Western Artists' Concepts of Soviet aircraft during the Cold War

[F.L.]

...

Many thanks, I've been looking for this image for years !!!

 

[hesham]

From, Air Pictorial 1949.

 

[hesham]

From, Air Pictorial 1949.

 

[RAP]

Found on the internet, publication unknown. Unfortunately it is only the first part of the article, there were other pages but were not copied (that I could find).

 

[Justo Miranda]

Found on the internet, publication unknown. Unfortunately it is only the first part of the article, there were other pages but were not copied (that I could find).

Air Trails Magazine. June 1953.

 

[Justo Miranda]

- Russian Fakes​

At the beginning of the Cold War the Soviets adopted a policy of maximum secrecy to hide their technical inferiority. In 1947 the U.S. intelligence organization lacked the resources to penetrate the Soviet curtain of secrecy to collect information concerning military bases or atomic research sites far from Moscow.

According to the Air material Command's Intelligence Department, the 95 per cent of the information available on the new types of Soviet airplanes had been obtained during the annual Soviet Air Day Show.

During the Summer Aviation Day display at Thusino Airfield on 3 August 1947, the Soviets revealed the existence of six new types of jet fighters, including the Lavochkin La-160 prototype fitted with swept wings. The variety of unknown models caused some confusion among the journalists attending the event and it was the origin of a lucrative traffic of tricky photographs coming from East Germany that remained active until the early sixties.

The introduction of the MiG-15 in North Korea in August of 1950 was a bad surprise for the Western World and aviation specialists had the temptation to speculate what could be the next Soviet fighter.

Within this concept, in which the mystery and the lack of information about what happened at the other side of the Iron Curtain favored the curiosity of the western public.

All the airplanes and popular science magazines, as well as Jane’s military hardware books, carried stories of rumored Russian fighter that would replace the MiG-15.

Most of these rumors were related to disinformation tactics employed by both sides and the legend was perpetuated until the early sixties.

Certain information on the MiG I-320 coming from East Germany was filtered to the western press in 1951 and it was interpreted as the description of an advanced version of the well-known MiG-9 with side-by-side axial-flow turbojets, swept wing and tail surfaces.

In December 1951 Flying magazine published an illustration and a three-view drawing of the “Super-MiG/MiG-17” with a landing gear like that of the MiG-15, radar snout and four belly mounted cannon.

According to Flying the new fighter had been identified by USAF in Korea as "flat" MiG.

On February 16, 1953, American Aviation Magazine published an illustration coming from Associated Press Wirephoto depicting an operational "MiG-17" with No. 157.

On April 13, 1953, LIFE magazine publishes the schematic cutaway of a Soviet jet fighter that defines as “latest MiG model 17 with double jets, all weather radar, 50,000 ft. ceiling, 6,000 ft/min climb rate, 650 mph top speed, 15,000 lb. take-off weight and four belly mounted cannon”.

According to LIFE the “MiG-17” has not yet been used in Korea.

In June 1953, the Air Trails magazine published an article by James L. Pech entitled “Inside Story of the MiG-19” that included a three views drawing based on the one published by Flying, an illustration depicting an operational aircraft with the number 107 and a detailed cutaway.

According to Air Trails, the new Soviet fighter had been revealed in Tushino Air Show in summer of 1952 and was sighted in Korea in October.

The same information was published by Italian magazines Cielo (December 1953) and L’Ala D’Italia (April-May 1954).

The Air Trails article was widely circulated among modelers and aircraft enthusiast, prompting the model maker Paul Lindberg to release in 1954 the1/48 scale plastic kit Nº R521-79 called “Russian MiG-19”, engineered from drawings in Air Trails. In the 1955 and 1959 editions the denomination in the box art changed to “Russian Jet Fighter”.

This “Soviet fighter” became so popular that it was used in the cover color of Men in Action (September 1955).

According to an article by Jean-Claude Mermet published in Aéro Journal Nº 9 (October-November 1999), a three views black silhouettes of the "MiG-19" was included in L'Armee de L'Air aircraft identification chart of 1955.

In 1957 the Japanese manufacturer of model kits Bachmann launched the 1/200 scale version of the Air Trails fighter.

Ironically in 1963 the Soviet State Trading Company bought the Lindberg mold to produce the “MiG-19” kit in the Moscow City Council of National Economy-Factory of Metal and Plastic Toys.

According to an article by W.R. Matthews published in Flying Review (March 1964), for some extraordinary reason, possibly connected with the activities of Russian counterintelligence any reference to MiG OKB was omitted from the little leaflet which accompanies the kit. The fact that most of the information leaked to the West belonged to failed Soviet projects seems to support this theory.

