Western Artists' Concepts of Soviet aircraft during the Cold War

[Pioneer]

"Often they weren't far off the mark but other times they were widely inaccurate, sometimes for political reasons to justify the DoDs expenditure."

I'm hearing you Hood

One of the best in terms of 'speculative drawing' was 'Soviet Military Power'
But be warned for as much as it had some cool artist impressions, as the following and accurate account of this publication stated: "Soviet Military Power was a public diplomacy publication of the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which provided an estimate of the military strategy and capabilities of the Soviet Union during the final years of the Cold War, ostensibly to alert the US public to the significant military capabilities of the Soviet ..."


Regards
Pioneer

 

[archipeppe]

Here is a hypothetical Soviet design,for atomic airplane,but sorry,the page doesn't open ?;

https://www.amazon.com/Soviet-Powered-Transport-Aviation-WirePhoto/dp/B0772YQJHH

This reminds me the Fireflash from "Thunderbirs are go!" tv show:

 

[hesham]

From Air Force 1953.

 

[hesham]

From Air Force 1951,

a Soviet B-36.

 

[StraGen410]

Aritst's concepts of Sukhoi scissorwing fighter concept known as MFP or Su-41. Is this an imagined Russian Federation or Soviet Union aircraft concept?

Source:

http://www.paralay.com/mfp.html

AMBISI " RAKSASA " SAMUDERA | KASKUS

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m.kaskus.co.id

sukhoi su-41 obj

sukhoi SU-41 3D Model available on Turbo Squid, the world's leading provider of digital 3D models for visualization, films, television, and games.

www.turbosquid.com

It looks interesting. Is this concept created in Cold War era?

 

[hesham]

From Flying 1949-11.

 

[Jason Dykstra (Wyvern)]

Popular Science cover with depictions of Soviet types.

 

[hesham]

From Flying 1950-9.

 

[hesham]

From Flying 1951-1.

 

[hesham]

From Flying 1951-12.

 

[hesham]

From Flying 1951-12.

 

[hesham]

Hi,

Flying Magazine

books.google.com.eg

Flying Magazine, November 1952

 

[hesham]

From Flying 1952-12.

 

[Pioneer]

From Flying 1952-12.

Looks much better and cleaner than the F-89!!

Regards
Pioneer

 

[Jason Dykstra (Wyvern)]

Hi,

Flying Magazine

books.google.com.eg

Considering that details in the west were sketchy, in regards to the latter drawing, the artist who drew those pieces were relatively accurate with what they drew, but got the designation wrong. They drew the OKB-1 140, a small, jet bomber with a forward-swept wing. The type labelled in the drawing, the OKB-1 150 was a medium jet bomber that had swept-back wings, and was completely different to what is drawn. I'm honestly surprised at the uncanny resemblance between the 140 and the drawing, as these types weren't well known, and have since been mostly forgotten, and I can only presume about the amount of information available in the West (i.e. close to nothing). The 150 mentioned in the previous drawing is closer to the actual design, with the only major difference being the canopy. Considering how little information was available about these types, the fact that they managed to get such an accurate picture of these types is truly remarkable.

 

[hesham]

From Flying 1953-10.

 

[Charlesferdinand]

From All About Aircraft, by D.M. Desoutter (1954). These would seem to be same as the fighter and '150' bomber posted by Hesham earlier.

 

[hesham]

From Flying 1954-2.

 

[hesham]

From Flying 1955-8.

 

[hesham]

From Flying 1955-9.

 

[PRA27]

Aritst's concepts of Sukhoi scissorwing fighter concept known as MFP or Su-41. Is this an imagined Russian Federation or Soviet Union aircraft concept?

