58, Ira wrote > Howard Hughes' plane the "Hurcles" was also know as the "Spruce Goose" in reference to the wood it was made out of because of the wartime shortage of aluminum. It was designed for the sole purpose of bypassing the Nazi U-Boats which were denying supplies to the Allies. Had the US not been succesful in countering the U-Baot menace these airplanes might have been making trips with supplies for the Soviet Unoin from the west caost of America to the Soviet far east, an extremely hazardous trip made by the US Merchant Marines to Murmansk at a huge cost in mens lives, lost ships and materials. The "Spruce Goose was not needed in the end because of the successes of the British and American navies. The heroic struggle of the Soviet peoples against the Fascist was greatly aided by Americas war production and the sacrafice of her sailors to deliver the war materials in spite of horific losses. This is a chapter of Soviet history that has been overlooked for to long as it was hidden by Stalins propaganda ministry to denty the west any positive role in the war against tyrany. Comrade Ira, Please do NOT try and tell us Russian Imperialist that the USA had anything to do with Worl War II! This is nothing but extreme nonsense! The Americans did not participate at all in World War II except to drop two atomic bombs on innocent people while the Soviet Union freed the world single handily of Facism!