ANT-9 „Krokodil“ – the Soviet agitation plane

The first five-year plan of the USSR predicted a sharp increase in air transportation. Therefore, the design office, led by A. Tupolev and K. Kalinin, received the task of designing a passenger plane, that could replace the planes of foreign companies in the airlines of the Soviet Union. Two aircraft were designed at the same time and both - the all-metal 9-seater ANT-9 and the simpler 6-8-seater hybrid K-5 - were produced in 1929. The new ANT-9 passed the tests without any problems, during which pilots M. Gromov, I. Micheev and navigator I. Spirin successfully completed two difficult flights that year on the routes Moscow - Odesa - Sevastopol - Kiev - Moscow with the "Krylya Sovetov" (Soviet Wings) aircraft  and Moscow - Berlin - Paris - Rome - Marseille - London - Paris - Berlin - Warsaw - Moscow. In the same year the Civil Aviation Council made a decision to start serial production of the ANT-9. In the tires of the USSR in the 20th century, the thirties saw quite a few named aircraft. One of them is "Krokodil", which belonged to the joint Special Agitation Escadrille, named after M. Gorky. She started collecting money for the plane in October 1932 at the initiative of the magazine "Ogoniok". That collection was dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the writer's creative activity. The idea to build a propaganda plane for the magazine "Krokodil" originated in 1935. The editors began to collect funds for its production, but it was very slow. The outgoing editorial staff of the magazine worked at the "Sokol" paper factory for half a year, helping to overcome a very severe production decline. In the spring of 1935 the "Krokodil" propaganda plane was built, a serial PS-9-type plane, that was decorated with inscriptions and additional details, which made the nose of the plane resemble a crocodile head, which was painted on the front, with two jagged ridges, mounted on the back. In 1942 the plane was handed over to the "AEROFLOT" company, where it was registered under the designation СССР-Л125.

The model is of medium complexity, but requires a lot of work due to its rather large dimensions. But, when working under the supervision of a more experienced colleague, this model will stick perfectly even to a beginner modeler, who has made several models. There is just no need to hurry and it is advisable for beginners to make this model without the detailing of the cabin and passenger salon equipment and with opaque cabin glasses.