 

[Justo Miranda]

Post-2

 

[Justo Miranda]

Post-3

 

[Justo Miranda]

Post-4

 

[Justo Miranda]

A few years ago I saw an American propaganda poster from the 40s/early 50s explaining the danger of the new Soviet fighter/rocket copied from the Me 163. Unfortunately, I've never found it again.
The drawing showed an Me-163 with the Red star on tail.

- Fake Yak-21

​

At the end of World War II, the Soviets continued the research on rocket-fighters using the material captured from the Germans. In September of 1947 the MiG I-270 made its first flight. It was a Soviet version of the German rocket fighter Messerschmitt Me 263, fitted with T-tail plane and straight wings. The confusing information available on this model was interpreted by Western analysts as a version of the Me 163 Komet which was given the arbitrary name of Yak-21.

In 1948 L'Ala D'Italia published an illustration with the text:"L’ultimo modello di Jakovlev, il quale evidentemente si è inspirato al Tedesco Me 163”.

On April 13, 1953, a cutaway was published in LIFE. The illustration depicted a Me 163 powered by a Walter 509 rocket.

In July 1952 the aircraft was described in InterAvia as "Jak-21 derived from the Me 163".

In March of 1955 Air Trails presented it as “Yak-21 rocket interceptor is an only slightly modified version of the original German Me 163. Chief difference appears to lie in the tail unit”.

In May 1979, Le Moniteur de l’Aeronautique speaks about the aircraft as the “Type 11”.

Between 1947 and the introduction of the NATO code names in 1955, the USAF assigned a number to all unknown Soviet plane. “Type 3” was the La-150, “Type 4” the La-152, “Type 6” the La-160 and “Type 11” the Mikoyan I-270 described as Yak-21 in Western publications.

To further complicate the identification, in March 1955 Air Power published a completely different illustration of a rocket plane very similar to the German Bachem Ba 349 Natter, designated “Yak-21” by the author of the article.

The same illustration was published in July 1955 by Popular Mechanics.

 

[hesham]

From Naval Aviation News 1955.

 

[Hood]

I'd be interested to see the other page with the Falcon on it (whatever that was).

 

[flateric]

...

 

[hesham]

From Boeing Magazine 1952.

 

[hesham]

From Naval Aviation News 1950,

here is a two of twin engined fighters for Lavochkin ?.

 

[Zizi6785]

From Naval Aviation News 1950,

here is a two of twin engined fighters for Lavochkin ?.

Su-9

 

[hesham]

Also from Naval Aviation News 1950

 

[hesham]

From several issues of Naval Aviation News.

 

[hesham]

From Interavia 1954.

 

[TsrJoe]

Flight International, 8 January 1983 (the code names snippet appeared in same issue, 'Hoop' being interesting as that had been previously used)

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

H

Flight International, 8 January 1983

HOOP, MANTIS and MAGNUM were all old hat in 1983, but maybe the codenames weren't public.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

I'd be interested to see the other page with the Falcon on it (whatever that was).

FALCON was the first codename for the MiG-15, replaced by FAGOT as FALCON was deemed too complimentary.

 

[Arjen]

HOOP, MANTIS and MAGNUM were all old hat in 1983, but maybe the codenames weren't public.

Yak-32 MANTIS featured in the Dutch 1962 edition of The Observer's Book of Aircraft, Yak-30 is mentioned as the two-seater trainer without mentioning its reporting name.
Ka-22 HOOP featured in VTOL-vliegtuigen by Bart van der Klauw, Uitgeverij De Alk 1967.

 

[hesham]

From, Rivista_marittima 1953.

 

[hesham]

From Air Force 1957.

 

[hesham]

From L'Air 1951,William Green as I think,who made the images

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

From L'Air 1951,William Green as I think,who made the images

William Green was a well known aviation author. He didn't make the images himself but the article is based on an article or book he wrote I imagine.

 

[hesham]

As I understand in the video,they thought it was M-4 Bison

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4FJgJCo2Sk

 

[TsrJoe]

From a current Ebay listing ...

 

[flateric]

As I understand in the video,they thought it was M-4 Bison

They who?

 

[hesham]

They who?

USAAF.

 

[flateric]

USAAF.

Wery inlinear conclusion. What make you think that art is "what USAF thought Bizon looks like"? What makes you think the picture has something to do with Soviet aircraft at all? They saw M-4 first in 1953 and only after that it got a designation.

 

[hesham]

Wery inlinear conclusion. What make you think that art is "what USAF thought Bizon looks like"? What makes you think the picture has something to do with Soviet aircraft at all? They saw M-4 first in 1953 and only after that it got a designation.

They heard about it from 1951,and as I said; that's only my understand from
the video.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

I have literally zero idea what is passing through your brain here, Hesham.

Its a video by a semi-serious Youtube channel, Dark Skies, on the F-108.