Source:

http://www.paralay.com/mfp.html

AMBISI " RAKSASA " SAMUDERA | KASKUS

:1thumbup Keterangan : Jenis : Kapal Induk kelas berat ( super Aircraft carrier ) Asal : Russia Status : tahap pengerjaan - 2015 ( rahasia negara ) Type : Tipe Ulyanovsk Berat : 75.000 ton ( Persenjataan lengkap ) Panjang : 322 meter Lebar : 84 meter Mesin : 4 mesin penggerak utama bertenaga...

m.kaskus.co.id

sukhoi su-41 obj

sukhoi SU-41 3D Model available on Turbo Squid, the world's leading provider of digital 3D models for visualization, films, television, and games.

www.turbosquid.com

does anybody know what aircraft is under the f-24? it kinda looks like a Mig 1.42 but with a longer nose.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

You can always rely on IDR's 'Georg Panyalev' to be very detailed in his wild speculation. Here's the RAM-L as imagined in 1981.

I particularly like the detailed diagram of missile and radar envelope.

 

[RAP]

.

 

[Charlesferdinand]

You can always rely on IDR's 'Georg Panyalev' to be very detailed in his wild speculation. Here's the RAM-L as imagined in 1981.

I particularly like the detailed diagram of missile and radar envelope.

Well, if you are going to speculate, you may as well go all the way.

 

[Pioneer]

You can always rely on IDR's 'Georg Panyalev' to be very detailed in his wild speculation. Here's the RAM-L as imagined in 1981.

I particularly like the detailed diagram of missile and radar envelope.

Thanks overscan, I particularly find the 'RAM-series' and their associated artist impressions and appraisals fascinating.

Regards
Pioneer

 

[hesham]

From Aviation magazine 1972.

 

[kitnut617]

I had a quick look through this thread so excuse me if I missed a reference to this below.

In the 1984 RAF Year Book there's an article on Soviet aircraft, with a raft of images. And while some of the images look right, there's a number of them which are not.

Not sure if I'm allowed to scan the pages though --- so I can post the images here.

 

[Hood]

Not exactly a Soviet misidentification but a 1994 attempt at what a supersonic V/STOL fighter of the future might look like. A heavily modded Yak-38 'Forger' underpins this, presumably there would be a liftjet/liftfan behind the cockpit. In hindsight the artist should have looked at the Yak-41 for inspiration.
The US DoD's attempt at a Yak-41 interpretation looked interesting if slightly off the mark in details.

 

[hesham]

What was this,a six-engined delta wing bomber ?.

Air Pictorial 1959

 

[flateric]

Journo's drivel.

 

[PlanesPictures]

Project Tu-108 was only four engined. Some bigger brother?

 

[hesham]

What was this,a six-engined delta wing bomber ?.

Air Pictorial 1959

May I can solve this mystery,it's Tupolev Tu-114,its wing looks like a delta from far away,and also from long
distance,seemed to have a six engines ?.

 

[_Del_]

What was this,a six-engined delta wing bomber ?.

Air Pictorial 1959

Some kind soul posted these in another thread

From, Стратегический ракетоносец-бомбардировщик Ту-160

And black kite offered the last from the Tupolev museum.

 

[datafuser]

"MiG-27" in a book published in South Korea in 1977.

 

[hesham]

What was this,a six-engined delta wing bomber ?.

Air Pictorial 1959

Some kind soul posted these in another thread

From, Стратегический ракетоносец-бомбардировщик Ту-160

And black kite offered the last from the Tupolev museum.

Hi Del,

please read the last line,it was already flying,so it was not a project,and I meant Tu-95.

 

[phantomphan]

Hi,

Flying Magazine

books.google.com.eg

Looks like an Arado Blitz has a fling with a Junkers

 

[flateric]

Hi Del,

please read the last line,it was already flying,so it was not a project,and I meant Tu-95.

Please read your own post. Tu-95 flew seven years before that. It was well known on West long before that. And it's not six engined turboprop delta. Like you don't have dozens of examples of unicorns pulled out of thin air in this topic to sell the magazines when journos thought that no one ever will be able to check the truth behind the Iron Curtain?

 

[F.L.]

Does anyone know what book this image comes from?

 

[gral_rj]

Does anyone know what book this image comes from?

It seems to be from a series of books on combat aircraft which I forgot the name... Modern Combat Aircraft series, maybe? They had a book on MiG fighters, that one is from the MiG-29 chapter, as expected.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

The same artwork was featured in Salamander's Warplanes of the Future, so it was likely the Salamander book on MiGs. I can confirm later.