'112' (Tu-112) supersonic tactical bomber (project)
At the end of 1954 the OKB embarked on the design of a supersonic twin-engined tactical bomber with a top speed in the order of Mach 1.7 to Mach 1.9 and the manufacturer's designation '112' (Tu-112). The main role of the aircraft was as a carrier for a battlefield nuclear weapon. In its first configuration the '112' resembled the '105' supersonic long-range bomber but was smaller and lighter. Draft studies prepared in the technical projects section were for a high-set swept-wing aircraft with swept tail surfaces and a bicycle undercarriage. The two AL-7F engines were mounted in the rear fuselage with their air intakes above the fuselage. Wings were aerodynamically clean, swept back 55°, with an aspect ratio of 3.2, a taper of 3 and a thickness/chord ratio of 7.2%. They were fitted with ailerons and two section flaps occupying 19% of the wing area. The sharply swept tail unit featured slab stabilisers without elevators and a relatively large fin which, too, was all-movable. Two layouts for the fuselage were drawn
up varying in where the fuel tankage was located; the 5,100kg fuel load was housed either entirely in the fuselage or partly in the wing centre section and outer wing section torsion boxes. The pilot and navigator/operator were seated in tandem in two separate pressurised cockpits. The navigator had no window and relied entirely on instruments.
An Initsiativa navigation/attack radar linked to the optical bomb sight was housed in the lower part of the fuselage nose. The centre and rear sections of the fuselage incorporated a capacious bomb bay capable of accommodating large bombs, including nuclear weapons. The bicycle undercarriage with wing outriggers was intended for operations from concrete runways. The nosewheel absorbed 23% of the load and the twin-wheel main gear unit 77%. In the course of work on the '112' project a comparative analysis was made of the bicycle undercarriage and a conventional tricycle undercarriage in which the legs retracted into wing housings. It was found that the former version was 300 kg lighter.
In May 1955 materials for a draft '112' project were prepared, but the idea went no further than discussions with the VVS which opted for a derivative of Yakovlev's Yak-25 twin-engined interceptor then in production as the Yak-26 and then the Yak-28 tactical bombers. Neither the '112' nor a lighter version of the '98A' (Tu-24) were therefore chosen for further development.
Tupolev post 1945 combat aircraft projects
