Western Artists' Concepts of Soviet aircraft during the Cold War

[Stargazer]

Topics merged.

 

[Stargazer]

The better, we can merge with this topic;
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,275.msg171272.html#msg171272

Done, hesham, thanks! I knew there was another one somewhere but hadn't yet found it...

 

[Stargazer]

More merging going on... :

 

[Stargazer]

... and more merging still...

 

[famvburg]

Thanks to forum member Bruno Anthony, I found a hard copy of Mar 26, 1979 issue of AWST with artist concepts of the RAM-J, -K and -L (Su-25, Su-27 and MiG-29 respectively). They are the same designs as shown in Bill Gunston's color profiles seen in this thread. My scans are way too big to post and I don't know how to re-size them, so if anyone wants to see them I'll be glad to email them or if someone here wants to re-size them and post them, that's fine. All are shown in flight and in black and white but the Ram-K in particular, it shows the swing wing to advantage.

 

[Deino]

Here they are in small ! THANKx "famvburg"

Deino

 

[famvburg]

Thanks Deino! Source is AWST, March 26, 1979. Thanks also to Bruno Anthony for providing me the issue date so I could locate the hard copy.

 

[Stargazer]

Here's a would-be Soviet nuclear bomber from a 1958 German magazine:

 

[Vahe Demirjian]

"Soviet nuclear bomber" from Aviation Week, 1st December 1958. In fact Myasischev M-50.

Given that the Aviation Week report was incorrect in asserting that the M-50 was nuclear-powered and the M-50 flew nearly a year after the Aviation Week report was published, is it possible that a U-2 pilot saw the M-50 on the ground during an overflight of the Soviet Union and mistakenly thought that it might be a Russian counterpart to the WS-125 based on the similarity of the M-50 to an early design for the WS-125?

 

[flateric]

May be you should start with comparing timelines of U-2 overflight over Moscow area and M-50 assembly and delivery to Ramenskoye? You will find answer 'no match' quite fast.

 

[hesham]

Hi,


the Yak-26 aircraft.

 

[Jemiba]

Well, apart from the wrong designation and the landing gear, which is too much "U 2 style" (probably just implying,
that it was a hastily made Soviet copy ... : ), the drawing actually isn't that bad, especially taking into account
the part of the description saying "... Beobachtet worden ist "Mandrake" auch mit einer kürzeren, stumpferen Nase"
(Mandrake was observed, too, with a shorter, blunter nose).
Reminds me of the good old times, when we were browsing through mags and newspapers for blurry photos of
Soviet aircraft and trying to sketch them ... with paper and pencil, of course. Steam-powered really ! ;D

 

[Stargazer]

probably just implying, that it was a hastily made Soviet copy ... :

As if the Soviets weren't capable of pulling such tricks... : Just ask Beriev!!! ;D
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,17946.0

 

[Jemiba]

As if the Soviets weren't capable of pulling such tricks... : Just ask Beriev!!! ;D

Well, compared to the S-13 the Mandrake actually was an original !
The lineage of the Mandrake actually seems to have been ascribed to the Yak-26. That
explains the much longer distance between the main gear legs.

 

[hesham]

Well, apart from the wrong designation and the landing gear, which is too much "U 2 style" (probably just implying,
that it was a hastily made Soviet copy ... : ), the drawing actually isn't that bad, especially taking into account
the part of the description saying "... Beobachtet worden ist "Mandrake" auch mit einer kürzeren, stumpferen Nase"
(Mandrake was observed, too, with a shorter, blunter nose).
Reminds me of the good old times, when we were browsing through mags and newspapers for blurry photos of
Soviet aircraft and trying to sketch them ... with paper and pencil, of course. Steam-powered really ! ;D

;D ;D ,Yes my dear Jemiba,


and in my old files,I have from an Arabic magazines,they had a group of misidentified Soviet
aircraft,but unfortunately I didn't keep them.

 

[flateric]

...

 

[hesham]

Hi,


from a Germany book,the Sukhoi Su-9 Fishpot early imagination to it.

 

[Hood]

Not too far off the mark though given the Sukhoi T-3 flew at Moscow-Tushino on 24th June 1956. It looks almost exactly like the T-3 down to radio antenna behind the canopy, the twin flutter booms on the wing stabilisers and the extra pitots on the wings. Not a bad guess at the time.

 

[hesham]

Yes my dear Hood,


they tried to develop the T-3 in their imagination.

 

[visvirtusvoluntas]

Hi all,
just as a matter of curiosity (little historical interest, of course) an extract from INTERAVIA n.3 year 1952.
The title is:
Le bombardier "universel" de Staline
The section tells about a then little known project of Tupolev and starts with a declaration of US Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg of 17/02/1951, who said "...USSR is working on a bomber with performance similar to those of Consolidated Vultee B-36..."
Speculations about the airplane's layout were "...surely a large bomber with swept wing, swept high mounted stabilizers, six turboprops with contra-rotating propellers..."
According to the author, designation must have been "Tu-75" or "TuG-75, because also Gurevich is involved on the project" but probably "the father of this aircraft is Dr. Ing. Baade, who worked at Junkers Flugzeug und Motorenwerke".
"...the tubular fuselage is 51 mt long and the wing has flexible structure with a span of 68 mt, as the landing gear is bicycle type retracting in the fuselage".
"...engines are 6 BMW028-derived turboprops developing 7000 HP each and 30 RATO bottles for takeoff only..."
"...speed could reach 880+ km/h, range and payload is in the same class of B-36 and a crew of 22 men (!) is needed to ensure a good service during long flights..."
"...another prototype by Tupolev has made its first flight in September 1950, with 6 couples of DB-626 engines, developing 4000 HP each".

