The Tupolev Maxim Gorky" ANT-20 was possibly the first airplane specifically designed as a government propaganda tool, and the largest airplane in the world at the time. The ANT-20 (wingspan 207 feet, length 108 ft) carried a crew of eight plus 72 passengers.
In addition, the Maksim Gorkii was equipped with a film projection room, a photo lab, a 16-line telephone exchange, four radio transmitters, a printing press, a pneumatic tube mail distribution system, propaganda leaflet dispensers, loudspeakers to blare speeches and recordings to persons on the ground, and an incandescent light-matrix under the wings capable of displaying animated Stalinist slogans.
The first aircraft crashed on a demonstration flight, killing 23 crew and 40 passengers, when a fighter pilot (trying to loop around the wing) crashed into it. The crash and loss of life prompted an American newspaper to write a leader saying that aircraft had got to big and that such a large number of deaths in one accident were unacceptable to the public. A further 16 were built and went into service with Aeroflot.
It was later upgraded to/replaced by the ANT=20bis where the two dorsal engines were removed as the 6 wing engines were replaced with more powerful variants.
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