Pin made in Soviet Russia. The pin shows the Tupolev ANT-20. The text on the pin reads:”The world’s largest all-metal cantilever monoplane″ and “Agitation plane Maxim Gorki”.
The Tupolev ANT-20 Maxim Gorky was a Soviet eight-engine aircraft, the largest in the world during the 1930s. Its wingspan was similar to that of a modern Boeing 747.
The ANT-20 was designed by Andrei Tupolev, using German engineer Hugo Junkers’ original all-metal aircraft design techniques from 1918. It was constructed between 4 July 1933 and 3 April 1934, and was one of two aircraft of its kind built by the Soviets. The aircraft was named after Maxim Gorky and dedicated to the 40th anniversary of his literary and public activities.
The Maxim Gorky was meant as the flagship of the Maxim Gorky propaganda squadron which flew around the Soviet Union promoting the aims and achievements of Soviet Communism. For this purpose, it was equipped with a powerful radio set known as the “Voice from the sky”, printing machinery, a library, radio broadcasting equipment, a photographic laboratory and a film projector with sound for showing films in flight. In a first in aviation the aircraft was equipped with a ladder which would fold on itself to become part of the floor.