 

[visvirtusvoluntas]

From Italian book "Aviazione Oggi - Storia" - F.lli Fabbri Editori - 1976

"Profilo del Backfire, denominazione NATO data al nuovo bombardiere Tupolev, del quale non è ancora apparsa in Occidente alcuna fotografia ("AEREI" n.10/1975 - disegno di Gianni Riccardi)"

"Profile of the Backfire, the designation given by NATO to the new Tupolev bomber, of which has not yet appeared in the West any photographs ("AEREI" n.10/1975 - drawing by Gianni Riccardi)"

 

[hesham]

Great find Visvirtusvoluntas

 

[visvirtusvoluntas]

Thank you Hesham.
This is described as Tupolev Tu-10, powered by 2 Chelomej Nene (sic) turbojets, max speed around 900 km/h - Unknown source, 1952.

As we know, no aircraft was produced with Tu-10 designation in that period and the nearest one in external shape was the Tu-14. But I suppose that this image was created after the aquisition of first low quality photos of Il-28 (see swept tail surfaces). The wrong attribution to Tupolev was a venial sin, I think.

 

[Antonio]

Many thanks vis, very interesting contributions!

Antonio

 

[visvirtusvoluntas]

Gratias ago tibi magno cum gaudio.

I recently found my old magazine's collection. Hope to find something else.

 

[hesham]

Hi,


http://p-d-m.livejournal.com/230530.html

Sources
1 - Cielo 1954 Issue 13
2 - ?
3 - Ali 5 March 1953

 

[Stargazer]

Beautiful selection. I especially love the first one!

 

[hesham]

Thank you Stargazer.

 

[visvirtusvoluntas]

I've got 7 original numbers of "ALI" from 1952 to 1953. Amazing!

 

[famvburg]

The first one makes me think of what a very early iteration of the fictional Firefox could look like. Thanks.

 

[Stargazer]

The first one makes me think of what a very early iteration of the fictional Firefox could look like. Thanks.

Great minds! I thought exactly the same on seeing it.

 

[hesham]

Hi,


from Air Pictorial March 1958.

 

[hesham]

Here is the Tu-200 and TuG-75,


http://alternathistory.org.ua/tu-200-glazami-italyantsev

 

[Pyrrhic victory]

AW & ST also reported the Fearless in the early '70s. Does anyone know of any drawings of the Fearless? All I've seen is the description, which was a twin engined swing wing a/c possibly developed IIRC, from the MiG-23. Maybe even twin fins, it's been a while since I've seen one of the descriptions. Maybe it even looked like the F-14!

Grumman projected a future Soviet VG fighter called "Fearless" as part of the F-14 program. Air International got confused and reported it as a real aircraft

From the SDASM youtube channel: "NO POINTS FOR SECOND PLACE" an early 70s Grumman/Navy joint film production lobbying for the F-14.

At 15:06 Captain Scott Lamoreaux (VFX program manager) goes over the threat baseline: MiG-21s,-23s, and with special emphasis on the -25. He goes on,"...a much newer problem faces even our most contemporary solution to containing the broad spectrum of Soviet air threats. And that's a generation of advanced tactical aircraft which further expands the performance of known Soviet fighters and missiles."

The model shown at 16:33, and in the background at 15:22, has the name FEARLESS printed on the base. Looks like the love child of a MiG-25 and the Rockwell FX. After this deadly serious discussion we are treated to a 5 minute cartoon of the Tomcat mascot fighting anthropomorphized Soviet Bears.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upEbjlb0Lwo

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Great spotting, thanks.

 

[famvburg]

Wow! Thanks for the video and catching that. I missed the new posts earlier and just found them. Funny about this Fearless model, it is fixed wing, and IIRC, I have always seen it described as swing wing. Anyway, studying the pics so I can make a model of it, it isn't a love child of the MiG-25 and Rockwell FX, to me it looks very much like a North American Vigilante with a single cockpit moved aft to even with the intakes and MiG-21 vertical and horizontal tail surfaces. Back in 1981, after reading the novel "Firefox", before the movie, I made my own version of Firefox from an RA-5C, it looked enough like a MiG, IMHO, that when painted silver and USSR stars and Sparrows under the wings, that is the first thing I thought of when I saw these pics, "It is my 1981 Firefox!". Anyway, to model this in 1/72, quickly thinking, I would use a modified 1/72 RA-5C and 1/48 MiG-21 tail surfaces as a starting point. Compare pics of it with pics of a Vigi.

 

[hesham]

Hi,


and from L+K magazine 25/1971,here is the Tupolev Tu-22M Backfire,please
note the different from the aircraft actually built,such the the tail fin and the
narrow fuselage.

 

[hesham]

Hi,


very close to actually built,the Sukhoi Su-24 three-view.

Source: Air International 6/1980

 

[Jemiba]

Good example of a reconstruction using a top view only (the mentioned photos may have
been taken by a satellite) !

 

[hesham]

My dear Jemiba,


it was mentioned in Air International 6/1980,and may be from a normal photo,from
far away.