Old photos coming to light

There should be more made about this aeroplane in the general perception of WW2 aviation, for the Tupolev SB was the most numeric Soviet bomber by the time the Germans began Operation Barbarossa, 94% of Soviet frontline bombers were SBs and it was the first stressed skin aircraft put into mass production in the Soviet Union. It was widely exported and built in large enough numbers, 6,656 built, that it ranks as a major production effort for an industry dragging itself into the modern age, yet still lagging behind the curve. The combat exploits of the SB are numerous, the most well known being over Spain, where its speed and ruggedness lent it to the conditions in that 'dirty little war'. The Finns got as much as they could from it - as they did with everything they had, repairing crashed Soviet examples and putting them into action against their former masters. In Finnish hands, not a single SB was shot down, although it was accident prone. A simple machine from the outset, despite its concession to modern technology, even the Soviet airmen who received it in 1934 found it a little on the basic side, but the SB was destined to become a modern classic - and so it is.

Tupolev SB-2 002

For a time during the Space Race, the Soviets led the world. Under Sergei Korolev, Soviet spacecraft regularly demonstrated feats that the United States designers struggled to emulate. His pragmatic, but no less technologically challenging approach to space technology gave us the likes of the Soyuz capsule - the most prolific spacecraft in history and the R-7 rocket, derivatives of which still hoist people into space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome 60 years on. After Korolev's tragic death in 1966, the Soviet space programme got stuck in limbo; his pretenders weren't up to the task and did not have his insight, nor his respect and things went sideways on the launchpad. This is Spiral, a Spaceplane concept vehicle begun under Korolev, but cancelled a few years later. Revived in 1974 with news of the US Space Shuttle programme, the 105-II was designed as an orbital rocketplane that was to hitch a lift on a high altitude hypersonic jet and would boost itself into orbit with a detachable booster. This rather lofty concept was never proceeded with and it only ever flew within the confines of earth's atmosphere, taking off under its own power and flying approach vectors to land, some eight times by 1978. The decision to build a carbon copy of the US Space Shuttle, named the Buran, effectively killed the Spiral, nicknamed the 'Shoe' by its pilots. Korolev would have finished the job, and made it work.

Mikoyan Gurevich 105-II Spiral 002

The Germans used the SB2 quite a lot. For fly school but also quite a bit as target tugs. A winch was made in the belly from the plane. Look right under the black cross

See my thread here: Tupolev SB-2

This particular beast is asomething of an oddity. The Yak-24 was designed to a requirement for a medium sized helicopter that could transport 12 people issued in 1951, but the specification was issued directly to the Mil Design Bureau, who produced the prolific and successful Mil Mi-4, but Yakovlev decided to go ahead with its design anyway. Exact numbers built are unknown, but it was powered by two Shvetsov ASh-82V radials and did enter service, but was found to be a technical challenge particularly in its gearboxes driving its tandem rotors, a novelty in Soviet helicopter design. This one is looking a little worse for wear in the inclement weather.

Yakovlev Yak-24LV Horse

This is a rather basic full scale reproduction of a MiG-3 fighter, it still looks sleek in its rain ravaged surroundings though. Designed as a high altitude fighter, the MiG-3 found itself in combat over the Eastern Front at low altitudes and had a reputation of being a handful to fly. Apparently, this combination resulted in an unsatisfactory frontline career during the war, where MiG-3 suffered high rates of attrition and combat loss, being the highest of all VVS fighters of the war. When it first entered service at the beginning of 1941, it was faster than the Bf 109F and Spitfire V at height, but low down, where it spent most of its time, it was inferior to both. Nevertheless, 3,422 were built during the war. Note the very low canopy situated on the after half of the fuselage, making for terrible visibility.

Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-3

Good shots Grant!

