Tupolev I-12

The Tupolev I-12, also known as the ANT-23, was a prototype Soviet fighter that never reached production. It was an unconventional design: twin booms made of water pipes, each containing a recoilless rifle, and two engines in a push-pull arrangement with a tractor and a pusher propeller. It was armed with two 76.2 mm APK-4 recoilless rifles and powered by two 392 kW Gnome-Rhone 9Ak radial engines. It first flew in 1931 but did not enter production because of disappointing performance and operational difficulties, such as the pilot having no way to escape the aircraft without hitting the propeller arc behind him. A second prototype, the ANT-23bis, was never completed.