Beriev Be-6

The Beriev Be-6, given the NATO reporting name Madge, was a flying boat produced by the Soviet Beriev design bureau for long-range maritime reconnaissance, coastal and supply line patrols, torpedo and bombing strikes, mine-laying and transport. It was a gull-winged aircraft of all-metal construction with twin oval vertical stabilizers on a deep fuselage, engines set into the bends of the wings and floats carried on underwing racks, each float divided into four watertight compartments. The Be-6 was built from 1949 to 1957 at Taganrog in 19 variants, 123 aircraft in all, and stayed in service until the late 1960s, some ending as unarmed civil transports in the Arctic. China flew them with its naval air force and re-engined several with turboprops as the Qing-6. A survivor is kept at the Ukraine State Aviation Museum in Kyiv.