Today, two birds of a feather. A crucial part of the Soviet Air Defence mechanism in the 1970s through to the 1990s, the MiG-23 remains to this day the most mass produced variable geometry aircraft, with 5,047 built (and a further 1,075 MiG-27s derived from the same airframe - see that entry below), the first Soviet fighter to incorporate look-down shoot-down radar and to be armed with beyond visual range missiles. All-in-all a potent airframe on its debut in 1967, the type has seen constant innovation throughout its lengthy career, as well as combat in export hands; with the Indian Air Force against Pakistani jets, in Angola against South African aircraft and with the air force of Libya against Chadian aircraft and, of course, the mighty F-14 Tomcat, when in an oft publicised incident, two MiG-23s were quickly shot down by the F-14s in 1989. Still in service in numerous countries, as a Third Generation fighter the MiG-23 is a little long in the tooth, but is a formidable foe, with its impressive missile fit. This is the first prototype, bizarrely not decorated as such, as the third prototype, also on display at Monino is in its markings!

Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-23-11-1

The ground attack optimised variant of the MiG-23 was originally the MiG-23BN, which shared commonality with the interceptor variant, and was therefore offered for export, but the MiG-27 was developed as a separate entity and designated as such, as a more sophisticated variant of the MiG-23BN. Fitted with a laser designator in its steeply sloped proboscis, the MiG-27 features armour plating on its nose to protect the npilot from small arms fire. Exported to only a few countries, perhaps the most notable foreign operator was the Indian Air Force, which has recently retired the type and had a less than happy relationship with the Bahadur, as it was called - it had a tendency for its engine to spontaneously explode in flight! Not a quality one expects in a jet aircraft!

Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-27BM Flogger D

Just some sweet shots.

Excellent Grant.

Are those from Kubinka Museum? Great photos. I have sentiment for MiG-23s as I used to live about 45miles from 28th Polish Fighter Regiment airbase in Slupsk-Redzikowo. The only one that used the type. Magnificent sight and sound.

Lovely shots Grant!

tengu1979 said:

Are those from Kubinka Museum?

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Central Air Force Museum, Monino. They were taken years ago. A few of the aircraft in these pictures no longer exist or have been moved to Kubinka.

This next aircraft could be called Russia's Warhorse - the Su-25 has had a prolific and active career, seeing combat in a number of different arenas since its introduction into service in 1978. Over 1,000 have been built of the hardy jet - a direct comparison can be made with the A-10 Warthog in its similar roles and usage, although the A-10 is more sophisticated avionics wise, and the Su-25 has a rough field capability. Upgrades are available, including from Elbit of Israel, oddly enough, as the Su-25, despite its age looks to remain in the arsenals of a handful of operators for a while yet.

Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot A 002

I can only guess at the circumstances behind the cabin fire that befell this hapless Tu-124, but it looks grim, sitting only partially covered out the back of the aircraft park. Developed from the Tu-104, the Soviet Union's first jet airliner, the smaller Tu-124 was a short haul feederliner and had impressive performance, although with a seating capacity of 56, was not an overly economical proposition. Only four airlines operated the type, although it did see service as a military transport in a number of air forces. 164 were built, and with its career mirroring that of the Tu-104 and its poor safety record, the Tu-124 didn't last long in airline service. Somewhat incredibly, this aircraft has undergone structural repair and as a result there is no sign of the damage that afflicted the aircraft that is visible in this photo anymore.

Tupolev Tu-124 Cookpot

Good stuff Grant!

Love the the Su-25

Damn that poor Tu-124. I wonder if it happened on site or it went to museum after that fire.

tengu1979 said:

I wonder if it happened on site or it went to museum after that fire.

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Good question. There was no display board or anything. In fact I was told not to wander into that section of the museum, but I did anyway! The fact that it has undergone repair is quite something. There are plenty of pictures of it on the net looking very different.

Once again, great thread Grant.

In the Cold War era, the aircraft carrier reigned supreme as the epitome of visible naval power projection, and no one does carriers like the United States Navy. During its post-war build-up, the Soviet Navy flirted with the concept, but didn't give it a sufficient nudge to become a serious threat to US dominance in this field. Its answer to the mighty war machines is the cruise missile, and utilising almost any platform possible, the Soviets and the Russians succeeding them, have developed an array of weapon systems that utilise this deadly thing as a direct deterrent to the US carrier battle group. By far the most flexible and visible is the fleet of cruise missile carrying Tu-22M supersonic bombers. A natural successor to the troublesome Tu-22, the Backfire is something of a success story and numbers still see service in both the Russian and Ukranian air forces. First delivered in 1973 as a nuclear capable long range bomber, the Tu-22M has proven its adaptability in use in the conventional bomber role in Afghanistan and in Russian hands against Chechniya. Suffering unreliability in Soviet service, the aircraft, equipping Russian naval aviation units and armed with subsonic and supersonic cruise missiles, the Backfire represents a genuine threat to any naval task force. Current plans are to equip the type with hypersonic missiles, increasing its effectiveness as a potential carrier killer. This is an example of the first production batch, of which nine were built. Note the Kh-22 supersonic anti-ship missile under its wing.

Tupolev Tu-22MO Backfire A 001

The original TU-22 was a weird aircraft but I always liked the Tu-22M. At least they gpt rid of this weird engine placement.

Cool shots Grant!

"Better is the enemy of good-enough" - the motto attributed to Admiral of the Fleet Sergei Gorshkov; a remarkable figure with a vision of naval power projection that brought the Soviet Navy to modernism at a time it was lagging far behind the other major naval powers. Following WW2, the Soviet Union relied heavily on Western technology and weaponery to advance its military. Equipment such as the Type XXI submarine, the B-29 Superfortress, the British centrifugal flow and German axial flow gas turbines and so forth had profound and lasting influence on developing the first generation of Soviet Cold War weaponry. There are inherent problems in basing ones tech on someone else's however; one is always trailing behind in development, and this is the situation the Soviet Navy found itself in midway through the second decade of the Cold War, despite having numerical superiority in ships and submarines, they were archaic in design and function compared to the superpower status quo.

Enter Admiral Gorshkov. With a singular vision, Gorshkov dragged the Soviet Navy from being a coastal force with outdated equipment to becoming a true blue water navy designed around a comprehensive defence strategy that was technologically advanced and uniquely Soviet. New designs were rushed into service and new purposeful equipment, such as what we know as the Close-in Weapons System, small rapid firing Gatling style machine guns were fitted as standard to all classes of Soviet surface vessels, something that would not appear on Western ships until a decade later. Supersonic cruise missiles were designed to take out ocean dominating US carrier battlegroups and were fitted to all sorts of platforms, and nuclear submarines that were faster, could dive deeper and remain hidden for longer than their Western counterparts were built. All of this saw the Soviet Navy become extraordinarily powerful.

This is a Tu-16 bomber converted to carry anti-ship cruise missiles. One of the great post-war aviation success stories, the Tu-16 has seen enormous development scope over a 60 year period and remarkably is still in production today, despite the prototype, designated Tu-88 first flying in 1952. Originally built as a nuclear capable heavy bomber, the Tu-16 found a new lease of life with Gorshkov's naval expansion plans as the premier Soviet jet powered cruise missle carrier (a variant of the Tu-4 was configured to carry cruise missiles); a deadly weapon against the carrier battle group (see the previous entry). In the late 1950s, the Chinese sought a production licence for this then formidable warplane and like the Soviets, saw its potential as a missileer - the Xian H6K variant first flew in 2007 and fitted with turbofan engines, modern avionics, advanced defensive measures and capable of carrying supersonic cruise missiles, represents the latest variant of the Tu-16 airframe to see military service. Somewhat worryingly for those countries who share boundaries along what's been coined the Nine Dash Line, PLAN H6Ks have been spotted on the artificial islands being developed in the South China Sea. In the cruise missile carrying derivatives of the classic Tu-16, Gorshkov's motto definitely applies to this day.

Tupolev Tu-16 K-26 Badger C Mod