The Tupolev ANT-7, known by the VVS as the Tupolev R-6 ( R – ''razvedchik'' – reconnaissance), was a

reconnaissance aircraft A reconnaissance aircraft (colloquially, a spy plane) is a military aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence (including using Aerial photography, photography), signals ...

and escort fighter of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The R-6 traces its roots back to early 1928 when the

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

needed a long-range multirole aircraft. The requirements were that it could be used for long-range transport, defensive patrolling, reconnaissance, light bombing and torpedo attack.

Design and development

Under Ivan Pogosski and guided by

Andrei Tupolev Andrei Nikolayevich Tupolev (; – 23 December 1972) was a Russian and later Soviet aeronautical engineer known for his pioneering aircraft designs as the director of the Tupolev Design Bureau. Tupolev was an early pioneer of aeronautics i ...

TsAGI The Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (also (Zhukovsky) Central Institute of Aerodynamics, , TsAGI) is a Russian national research centre for aviation. It was founded in Moscow by Russian aviation pioneer Nikolai Yegorovich Zhukovsky on Decemb ...

developed the ANT-7 from the

Tupolev TB-1 The Tupolev TB-1 (development name ANT-4) was a Soviet Union, Soviet bomber aircraft, an angular monoplane that served as the backbone of the Soviet bomber force for many years, and was the first large all-metal aircraft built in the Soviet Unio ...

by scaling it down by about one third. Power for the ANT-7 was intended to be provided by two –

Hispano Suiza Hispano-Suiza () is a Spanish automotive company. It was founded in 1904 by Marc Birkigt and as an automobile manufacturer and eventually had several factories in Spain and France that produced luxury cars, aircraft engines, trucks and weapon ...

engines or

Bristol Jupiter The Bristol Jupiter is a British nine-cylinder single-row piston radial engine that was built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Originally designed late in World War I and known as the Cosmos Jupiter, a lengthy series of upgrades and developme ...

engines, but the prototype was powered by two –

BMW VI The BMW VI was a water-cooled V-12 aircraft engine built in Germany in the 1920s. It was one of the most important German aero engines in the years leading up to World War II, with thousands built. It was further developed as the BMW VII and ...

engines. The first flight of the ANT-7 took place on 11 September 1929, piloted by Mikhail Gromov. Flight tests started in March 1930 after TsAGi decided to postpone them until after the winter. That summer, the NII-VVS (''Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy Institut Voyenno-Vozdooshnykh Seel'' – air force scientific test institute) conducted state tests which revealed

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabilizer, is a small lift (force), lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters ...

buffeting, which was alleviated by fitting enlarged elevators. The next flight encountered radiator damage and an engine failure, but in spite of this, the ANT-7 passed the state acceptance tests.

Operational history

Production aircraft were designated R-6 by the Soviet Air Force. The first production aircraft was rolled off the GAZ-22, (GAZ – ''Gosudarstvenny Aviatsionnyy Zavod'' – state aviation plant/factory), assembly line in November 1931, a year after production started. Another 410 aircraft were made during the following three years: 385 at GAZ-22 in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

(one of these was the R-6 Limuzin), five at GAZ-31 in

Taganrog Taganrog (, ) is a port city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, on the north shore of Taganrog Bay in the Sea of Azov, several kilometers west of the mouth of the Don (river), Don River. It is in the Black Sea region. Population: Located at the site of a ...

(floatplanes designated KR-6P), and 20 more at GAZ-12 in

Komsomolsk-on-Amur Komsomolsk-on-Amur ( rus, Комсомольск-на-Амуре, r=Komsomolsk-na-Amure, p=kəmsɐˈmolʲsk nɐ‿ɐˈmurʲə) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located on the west bank of the Amur R ...

