The Myasishchev M-50 (;

NATO reporting name NATO uses a system of code names, called reporting names, to denote military aircraft and other equipment used by post-Soviet states, former Warsaw Pact countries, China, and other countries. The system assists military communications by providi ...

: Bounder) is a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

prototype four-jet engine supersonic

strategic bomber A strategic bomber is a medium- to long-range Penetrator (aircraft), penetration bomber aircraft designed to drop large amounts of air-to-ground weaponry onto a distant target for the purposes of debilitating the enemy's capacity to wage war. Unl ...

which never attained service. Only one flightworthy prototype was built, which was first flown in October 1959. The M-50 was constructed by the Myasishchev design bureau.

Design and development

The M-50 was a fast jet bomber with four engines: two Dobrynin VD-7 non-afterburning turbojet engines at the outer and two VD-7F afterburning

turbojet engine The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, an ...

s at the inner positions. The two inner engines were located under the wing, and the two outer on the wingtips of its shoulder-mounted, truncated

delta wing A delta wing is a wing shaped in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta (letter), delta (Δ). Although long studied, the delta wing did not find significant practical applications unti ...

s. The second aircraft was designated M-52 and carried Zubets 16-17

turbofan A turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft engine, aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a combination of references to the preceding generation engine technology of the turbojet and the add ...

s, around which the aircraft had been designed. The engine installation was modified, and a second tailplane added to the top of the fin. The fore-end of the M-52 has been redesigned: in place of the tandem cockpit of the M-50 with seats in a row, the M-52 had a wider cockpit with the two pilots sitting side by side. The M-50 participated in a

Soviet Aviation Day Russian Air Force Day () is a professional military holiday of Russia celebrated on 12 August to honor the active and reserve personnel, as well as veterans of the Russian Aerospace Forces. History Air Fleet Day (), also known as the Air Forces D ...

flyby in 1961. The M-52 was completed but was not flight-tested. An unmanned M-51 intercontinental cruise missile variant was developed, which would have delivered multiple warheads on targets in the contiguous United States. Like most of the early 1960s supersonic strategic bomber projects, the M-50/52 program was terminated due to the development of

intercontinental ballistic missile An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...

s and the priority assigned to the

Soviet space program The Soviet space program () was the state space program of the Soviet Union, active from 1951 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Contrary to its competitors (NASA in the United States, the European Space Agency in Western Euro ...

Nuclear-powered bomber

The 1 December 1958 issue of ''

Aviation Week ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'', often abbreviated ''Aviation Week'' or ''AW&ST'', is the flagship magazine of the Aviation Week Network, a division of Informa. The weekly magazine is available in print and online, reporting on the aeros ...

'' included an article ''Soviets Flight Testing Nuclear Bomber'' claiming that the Soviets had made great progress in their own nuclear aircraft program.''Soviets Flight Testing Nuclear Bomber'', Aviation Week, 1 December 1958, p. 27. This was accompanied by an editorial on the topic as well. The magazine claimed that the aircraft was real beyond a doubt, stating that "A nuclear-powered bomber is being flight tested in the Soviet Union. It has been observed both in flight and on the ground by a wide variety of foreign observers from Communist and non-Communist countries." The aircraft in the photographs was later revealed to be a M-50 and not a nuclear-powered plane at all. In reality, in the early 1960s Soviet Union did test a

technology demonstrator A technology demonstration (or tech demo), also known as demonstrator model, is a prototype, rough example or otherwise incomplete version of a conceivable product or future system, put together as proof of concept with the primary purpose of sho ...

for a nuclear-powered strategic bomber,

Tupolev Tu-95LAL The Tupolev Tu-95LAL experimental aircraft () which flew from 1961 to 1965 was a modified Tupolev Tu-95 Soviet bomber aircraft, analogous to the United States' earlier Convair NB-36H. It was intended to see whether a nuclear reactor could be use ...

, similar to the somewhat earlier American

Convair NB-36H The Convair NB-36H was an experimental aircraft that carried a nuclear reactor to test its protective radiation shielding for the crew, but did not use it to power the aircraft. Nicknamed "The Crusader", it was created for the Aircraft Nuclear P ...

project, but, being based on the

turboprop A turboprop is a Gas turbine, gas turbine engine that drives an aircraft Propeller (aeronautics), propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction drive, reduction gearbox, gas compressor, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propellin ...

Tu-95 The Tupolev Tu-95 (; NATO reporting name: "Bear") is a large, four-engine turboprop-powered strategic bomber and missile platform. First flown in 1952, the Tu-95 entered service with the Long-Range Aviation of the Soviet Air Forces in 1956 and ...

, it was never supersonic, it never flew under nuclear power (its main goal was to test the nuclear reactor shielding efficiency), and, moreover, it was developed by the

Tupolev Design Bureau Tupolev ( rus, Туполев, , ˈtupəlʲɪf), officially United Aircraft Company Tupolev - Public Joint Stock Company, is a Russian aerospace and defence company headquartered in Basmanny District, Moscow. UAC Tupolev is successor to the Sov ...

, as Myasischev company had lost the competition to develop the prototype. It was deemed successful, but further development dragged because of environmental concerns. When the functional

ICBM An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...

s appeared, the majority of funding and development effort was shifted into that field, and in the early 1960s the project was stopped. On 9 July 1961, the M-50A made its 19th and last flight, participating at a flypast over the annual Tushino air show. This was the one and only public appearance of the giant, currently displayed at the

Monino Museum The Central Air Force Museum () is an aviation museum in Monino, Moscow Oblast, Russia. A branch of the Central Armed Forces Museum, it is one of the world's largest aviation museums, and the largest for Soviet aircraft, with a collection includ ...

outside Moscow.

Specifications (M-50A)

Myasishchev M-50A Bounder two-view silhouette

References

Bibliography

External links