ikar Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Ever see one of these? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ross blackford Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 :D, This is one of the 2 Ant-26's built (from memory). This one is the first of the 2, the second had uprated engines and was able to make do with the 6 leading edge engines thus saving the weight of the 2 upper engines. These aircraft had an APU capable of supplying standard 230V AC power for running things like an outside movie theatre and a printing press (which could be operated while airborn) as well as its own internal telephone exchange. They were flown all over the USSR as part of the "Agitats Escadrille". Basically they were a tool of the central party propaganda machine and they would arrivce at a village or town, have a meal with the locals and then set up the outside big screen and show movies of both a political and non-political nature. At the end of the night the gear would be packed back into the aircraft and the crews would sleep aboard and in the morning after breakfast they would take off to the next destination. The fuselage of the second of these giants ended her days in a childrens' playground in Moscow during the GPW and was I believe scrapped after the war ended. Just as an aside the "air hoodlum's" name was Blagin and after this incident any form of hoodlum behaviour came to be known in the USSR as "Blaginism". , Ross. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MacStingy Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 Well thank you for that. I've seen those pictures around numerous times, but never before such an interesting explanation. Cheers Paul Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ross blackford Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 :D, No probs Paul, you're welcome mate. , Ross. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ross blackford Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 :D, Just a couple of other points about the aircraft themselves. The APU was also able to supply aircraft voltage, I guess in those days 12V DC and could be used to provide aircraft services and battery charging while the movies were being shown. Also I mentioned the weight of the 2 upper engines being saved on the second aircraft; I forgot about the extra drag of these and their pylons in my first post. , Ross. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Loach Driver Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 (edited) Scroll down the page in this link for photos of a model similar to the aircraft in the first thread. http://forum.ipmsireland.com/topic/8402976/1/ More photos here. http://www.ipmsireland.com/forum/yaf_postst756_ANT20-Maksim-Gorkiy.aspx LD. Edited March 6, 2015 by Loach Driver Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ross blackford Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 :D, I got the designation wrong too. Of course it's the first Ant-20. I wonder if that's Blagin's I-5 sitting next to it for that's what the "air hoodlum" was flying that day. , Ross. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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