See disclamer:

As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Skies sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect and soundtracks for emotional impact. We do our best to keep it as visually accurate as possible.All content on Dark Skies is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas.

I just watched the video and this image is shown as part of a video clip played at 56 seconds of an artist creating artwork of a Curtiss-Wright looking fighter as the narrator talks about "the Rapier would take years to perfect". Nothing at all to do with the M-4 is said or implied.

The first mention of the M-4 BISON about 2 min 42 secs is accompanied by Tu-22M artwork for some reason, then footage of an M-4. This doesn't bode well for the accuracy of the video in general.

What any of this has to do with this topic is impossible to understand. Don't post stuff like this please.

 

[hesham]

I have literally zero idea what is passing through your brain here, Hesham.

Its a video by a semii-serious Youtube channel, Dark Skies, on the F-108.

See disclamer:



I just watched the video and this image is shown as part of a video clip played at 56 seconds of an artist creating artwork of a Curtiss-Wright looking fighter as the narrator talks about "the Rapier would take years to perfect". Nothing at all to do with the M-4 is said or implied.

The first mention of the M-4 BISON about 2 min 42 secs is accompanied by Tu-22M artwork for some reason, then footage of an M-4. This doesn't bode well for the accuracy of the video in general.

What any of this has to do with this topic is impossible to understand. Don't post stuff like this please.

OK my dear Paul,I thought wrong.

 

[F.L.]

AIM-152 concept art :

 

[Justo Miranda]

William Green was a well known aviation author. He didn't make the images himself but the article is based on an article or book he wrote I imagine.

When William Green published his book in 1961 it was very difficult to obtain photographs of some Soviet models and he was forced to use drawings.

 

[hesham]

Hi.

https://www.airplanesandrockets.com/magazines/air-trails/images/air-trails-february-1949-cover.jpg

 

[Justo Miranda]

Hi.

https://www.airplanesandrockets.com/magazines/air-trails/images/air-trails-february-1949-cover.jpg

Fake Undesignated fighter​

In 1948 y 1951 two illustrations of a new unknown jet fighter, with pointed nose and belly mounted turbojet, were published by L'Ala D'Italia. In November 1949 Flying published a different illustration of the same aircraft as “Undesignated fighter”. And in 1951 Air Trails published three views of the mysterious plane as “Unknown Interceptor”.

The origin of this fake fighter seems to be an error of interpretation of two photographs taken during the Air Show of 1947, apparently the illustrator mixed in a single drawing different characteristics of the La-156 with a side view of the Su-9.

 

[Justo Miranda]

Fake La-17​

On December 26, 1948, the experimental aircraft Lavochkin La-176 overcome the speed of sound.

The information was filtered to the Western press and in January 1949 Popular Mechanics published a speculative cutaway, which was very different from the La-176, with the description “New type turbojet fighter with side air intakes”.

The illustration had four nose mounted guns, semicircular air intakes mounted on both sides of the fuselage and a delta T-tail plane inspired by that of the MiG I-270 rocket prototype.

When the DFS 346-1 experimental rocket plane made its first flight on September 30, 1949, reports of the new supersonic prototype were confused with those of the La-176.

In November 1949 Flying published the illustration of a “Soviet Transonic Research Plane”, with 35-degree (at leading edge) swept wings and T-tail plane, described as “One of the Red’s most advanced planes, reconstructed from three authentic photos”.

At that time some photos of the MiG I-270 were already known, these were low-resolution images taken from a film about the flight tests of the I-270 J-1 and J-2 prototypes carried out in February and October 1947. They were taken at angles from which it was not possible to see that the planes lacked air intakes.

Most likely the third photo used by the Flying cartoonist was taken on December 29, 1948 during the flight tests of the British prototype Supermarine 510 (VV106), surely it was a deliberate fraud in which the photo was cut to prevent the British markings from being seen, leaving only the front of the fuselage with the air intakes and part of the swept wings.

In 1951 Air Trails published a three-view drawing based on Flying information, but with a tear drop canopy similar to that of the Lockheed P-80 located above the air intakes and a straight tailplane, described as “High-speed research jet plane”.

In February 1952 Ali Nuova published the same illustration as Flying described as “La-17”, an aircraft that never existed.

At that time, it was already known in the West that the Soviet supersonic prototype was the Lavochkin La-176 and the Italians assumed that the operational version would be called La-17 as a successor to the La-15.

In March 1955 Air Trails published a strange illustration in which structural elements of several previous illustrations had been mixed. The airframe of a Lavochkin La-15 was used, the solid nose and the lateral air intakes of the Flying drawing and the canopy of a P-80, described as “La-17, one of the more recent Red jet attack planes, two men crew, four 23 or 30-mm cannon”.

It seems that the author of the article thought that it was an all-weather version of the La-15.