A soviet copy of the Victor bomber except this was nuclear powered.
bombardier, e-mail, 24.05.2011 13:30
The aircraft's wings were based on the Junkers EF132
bombardier, e-mail, 24.05.2011 13:08
Nice bomber but it would be decimated by US aircraft in the event of war.Some US interceptors were equiped with nuclear rockets.I don't think it would have survived being attacked by such weapons
Klaatu, e-mail, 12.04.2011 19:27
An impressive-looking airplane but, by all Soviet Air Force accounts, something of a dog, for a variety of reasons. That was why they were eventually converted into aerial refueling tankers. Nowhere near as successful as the turbo-prop Tu-95 "Bear", which long out-lasted these pure-jet aircraft in the strategic bombing role
Sergei, e-mail, 23.11.2010 17:13
Production run: M-4 (Bison-A) - 2 proto + 32 production 3M (Bison-B) - 74
The last tankers (all bombers were converted such way) were struck off charge in 1994
The same or very similar fate as Valiant and Victor... and very similar scheme of wing/engines
Nikos J. Farsaris, e-mail, 27.12.2008 19:46
The truth is that early model examples lacked the intercontinental range and the missile equipment of the Tu-95. Certainly it was not a copy of western or Nazi plan but rather an indengenous Russian one. Myasischev after all was a very experienced designer at the time.
Alex, e-mail, 17.07.2008 03:22
Dr. Nick Stage-PHD, there are no information avaliable about Kurt Tank's TA-468A design. I think you just "make up" this project to prove thouse silly Russians can't ever come up with good aircraft. Best of luck with your scientific and history work :-)
Maksim, 17.12.2007 20:37
A direct copy of the proposal, most probably just a sketch I can't find even on Luft'46, it sounds interesting ;)
By the way, do you know, that the B-2 is nothing more than a direct copy of the Hortens' flying wing ? ;)
Dr. Nick Stage-PHD., e-mail, 17.12.2007 03:17
This aircraft's biggest drawback was it's four engines that were gas-guzzlers, and even if it could have attacked the continental United States, USAF F-84's, F-86's, and F-89's, would have decimated this bomber attack groupings. The best sustainable speed was 445-to-470 mph., not the "advertized" 584 mph maximum speed. The F-86C Sabre Jet USAF fighter aircraft could maintain speeds above 620 mph.
The aircraft controls required Soviet "musclemen" to operate the avionics. Servo-systems were not yet in full operation, during this aircraft's deployment.
This aircraft was a direct copy of Nazi Germany's Kurt Tank's TA-468A 4-jet engined bomber proposal of 1943-1944.
Joseph Stalin did not have the needed "aero-brain-power" to expand this plane much beyond it's Nazi German prototypes, so there was a high crash rate.
Promising plane, but a high rate of in-flight jet engine fires. Faulty oil lubrication systems made this aircraft an aerial fire-trap in medium-to-long-distance flights. Over-heating was a constant engine problem.
It was a better air-to-air refueling plane, than a strategic long-range bomber.