. The standard aircraft crew consisted of the pilot, gunner and observer and the aircraft was able to carry of bombs to a distance of up to . Some were built with floats as the MP-6, (also known as KR-6P), for maritime patrol duties. Another variant was the KR-6 (KR – ''Kreiser Razveyedchik'' – cruiser reconnaissance), which had two PV-2 machine guns and a second gunner, that was later relegated to training duties. By 1935, the R-6 was becoming obsolete, and several were transferred to

Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (, ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; , , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. Aeroflot is headquartered in the Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow, with its hub being Sheremetyevo Interna ...

and

Avia Arktika Aviaarktika was a Soviet airline which started operations on 1 September 1930 and was absorbed by Aeroflot on 3 January 1960. History Aviaarktika was the flying branch of the Department of Polar Aviation of Glavsevmorput. Its first head was Ma ...

, which used them to carry passengers and cargo in Siberia before the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

, designated PS-7-2M17 (the "2M17" showed that the aircraft were powered by two Mikulin M-17s), or as MP-6-2M17 if floats were attached.

Variants

;ANT-7:The OKB designation of the project and prototype, powered by two

V-12 engines. ;R-6:(R – ''Razvyedchik'' – reconnaissance) reconnaissance version, powered by two

Mikulin M-17F The Mikulin M-17 was a Soviet-licensed copy of the German BMW VI V-12 liquid-cooled aircraft piston engine, further developed by Alexander Mikulin and used by Soviet aircraft and tanks during World War II. Production began in 1930 and continued u ...

V-12 engines. first flight 1929, trials 1930. ;KR-6:(KR – ''Kreiser Razvyedchik'' – cruiser reconnaissance) escort fighter version 1934, powered by two

Mikulin M-17 The Mikulin M-17 was a Soviet-licensed copy of the German BMW VI V-12 liquid-cooled aircraft piston engine, further developed by Alexander Mikulin and used by Soviet aircraft and tanks during World War II. Production began in 1930 and continue ...

V-12 engines, fitted with two PV-2 machine guns and a second gunner. ;KR-6P:Alternative designation of the MR-6 floatplane version. ;MP-6 2M-17:(''Morskoj Paassazhirskii'' – seaplane passenger transport) Civil floatplane version, powered by two

V-12 engines.. ;PS-7 2M-17:(''Paassazhirskii'' – passenger transport) Civil transport version PS-7 2M-17, cargo and passenger transport, first versions open cockpit, one version enclosed. ;MR-6:(''Morskoj razvyedchik'' – maritime reconnaissance) R-6, torpedo bomber version, 1932. ;P-6:(''Paassazhirskii'' – passenger transport) Civil cargo and passenger transport version. ;R-6 Limuzin:Nine-seat civil transport version with a closed cockpit and a seven-seat cabin with glass windows and a luggage compartment. Powered by two

V-12 engines. First flown in July 1933, the sole R-6L crashed on 5 September 1933 as a result of a maintenance error. ;ANT-18:Ground attack version with two

Mikulin M-34 The Mikulin AM-34 (M-34) was a Soviet mass-produced, liquid-cooled, aircraft engine of domestic design. Its initial development was troubled, but it eventually became one of the most successful Soviet aircraft engines of the 1930s. It was utilized ...

engines, armor protection, and two dorsally-mounted machine guns.Gordon & Rigamant

Operators

;Military operators ; *

Soviet Naval Aviation Soviet Naval Aviation (AV-MF, ) was the naval aviation arm of the Soviet Navy. Origins The first naval aviation units in Russia were formed in 1912–1914 as a part of the Baltic Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet. During World War I, the hydro ...

;Civil operators ; *

*Avia Arktika

Specifications (R-6)

References

Bibliography

* Duffy, Paul & Kandalov, Andrei. (1996) ''Tupolev, The Man and His Aircraft''. Warrendale, Pennsylvania: Society of Automotive Engineers. * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tupolev Ant-7 1920s Soviet military reconnaissance aircraft ANT-07 Aircraft first flown in 1929 Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft