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A stunt pilot doing loops around the Soviet propaganda megaplane crashed into it, killing 45

Ellsworth Toohey
Jun 29, 2026
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Tupolev ANT-20 Maxim Gorky Soviet propaganda plane crash — nevermore / Public domain (via Wikipedia)

On May 18, 1935, the Maxim Gorky — the largest aircraft in the world, a Soviet eight-engine behemoth with a 63-meter wingspan roughly equal to a modern Boeing 747 — took off over Moscow alongside three smaller aircraft. The smaller planes were there to ma…

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