Pardeep
๑۩۩๑┼●ℛŐŶ
For a few thousand years the biggest things in the skies were only in our imaginations, flying figments of myth and fable: the Roc from Sinbad’s tales, the Garuda bird from the Mahabharata, the Thunderbird from North America, the Brazilian Blue Crow, and other high-flying nightmares or soaring benevolent gods and spirits.
Sputtering, Creaking, Terrifying Monsters
The Wright Brothers are often given most of the recognition for the first powered flight but Gustave Whitehead, Alexander Feodorovich Mozhaiski, Clement Ader, and many others should get a share of the fame, too. Whoever is responsible, it wasn’t long before the skies were full of sputtering, creaking, and – for the most part – very unreliable aeronautical devices.
(futuristic art by Harry Grant Dart)
It took the first world war to change aircraft from a killing and maiming hobby for the rich to a killing and maiming war machine. War helped advance the science of flight and necessitated bigger planes.
One monster plane of that time was Igor Sikorsky's Ilya Murometz, a huge improvement over his legendary Russky Vitaz, the first four engine aircraft. But the Ilya Murometz didn't begin as a beast of the skies. Originally designed as a luxurious passenger liner featuring electric lighting, heat, a bathroom, and even a glass floor, the bomber must have been amusing as well as terrifying to its wealthy passengers.
(images credit: histarmar.com.ar)
Another iteration of such approach was Tupolev ANT-20 "Maxim Gorky":
And a really huge Russian monster plane from the early 1930s: Ka-7 (more info), named after engineer Kalinin, not the famous political figure.
(images via Modelist-Konstruktor, 1989)
Art and Elegance Between Wars
In the years between wars, airplanes kept getting bigger. Outrageous concepts like Norman Bel Geddes Airliner Number 4 appeared, featuring 9 decks of luxury hotel accommodation, bars and engine rooms:
It would sleep 606 passenger in comfort, easily bringing them across Atlantic. More images and info about Bel Geddes fantastic dream planes are here. It seems to be a logical development of 1910s British Airliner of the Future:
(image via)
Don't miss also this "Freak of the Month" concept from Modern Mechanics, 1931:
World's Biggest Airplanes
Sputtering, Creaking, Terrifying Monsters
The Wright Brothers are often given most of the recognition for the first powered flight but Gustave Whitehead, Alexander Feodorovich Mozhaiski, Clement Ader, and many others should get a share of the fame, too. Whoever is responsible, it wasn’t long before the skies were full of sputtering, creaking, and – for the most part – very unreliable aeronautical devices.
(futuristic art by Harry Grant Dart)
It took the first world war to change aircraft from a killing and maiming hobby for the rich to a killing and maiming war machine. War helped advance the science of flight and necessitated bigger planes.
One monster plane of that time was Igor Sikorsky's Ilya Murometz, a huge improvement over his legendary Russky Vitaz, the first four engine aircraft. But the Ilya Murometz didn't begin as a beast of the skies. Originally designed as a luxurious passenger liner featuring electric lighting, heat, a bathroom, and even a glass floor, the bomber must have been amusing as well as terrifying to its wealthy passengers.
(images credit: histarmar.com.ar)
Another iteration of such approach was Tupolev ANT-20 "Maxim Gorky":
And a really huge Russian monster plane from the early 1930s: Ka-7 (more info), named after engineer Kalinin, not the famous political figure.
(images via Modelist-Konstruktor, 1989)
Art and Elegance Between Wars
In the years between wars, airplanes kept getting bigger. Outrageous concepts like Norman Bel Geddes Airliner Number 4 appeared, featuring 9 decks of luxury hotel accommodation, bars and engine rooms:
It would sleep 606 passenger in comfort, easily bringing them across Atlantic. More images and info about Bel Geddes fantastic dream planes are here. It seems to be a logical development of 1910s British Airliner of the Future:
(image via)
Don't miss also this "Freak of the Month" concept from Modern Mechanics, 1931: