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    Aerofax Tupolev TU 95 142

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    Tupolev Tu-95/-142 ‘Bear’ Russia’s Intercontinental-Range Heavy Bomber Yetim Gordon and Viadimir Rigmant ROR, Tupolev Tu-95/-142 ‘Bear’ Russia’s Intercontinental-Range Heavy Bomber Yefim Gordon and Vladimir Rigmant Edited by Jay Miller PORK ‘Tupolev Tu-05)-142 © 1997 Yetm Gocaon ISON 1 as7a0 046 x Publ by Mictané Publishing Limited Lolester,LE9 7NA, England Tol: 01455 847 815 Fax: 01455 841 805, mal: midlandbocks@compuserv.com United States trade cstibution by Specelty Press Pubishers & Wholesalers Inc 11481 Kost Dam Road, North Branch, tN 55056 Tel 612 503.3259 Fax: 612 583 2025 Tol re telephone: 00 895 4585, Al rights reserved. No pat his publcation may ‘be reproduced, etored in a rtieval syst, trans: ited in any form o¢ by any means, elecronc, ‘mectnical or ahoto coped, recorded or otherwise, without the writen permission ofthe publishes, Tie page: Tw-95RTs on Atlantic patrot during the mid-1870s. Jay Miler collection elon” An early production Tu-95 escorted by four MIG-18s during the Tushino Airshow of 4056. Yofn Gordon ealeeion besign concept and layout © 1997 Motard Pubishing Limited and Jay Miter Ealted by Jay Miler Printed in Englans by Ctoarpoint Colour Limite Daybrook, Notingham, NOS HD -Rerofa isan imprint of Micland Pubishing Limited ‘The publishers wh fo thank the following for thelr cortbtions fo this book Sergei Agavelyra; Tom Copelans: Reuben ‘Jhneon; Tony Lanci; Pavol Mikhailov; Susan Milor; Margata K: Ooeryshava; Chis Pocock an Alewander ‘Sasha’ Velovich Select pholograchs trom the Jay Mile: Collection ‘appear courtesy ofthe Aerospace Education Center ‘Lite Rock, Arkansas, Contents Intreduetion 8 ‘Acronyms and Abbreviations 4] Chapters 1 Genesis 5 ‘Bear Colour Photo Portolio. 17 2 The ‘Bea’ Flies 2% 3. ‘Bear Versions a1 4 Tu-t425 and other Tu-958 5 5 TUS & Tu-42 in Detal @ 6 Drawings 110 Index 28 Cppaste page top: A TwSBRTs photographed by US Navy Itrcepors during artnet Survllance mission. ier eateson | Opposite page bottom: Tu-95a, such ‘TUOSRTe were routinely photogs US Cold War tet exercises. Jay Mier colacton my earliest days as an aviation enthusiast jwiterto the present, |can think of no other that has loft on me a more striking im- Of Invincibity than Tupolev’'s ay turboshaft powered Tu-95 bomber. "Mfst remember seeing crudely-drawn im- ofthistaniasticaircraftas early asthe mid- ‘and decidedly soft photographs taken fy-overs ofTushino and Moscow shorty |withits enigmatic nature, its obviously ome capabilties, and the fact that it bore ‘lars! on iis wings and vertcal tall, the jllts development history, its operational ;andits stunning performance becamea personal pursuit tat on more than a ot truton. inmy wildest creams during the 1950s that, forty years later, | would be perspective... warts and all. Thanks 5 penchant for accuracy and his impressive abilty to uncover rare and ‘unpublished photographs, we now ave auly worthy history of what the west has gmsto know altoo well as the ‘Bear’ bomber. Jina post-Great Patriotic War era that at stil was heavily under the influence of dictator Joseph Stalin, the ‘Bear’ was ct benelactor of Bosing B-29 technol d to the Soviet Union purely by Introduction accident. As a result of wartime exigencies ome to rest in @ Country that was decades behind its western Ccounterpars in its ability to construct, produce, and field a long-range heavy weapons delivery platform, Nothing fying in Russia at the time of, the frst B-29's inauspicious arrival was motely on-par with the big and very capabley American combatant, The opportunity to roplicato en-masse the B.29's powerplant, materials, aorodynamics, landing gear, remotely-controlled turrets, and structural design techniques was not loston the war-torn Russian aviation community The Tupolev Design Bureau ~ and others — were auick to leap trog an evolutionary learning curve that had taken US engineering teame decades to build. Almost at the drop of a hat, the bureaux were able to skip thousands upon thousands of enginee hours. And it's impossible to estimate what Russia was saved in the way of fight test arena blood, sweat, andtears. What follows, then, isthe history of one of the world's most amazing aircrat. Its genesis anc Cperational career, from the early 1940s to the presont, is a captivating story... and ono the ‘west has aspired to know for over four decades. Thanks to Yefim Gordon, we now have that op: portunity, twla-and-error man Jay Miller Editor ccs comin ° cod os oc. com Eom EUNT FUR onz Acronyms and Abbreviations vation ongine lg {Lang-ange bomber force of W'S HSI ‘Automate Drocton Finder HUD large reconnalssance cameras Angle ot tack accessory gearbox ‘aly Boome Unit ret convo radar [Ar Standards Co-ordinating Commits, ‘located reporting names to WasPac ‘ype, 09 Bea, Blinder chatitare alspensers ‘nth Submarin Warfare ‘Bomber regiment Central Aerocynamics and Hysrodynamics Insti (oe rlered to.a6 TEAG! i ha west) Cental Constucton Bureau (often efor to a8 the T=KBSIn the wes) enter of gravity ‘Central itt of Avion Motors (otter rforedto as he TAM inthe NIT nest) KAP CommuricaonsIneigence NKVD comer of pressure NPO| ‘onatant speed crve fnaine longrange bomber svaionbecare the OKB ADD PD. tongsange bomber PD sire error. br ‘Secronie counte-counternessures PRP ‘eleckonic countormeasures vo ‘lectroni imetigancs R ‘lsctroropticl a Electronic Warts RO. forwardiboking iared AWA fight retveling ‘san stato anaton factory sho igh frequency hotzontalstustion indicator hhead-up display indesied atopood itenteston Pend of oe instrument landing system inertial navigation eytom oraec Conetructeridesgn bureau rag ratio teading edge Flight Research inettto fying lsbortory low pressure mean aeredynamc chord Moscow Avion lsttuts Mins of vation inctry rai landing geat Martine Reconnaissance ‘maximum toot weight Myasiachey Design Bureau ‘general orm fr Scene Tot iste ‘State commissaral for aviation ngusty Fsi‘s soot poco auehino-Promadtvornoye Cbyedinyenyo (Sciontfc Production Union) Experimental Doign Bureau ston engine pulse Doppler pulse recurence frequency Protective Ar Dene (ended 1983) reconnaissance ystengine turbojet engine racer waering reciver shat horseponer st 0a ove! SST Superson transport heavy bomber Teo tne between oversauls te ‘raing edge * turbo supercharger TRO turbojet engine TROD twin spocltwo-shat urbojet w ‘Tupolev Design Bureau w turboshat ncn TVD turooshatiturboorop engine TwRDD turbofan engine HF utrasigh requeney VFS variablepiten propeter VHF very high frequency Vish —_constantspeed proposer VUF very low tequency VOR VF onridrectonal range PSh ——_faed pten propel: USSIAN LANGUAGEAND TRAMGLTERATION ‘rp ane soca Caney’ Sivene geupee, hel Foshan wie ussar end iweran Aswad ves he ye Sena anh itcr lrg based upon hel spe eo ‘Te anguage ponete "rouneed as wen SewTeratmaosy lteresaebrenns ran seal ‘Sagas ianguge oi ery ota ‘Recuran, ssun Warde Mo be Wralo trough prorat rm o Eris wd ths can od ore mae ‘tian ender ponoc nate ose ses Evel aren taoe carson he, aber ‘Stiecowtrcy tert xpalng oar cai "hw 20m tar fe Renata os runners rononced ase U ante i This (setts uannctms Yi wo sake cope Faget) meses qoosesampinarhe oro rete al Wiomecrcc ae setarestom te pa recczmeral Seeregurgiscs oven er ney a Tra a ‘Soulmates sppouranrgtoan Conse ‘TUPOLEY BUREAU NO & ASCO KEY Beach! TUS, TUG6M Tah, TuOSMA,T 8 ear B’ —TW95K TUK, T8540 see Tee use Toten Toe ‘aeaer —— Raporig ram rt aocated eens ost Lote NATO's Alr Standards Co-ordinating Commitee (ASCC) gave the reporting name ‘Beer {othe Tu-95-142 family. Tw 95KM ‘Bear strated. Yelm Goro During 1943, as a result of information acquired through Russian espionage agent ‘lays Fuchs - who had successfully pene fed the secrecy surrounding the American ‘nuclear weapons program - the Soviet Government elected 10 begin work on a ‘Auclear weapon program of their own. General ‘conti supervision of the effort was entrust ‘to | Kurchatov. Concurrently, NKVD Chief L PBeriya was askod to serve as director ofall Soviet atomic programs. Consequent to ths, the Fussian armament industry complex, a massive collection of facilites that had result fd from ‘The Grest Patriotic War' (as the Russians usually refer to the Second World War) was brought into the development con- Sorlum, Unlimited capital was provided for esearch and production. he nuclear weapon program thrust was ‘defined thus: to create and test the frst Soviet ‘lomic bomb in a short period of time with the ‘bjectve of countering what alroady was ‘beng porcsived as a major postwar throat ‘fom the west. Though development of the nuclear weapon was of primary concer, how to deliv- ‘exthat weapon to a target ~ once it wes suc- fessluly tested and manufactured - quickly ‘sufaced as a major secondary concer, ‘Long Range Aviation in Russia, which effec- {ely came ino existence during 1942, had ‘not been created initially to address the issue ‘of weapon delivery over intercontinental (Chapter One Genesis ranges. At the time, mission objectives were ‘considerably more conservative, particulary in light of the fact that Nazi Germany ~ less than a few hundred miles distant ~ was the primary target Following the war, 2 reassessment of long range military aircraft requirements led to the decision to place more emphasis on bomber development. At the time, the long range branch ofthe Soviet air arm consisted of 1,839 aircraft. The most potent of these were thity- two Petiyakoy Pe-8 fourengine bombers ‘marginally referred to as ‘heavies! ‘Thate also were a similar number of retu bished American-built Boeing B-17s and Consolidated 8-24s. These had landed in Russia as a result of navigation errors, power: plant failures, enemy action, and other similar dificuties and had been absorbed wath ite lequivocation by the Russian Air Force, _ Making up the rest of the Soviet bomber fiest were outdated llyushin IL4s mocified to serve in the night bomber role and a motioy collection of Lisunoy Li-2s (license-built Douglas 00-35) and North American B-25s that had been acquired during the course of the American Lend-Lease program of the ‘Second World War. Not one of these aircratt could effectively serve as a long-range bomber when pitted against contemporary fighter forces. None hhad the range to serve as an intercontinental weapon delvery platform, prototype Tu-95 (95-1) with its orginal en Installation. This image deplcts a model of the prototype aircraft. Tupolev Betw: The bureau oh rat aircraft designer and design “Androl Tupolev. Tusciov The range requiromont, as itturmed out, was perhaps the most critical issue. Russia was ‘one of the world's largest countries in terms of land area, and the ability to fly from home bases to targets that under some circum stances wate thousands of miles cistant, was Paramount, to say the least Soviet military commanders did not have difficulty envisioning a scenario wherein US Intercontinental range bombers ~ already extant in the form of the Boeing B-29 in the ‘mid-1940s — could hold Russia hostage. it became apparent that the only way to counter this threat was to develop an indigenous long: range heavy bomber force with similar capa bility. A radius of action of 3,000 to 4,000km (1,888 to 2,484 miles) was required to pose any kind of threat to the Americas. Secondary to range, the bomiber also would have to be reasonably fast to complicate fight: fr intercepts, have an exceptional weight it ing abilty in consideration ofthe first-genera- tion nature of a crude nuclear weapon, and be adequately armed for selt-protection ‘Tho Beginning During 1944 two Soviet aeronautical design bureaus (one under AN Tupolev's supervision and the other under the supervision of V M Myasischev) were tasked with preliminary con ‘iguration studies that would eventually lead to the design and development of a full-scale Intercontinental range heavy bomber. The two bureaux were instructed to observe the suc: cesses enjoyed by Boeing's devastatingly efective 8-29 Superforitess which already had begun to wreak havoc on the Japanese main: land and had succeaded in operating routine. ly in the Pacific Theater of Operation while fly ing safely over thousands of miles of wide: ‘open ocean. VM Myasischevs design bureau prepared two project studies. The resulting designs, raforred to as the '202" and the '302' were both four-engine bombers. Though dittering primar- ity in the form of propulsion utized they were ‘also somewhat similar in that the B-29 served as the'r basic design model Concurrently, during 1944, Design Bureau No. 156, supervised by AN Tupolev also had begun work on their ‘64’ bomber project. Though similar in size to the Patlyakov Pos, the now aircraft weighed almost twice as much. The ‘64 thus was a very heavy four- engine bomber combat load was in the vicini- ty of 4,537kg (10,0001b), and range while car- rying this load was estimated to be betwaen 3,000 and 4,000km (1,863 and 2,484 miles) Emulating the 8-29, the project “64 alrorat was given a very heavy defensive armament that incorporated the same tactical and techni cal specifications of Boeing's Superfortress. In some instanoes, this armament superseded that of the 8-29 In coverage and capabilty. ae ss Se Nae Nf YL ‘Above: The first prototype Tupoley Tu-4, This ‘aircraft eventually was given the NATO ‘Codename of Bull. atm Gorcon collection Below The second production Tu-4 probably photographed at Zhukovsky. ‘Yeu Gordon eotacton ‘Opposite page top: The standard production Tu-é was decidely dificult to diferentiate from is US progenitor. Tupoiey OkS ‘Oppoete page batiom: The first production Tu-4, "No. 0103, following an emergency landing during the course of initia Might trials, Tupoiev OnE Though design of the '202', "202, and ‘64’ progressed rapialy anc with title ifculty, the. exigencies of the on-going war prevented int ation of construction. The difficulties lay not so_ much with technology, but rather with the. searcily of strategic materials, Not surprisingly, Stain managed to keep. himself apprised of events and advances in both Russian and foreign aviation, Though not 4 specialist in the field, he was nevertheless sufficiently knowledgeable to ask prying and revealing questions af his subordinates and to ‘make accurate assessments of hardware and strategies. When it became apparent tho Myasiscnoy ‘nd Tupolev teams were encountering devel ‘opment citfcuties with their new bomber designs, Stalin, along with the leaders ofthe National Aviation industry and the ommandersn-Chist of the Sovit Air Force, made a decision to reverse-engineer and pro- ce the Boeing 6-29. This acca, which deady had acguired considerable respect among Fussian aeronautical engineers. and the Russian millay, was considered an ideal Jong ange bombing platform. Most important Iy, was dotormined that with the propor Insights, might be possible to produce the aia in Fussia using availabe facites and personnel Fortuously, tree 6-298 had made emer- gency endings in the Soviet Far East during 1944 and were immediately interred by the Sovet ir Force. Within wooks of their artival they had been moved to Moscow for detailed fzaminaon and possible cisessembly. The American heavy bomber was copied in miraculously short period of time and was Immediately Introduced into mass production. Tho potty was s0 high, no experimental pro toype was bull fo fight toting Production of the Tupolev Tu-4 (NATO edenamed 'Bul) continued until 1953, by which tine no less than 4,100 aircraft had been completed. As a result of a successful rulear weapon development program, sever al Tu-4s ~ as TU-4As ~ eventually were modi fied to carry the Soviet Union's first ai-deliver able atomic bomb. These same aircraft also served to accommodate much of the atmos: pheric testing of Soviet nuclear weapons dur. ing the 19505. One Tu-4A dropped an atomic bomb at the Tozky proving ground during a rmiltary training exercise during September of 1964. At the time there was a huge number of infantry twoops and equipment on site, During the early to mid-1950s the Tu-dAs were the only ruclear-capable aircraft in the Sovist air force arsenal capable of reaching the US equipped military bases found at vari ‘ous points along the Soviet borders separat ing Russia from its European and Middle Eastern neighbors As it was, the Tu-4 proved to be a turning point for the Soviet aviation industy. ‘Accessing the Bosing 8-29 proved a major technological windiall and allowed the various bomber design bureaux, most notably Tupolev, to shorten a normally lengthy learn- ing curve into a matter of months, rather than years, This rather gjant leap forward would prove the foundation of all future Russian heavy bomber development and its fall-out would impact the history of the westem word, ‘The first Soviet atomic weapon was explod: fed during 1949 ...with extraordinary politica ‘and miltary repercussions across the globe. Production weapons were delivered to opera tional units within afew years of this event, and as a result, extraordinary emphasis was placed on developing a means for getting the new bom to a target. The target of greatest concer was, of course, the United States, some 6 400m (4,000 miles) distant. This was well beyond the range of the Tu-4A - particu larly when It was carying an overweight pay: load such as an atomic bomb. Only targets in Europe, North Aica, the Middle East, Japan and the Far East ware accessible, Atlempts to extend the Tut's range via infight refueling were modestly successful but litle emphasis was placed on developing the technology. Only six Tus eventually were modified to incorporate this capability: three were equipped as tankers and three as receivers. It was not until the advent of the Tupolev Tu-16, some years later that infight retucling became relatively commonplace in Pussia, Other stucies tackling the range-to:the-US requirement included the option of one-way missions. In the event of war, Tu-4s that were to attack the US would be flown to their target, ‘a bomb would be dropped, and the crew would then parachute from the aireratt once the aircraft iniliated its abbreviated return leg over the Allantic. A waiting submarine would then retrieve them for the return to Russia Concurrent with the one-way flight studies wore similar studies exploring the attributes of using the Tu-d in the stand-off carrier role. Remotely piloted vehicles launched from the Tu-4 would serve to deliver warheads 10 tar- {gets Like infight refueling, the initial RPV work ofthe early 1950s was only a preliminary step ‘and fullfledged Interest in the option was not Intaly sufcient to merit a more intense effort. Most of the on-going emphasis solving the range problem pursued the more convention al path of advanced bomber development ‘The objective was to develop a weapon trans- port that could span, with payload, the dis tance between Russia and the US and return preferably without having to be refueled ‘Once the Tu-4 had successfully entered Production, Tupolev began looking at devel- ‘oped versions to fil the role of stand-off missile carrier wth intercontinental range. These stud- les resulted In projects 471, 473, 474, and 485 (withthe frst wo numbers inclcating the year of otigin and the lattr indicating the specific project. All were developments of the original Tut, differing primarily in having more engines of greater horsepower, larger fuse- lages, greater wingspans, and increased oper- ating woiatts. For example, intercontinental bomber Projects 471 and 485 had six ASh-473 TK tur- boprop engines, wingspan increased to 56m (183.71), and the normal operating weight Increased to 86,207kg (190,000Ib). In ‘estingly, information about these two projects ‘slow Produetion Tu, No.2005710, aftr an arctic landing, Genradi Petioy collection Photographs onthe oppose page “op: A modiled Tu-4 earrying two prototype KS-1 cruise missiles, The latter appear to be ‘manned versions as frst used to verily project ability. Tupoiey OKB Fight and betow: The Tupoley Tu-4 was one of the first Russian alveraft to have inflight refueling capability. Only a select few Tu-ds were so ‘modified. Tupolev OK | somehow penetrated through the infamous ‘ron cutan’ and appeared in western aviation | jumals ofthe cay. The mysterious Russian bomber was rtertod to as tho “Tu-200' and ‘ated to be analogous to tho Convair 6-38. Work on the new bomber project was div ‘dnt vo stages. The frst explored the vari- 1918 nonTu-t options that would permit non- ‘ep ifercontnental range flight over cis- _ tnees of 20,000km (12,420 miles) or more. | The second expored taking the basic Tus “and enlarging It Into a dosign that would __aocommedato the rango and payload spacit- tation. Comparison chars utilizing a variety of __tnghne and aittame combinations wore drawn ‘oexplore the various options. The esuting studies showed that the