Kalinin K-7

Heavy Bomber / Passenger Airliner Prototype [ 1933 ]

The sole-built Kalinin K-7 was cancelled in 1935, having completed some seven test flights during its short-lived career.

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 10/28/2018 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

GO TO SPECIFICATIONS [+]

Advertisements

Konstantin Kalinin (1889-1938) had forged his history in aviation as a Red Army pilot during the Russian Civil War (1918-1920). After the war, and having joined the Communist Party (1912-1991), he established a design bureau to continue his affair. Design work resulted in several aircraft of the post-war period, all bearing his name, and this stable included the Kalinin "K-4" and "K-5". The K-5 proved of particular note for it became the most-produced Soviet airliner during its time with some 260 built from 1929 onwards. From this work came about one of the most grand of the Kalinin designs in the mammoth "K-7" - intended for the military bomber role and as a passenger airliner. However, the design only ever remained as an experimental prototype and its future was put very much in doubt after Kalinin himself was executed during Stalin's senior level purges predating World War 2 (1939-1945).

The K-7 was a giant creation, even by modern standards, measuring a length of 91 feet, 10 inches with a wingspan of 173 feet, 11 inches and a height beyond 40 feet. When empty, the airframe weighed at 54,000lbs and this ballooned to 84,000lbs when loaded. Such a beast required no fewer than six engines and a seventh was later added (in a "pusher" configuration aft of the fuselage) when the aircraft required it. The engine types were Mikulin AM-34F 12-cylinder piston engine types, each outputting at 750 horsepower and driving two-bladed propellers. The arrangement allowed for a maximum speed of 140 miles per hour and a service ceiling of 13,125 feet.

Structurally, the aircraft was given a large-area, wide-spanning wing assembly which was noticeably rounded at the wingtips. The cockpit and main crew area were contained in a centralized nacelle which utilized heavy framing for good viewing. Three engine nacelles were buried at the wing leading edges, three installations to either side of the flight deck. Twin booms made up the aft-portion of the fuselage to which these were connected by a large horizontal plane mounted under and between two vertical stabilizers. The undercarriage was fixed within large fairings held under the forward section of the booms, under the wings, and these showcased huge landing wheels. A network of struts connected the gear equipment and fairings to the aircraft structure proper. The framework of the K-7 was completed as welded steel for the required tolerances. A standard operating crew became eleven personnel and the passenger version was slated to carry some 120 passengers in addition to cargo. The military version was envisioned with gun stations at the nose, ahead of each landing gear fairing and at positions midway along the tail booms. Armament was to include both machine guns and autocannons as well as an drop ordnance capacity of over 20,000lbs.

Construction of the K-7 began during 1931 at Kharkov (Ukraine) with a first flight recorded on August 11th, 1933. Two additional prototypes were contracted for. The K-7 would complete just over a handful of test flights during her short tenure aloft before suffering damage during a test in November of 1933. With advancing technologies to be found throughout the period (the K-7 certainly looked the part of obsolete design) and political conflicts within the Communist Party, the K-7 project was formally cancelled in 1935.©MilitaryFactory.com

Note: The above text is EXCLUSIVE to the site www.MilitaryFactory.com. It is the product of many hours of research and work made possible with the help of contributors, veterans, insiders, and topic specialists. If you happen upon this text anywhere else on the internet or in print, please let us know at MilitaryFactory AT gmail DOT com so that we may take appropriate action against the offender / offending site and continue to protect this original work.

Specifications

Service Year

1933

Origin

Soviet Union

Status

CANCELLED
Development Ended.

Crew

11

Production

1
UNITS

Kalinin - Soviet Union

(View other Aviaton-Related Manufacturers)

Soviet Union

(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)

✓ Ground Attack (Bombing, Strafing)
Ability to conduct aerial bombing of ground targets by way of (but not limited to) guns, bombs, missiles, rockets, and the like.

✓ Commercial Aviation
Used in roles serving the commercial aviation market, ferrying both passengers and goods over range.

✓ X-Plane (Developmental, Prototype, Technology Demonstrator)
Aircraft developed for the role of prototyping, technology demonstration, or research / data collection.

Length

91.9 ft
(28.00 m)

Width/Span

173.9 ft
(53.00 m)

Height

41.0 ft
(12.50 m)

Empty Wgt

53,793 lb
(24,400 kg)

MTOW

83,776 lb
(38,000 kg)

Wgt Diff

+29,983 lb
(+13,600 kg)

(Showcased structural values pertain to the base Kalinin K-7 production variant)

Installed: 7 x Mikulin AM-34F V-12 piston engines developing 750 horsepower each.

Max Speed

140 mph
(225 kph | 121 kts)

Ceiling

13,123 ft
(4,000 m | 2 mi)

♦ MACH Regime (Sonic)

Sub

Trans

Super

Hyper

HiHyper

ReEntry

♦

(Showcased performance specifications pertain to the base Kalinin K-7 production variant. Performance specifications showcased above are subject to environmental factors as well as aircraft configuration. Estimates are made when Real Data not available. Compare this aircraft entry against any other in our database or View aircraft by powerplant type)

None.

Supported Types

(Not all ordnance types may be represented in the showcase above)

K-7 Base Series Designation

Military lapel ribbon for Operation Allied Force

Military lapel ribbon for the Arab-Israeli War

Military lapel ribbon for the Battle of Britain

Military lapel ribbon for the Battle of Midway

Military lapel ribbon for the Berlin Airlift

Military lapel ribbon for the Cuban Missile Crisis

Military lapel ribbon for pioneering aircraft

Military lapel ribbon for the Falklands War

Military lapel ribbon for the French-Indochina War

Military lapel ribbon for the Golden Age of Flight

Military lapel ribbon for the 1991 Gulf War

Military lapel ribbon for the Indo-Pak Wars

Military lapel ribbon for the Iran-Iraq War

Military lapel ribbon for the Korean War

Military lapel ribbon for the 1982 Lebanon War

Military lapel ribbon for the Malayan Emergency

Military lapel ribbon representing modern aircraft

Military lapel ribbon for the attack on Pearl Harbor

Military lapel ribbon for the Six Day War

Military lapel ribbon for the Soviet-Afghan War

Military lapel ribbon for the Spanish Civil War

Military lapel ribbon for the Suez Crisis

Military lapel ribbon for the Ukranian-Russian War

Military lapel ribbon for the Vietnam War

Military lapel ribbon for Warsaw Pact of the Cold War-era

Military lapel ribbon for the WASP (WW2)

Military lapel ribbon for the World War 1

Military lapel ribbon for the World War 2

Military lapel ribbon for the Yom Kippur War

Military lapel ribbon for experimental x-plane aircraft

Ribbon graphics not necessarily indicative of actual historical campaign ribbons. Ribbons are clickable to their respective aerial campaigns / operations / aviation periods.

Images Gallery

1 / 1

Image courtesy of the Public Domain.