Tupolev

NATO planners had long feared the spectre of the Soviets developing a long-range supersonic nuclear bomber. But the Tu-22 "Blinder" never really gave the Soviet Union the "hammer blow" it was looking for and Tupolev was entrusted to develop a truly long-range and supersonic bomber - the Tu-22M "Backfire". This book reveals Soviet tactics for destroying NATO warships using "Blinders" and the type's combat use by Libya and Iraq. Also detailed is the use of the "Blinder" and the "Backfire" in the Soviet campaign in Afghanistan. The authors, renowned in their field, have laid aside the "myths" and set out the truth about the two aircraft.

It was often claimed in the West during the Cold War that many Soviet aircraft designs were based on existing types being produced or developed in the NATO countries, the information on these designs having come to the Soviet through the efforts of their spies. That this was actually true and not just a case of paranoia in the West is particularly demonstrable in the case of the Tu-4. At the end of World War II, three Boeing B-29s fell into Soviet hands. From these came a Soviet copy of this famous bomber in the form of the Tu-4.
This book examines the evolution of the 'Superfortresski' into the Tu-70 military transport. It also deals with the civil airliner version, the Tu-75, and Tu-85, the last of Tupolev's piston-engined bombers. Also described are various experimental versions, including the Burlaki towed fighter program, flight refueling tanker and missile carrier versions, and the Chinese turboprop-powered AWACS and drone launcher conversions. Operational details include use of these aircraft for transport and paradropping and civil polar research.

The book gives the full story of how the Soviet Union's most potent strategic bomber, the Tupolev Tu-160 (known to the Western world as the Blackjack) was designed, built and put into operational service. The author reveals many unknown aspects of the Tu-160 story, including the development tender in which many of the Soviet Union's top-class aircraft design companies participated.
The book is richly illustrated with color photos, many of which were taken at the Long-Range Aviation base in Engels which is home to the Russian Air Force's Tu-160s. The book is all the more interesting since Russia is now resuming production of the Tu-160 to bolster its strategic potential in order to offset the reduction in ballistic missiles.

The complete story of the Tupolev SB bomber (ANT-40) which was used in the Spanish Civil War, the Soviet-Finnish War, as well as WWII. 224 pages, 325+ B&W photos, 17 pages of scale drawings, 16 pages of color illustrations containing 64 color views, 90 detail illustrations taken from an original manual.

A History of the Design Bureau and its Aircraft Yefim Gordon & Vladimir Rigmant The origins of the design bureau that was to bear his name can be traced back to the appointment of Andrey Nikolayevich Tupolev as head of the TsAGI's Aviation Department in 1918. Over the years, nearly 300 projects have evolved within the OKB. Nearly 90 reached the prototype construction stage, with more than 40 types put into series production.In the 1930s, the TB-1 (ANT-4) and TB-3 (ANT-6) bombers, the latter being the world's first heavy strategic bomber, paved the way for the long line of large multi-engined aircraft both civil and military for which the OKB is justly famed. Wartime production of the SB and Tu-2 plus the remarkable 'reverse engineering' of the Boeing B-29 that resulted in the Tu-4 led on to the jet Tu-16 and prop Tu-95 bombers. These, in turn were adapted for civil purposes as the Tu-104 and Tu-114 airliners. The supersonic Tu-22 and Tu-22M bombers and the Tu-144 airliner, a move into pilotless aircraft and a host of imaginative but unbuilt projects complete a fascinating work.

The beginning of the Cold War and the perceived need by Soviet political and military leaders to deliver nuclear strikes against the continental USA led the Soviet Union to develop new delivery vehicles - primarily strategic bombers. Thus, in 1951 the Tupolev Design Bureau brought out the Tu-95. Known to the West as the Bear, this machine was unique in that it combined turboprop engines with swept wings - a feature which accounted for the bomber's impressive top speed of 910 km/h. The basic bomber soon became a symbol of the Soviet threat and the progenitor of a whole family of combat aircraft which included missile carriers, an over-the-horizon targeting version working with missile submarines, reconnaissance versions, a long-range ocean anti-submarine warfare aircraftwhich was sufficiently different to receive a separate designation (Tu-142), a communications relay version, and assorted test beds. The Tu-95 also served as the basis for the impressive Tu-114 long-haul airliner. Some of the Bear's versions remain in service to this day. This book contains approximately 200 black-and-white and color photos illustrating the type's development and service from inception to the present day. Photos include detailed captions.