pro- posed 20,0004 (12,420 mites) range speci fed forthe new bomber was not obtainable anges of om 15,000 to 16,000 km (9,315 to 4996 mies) wore, however, within the reaim of eeabily. In order to meet tis spectication, ‘he wing aoa for the airrat would have to bo "om 200 1 340,229 to 3,659 ff) and the Iakeof rl at gross weight would have to be ‘40m 2500 to 4,160m 6,200 to 13,645!) Sexond.ganeraton studies included explor- Ing optons other than muttiple engine aircrat thimmonce size and weight. Instead designs fancentated on fourengine aircraft capable 1 peorming the long-range heavy bomber Auction. These, in turn, served as a basis for ‘ur supertong-range designs that could be Aevloped based on the original aicrat with- ft majr mociication, These diverse studies of diferent conigura- fons utlzing a varety of engine options led to "fhe design bureaux’ conclusions that the new feat should use the manufacturing and "sin experience that had evolved trom the tmantactre of the Tu-4. It was proposed two, that the new long-range bomber shoud be based on the Tu fuselage but mated to @ new wing of increased area (200 m/2,1538') utilizing a low-drag_ airfoil Additionally, new and more powerful engines ‘would replace the originals. The alreraf would benefit from an increased fuel capacity, an increased bomd load, and improved aerody- ‘The ist aircraft to incorporate the proposed improverents to the Tu-4 was the Tupolev bomber ‘80’, or Tu80, This was a severely redesigned Tu-4 with increased takeoff weight and significantly improved range. It represent ed an indigenous evolutionary development of the Tu-4 along the lines of Boeing's 8-50 and the B-29, but emphasized specific Russian Air Force and environmontal requirements. The now aircraft eliminated many of the Tu-4's more overt failings while at the same time improving aerodynamics and increasing etensive armament options. Fuel capacity of the Tu-80 was increased by 15% over that of the Tu-4, This was accom: plished by increasing the span of the wing ‘center section and improving the size and location of the integral wing fuel tanks. New engines were installed as well, these being mounted with higher thrust lines, low- dag circular cowlings, and separate ventral oll cooling duets. ‘The Tu-80, which was 3m (9M 10in) longer than its predecessor, revised the Tu-4's cock: pit layout, as well, and positioned the majority of the crew in the forward section of the air- craft. The radio operator, for instance, was moved trom the center crew position tothe for- ‘ward. Both the navigator and bombardier were moved to the nose of the aircraft where they could have an excellent forward field of view. A new, conventional stepped windscreen arrangement solved the Tu-4’s problem of intemal reflections and associated visual dis- tortion. A pressurized communication tunnel was installed to permit crew access to the aft fuselage through the bomb bay. ‘Anew vertical tall, necessitated by the more owertul engines and increased wingspan, replaced the original Tu-4 design. Armament included modified Tu-4style gun turrets (Le., remotely controlled) positioned low at their mounting points to reduce drag, and a Cobalt radar system — mounted under the nose inside a dielectric airing - to assist the bombardior in locating targets. ‘Acrodynamically, the Tu-80 was somewhat cleaner than the Tu-4, The former, with a drag ‘coefficient of 18, compared quite favorably to the former with a drag coefficient of 17 Engine performance also was improved. The 1Boylinder ASh-73TKFN radial utilized was capable of 2,026KW (2,720np) at sea level and 1,758KW (2,260hp) at altituce (the ‘ASh-73TKEN with fuel injection was more eco- ‘nomical to operate than the earlier ASh-73TK) New, more efficient propellers also were devel oped to more efticiently utlize the ASh. ‘TSTKFN's power. ‘These structural, mechanical, and aerody- namic improvements resulted in the Tu-80 hhaving a range of 5,092 miles (8.200kr). This was an increase of 30% to 35% over that of the Tua, ‘These performance improvements, unfortu nately, were not enough to merit Tu-80 pro- duction. While its development had been on- ‘going at Tupolev, additional performance had been doomed possible and more advanced designs thus had begun to come to fruition. ‘The Tu-80 successfuly completed its flight tr als — initiated upon its first fight on tst December 1949 - but was quickly relegated to flight test work on behalf of forthcoming bombers of considerably more capabilty In fact, work on the Tu-80's successor, the 10 Lett Several MIG-18s were modified by the Mic ‘design bureau to incorporate a probe system {or inflight retueling via Tu-é tanker. ‘Tupolev Ox Bolow lott The prototype Tupolev Tu-80, ‘probably during fight testing at Zhukovshy. Tupolev OX8 Bottom and next page bottom: The prototype '85' bomber by Tupolev, had advanced ra ly even in light of the successes enjoyed the earlier design. When completed, the T proved to be an even more capable wea delivery platform, Ultilzing the technolog advances genorated undor the Tu-80 ume Ja, itbecame the true forerunner tothe ut development of the series, the Tu-95. Construction ofthe first Tu-85 was led during September of 1950 and the ‘made its frst fight on Sth January 1951. F tests quickly veriied Tupolev’s performs predictions. The 24-oylinder Dobrynin VE tengines, generating some 2,980kW (4,300 teach, proved more than suffcient to gh aircraft the speed and range required for bombing mission. During one test fight, bomber flow a 12,018km (7,463 rites) sion and reached a maximum speed {638 kmin at 10,000m (396 mph at 92,8008 The Tu-85's normal bomb load was 5 kg (11,020). Maximum bomb load over ranges was 18,000kg (39,672Ib). Two rate bomb bays were provided with one tioned ahead of the wing center section Cone aft. The largest single bomb that could carried weighed 9,000kg (19,8361b). ‘The successes enjoyed by the Tu-85 du the course of its fight test program gave Tupolev bureau and other concerned ent the impression that their long range aspirations had been achieved. The met its range and payload requirements out ditficulty. It was predicted it could, i ‘essary, reach and bomb the US mainland’ only modest etfort. Production plans were tiated and a production facility was picked! accommodate manufacture. Just as production plans were reat fruition, inteligence studies of US antt-ar gs and ‘ighter.interceptor develop- Indicated that a bomber powered by engines would have a dificult ‘surviving. Reduced to the lowest com- denominator, t was apparent the Tu-85 sow for the strategic bombing mis the postSecond World War environ- nt. twould be a siting duck for advanced arequipped, supersonic interceptors such then under development in the US. 9 this conclusion was the rela- yabllty of US bombers to North /MIG-165. The limited successes of the ‘during the course of the Korean War, 1952 was serving asa testing ground inUS and Russian aviation tech- ‘had nat gone unnoticed by the major ating combatants. Though the US had curtaled the development of Powered by reciprocating engines, ‘War served to justty expeditious oftheir jet powered successors. enormous Convair 6-36, the last § intercontinental bomber to be pri= by reciprocating engines, was impacted. Production was limited to 400 alrcrat g the development of bombers in the Soviet miltary quickly concluded ‘suitable candidates for a full-scale gn program and operational deploy- ‘The Tu85, lke its Tu-80 predecessor, and work on more advanced ‘powered elthar by turboprop engines were given highest print. “central importance was that theso 3, high-subsonic-speed-capable air- able fo cary the Soviet Union's ravie: stockpile of fst-generation atomic 1950, bureau chief VM Myasischev Id the Soviet miltary forces with ant create a strategic bomber wth a maxi of up to 850km/h (S90mph) and ‘of more then 13,000km (8,073 miles). ng initaive for this aircraft ~ pro- posed with four turbojet engines — had been fengina design bureau chiot A A Mikulin. Shorty afterwards the proposal was given manufacturing approval by the government. Myasishchey was directed to proceed as rapidly as possible. ‘The new bomiber would have to be capable of carrying a 4,537kg (10,000) atomic Bomb non-stop to the continental US and return. A heavy defensive armament would offset any

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