"bob" wrote:
There is more information at:
http://www.aviamonuments.ru/planes/Rossiya/Taksimo
They call it an ???-7 with the onboard number ?11,
ANT-7 and Zh-11
and the monument is at
Taksimo, close to Lake Baikal.
It is one of those planes which in 30 years conducted air photography of
the
district with the purpose of researching the line of the future railway.
Thanks! This source put me on the trail of more information.
Apparently the ANT-7 design was a scaled-down version
of the ANT-4--Mitchell Holman called that one right. A
purpose-built aircraft may seem extravagant, but the Baikal-
Amur Mainline had an extravagant Hero-Project name and
reputation. (America's recent cold wave, which would be
known as a heat wave in Siberia, can give us some appreciation
of the conditions there.)
The photo on the Aviamonuments site makes it seem that
Zh-11 crashed, then was restored and put on display.
--Bill Thompson