Bounder ! the Myasischev M-50

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

Believed to have first flown in 1957, it was first revealed to the West at the 1961 Toshino Air Display. and Western observers were suitably shocked! the aircraft was huge, It was clearly supersonic and easily capable of hauling a huge bomb load,(66,000 Ib in fact), Figures gained long after the event indicate a top speed in excess of 1,250mph and a supercruise capability of over 900mph! (these figures have never been confirmed as far as I can tell.)there was nothing in the West that came close, (apart from the stillborn Avro 730 which looked uncannily similar!)

It was 188ft long and had a wingspan of 115ft, its Max TOW was 440,000 Ib. Power came from 4 Soloviev D-15 turbojets, the inboard ones were fitted with afterburners. Testing showed that the aircraft suffered from transonic drag problems due to the designers ignoring the Area Rule law that most designers were using on supersonic aircraft. (this was one reason for the afterburners). In the end rising costs and developement problems led to the project being cancelled. The 2 aircraft built were put into museum displays, the second aircraft designated M52 was never flown. It was given the NATO code name of Bounder. this then is the M-50...........

thanks for viewing, model is Freeware from Alphasim/Virtavia for FS2002 but works in FS2004.

More info here...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myasishchev_M-50

http://www.google.co...iw=1024&bih=600

[allardjd 1,853]

Alan,

Do you have any reference sources for the stats, particularly the supercruise claim?. Everything I'm finding says that only two were built, M50 and M52. M52 never flew and M50 probably never quite achieved mach 1.0.

Great shots. Leave it to you to come up with something so obscure.

John

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

The published design stats indicate that the top speed was around 1,250 mph, It's not know officially if it ever did that, It's designed CRUISE speed was over 900kts. since the speed of sound at sea level is 760kts and 670kts at altitude, a cruise of 900+ kts indicates that it HAD to have supercruise capability although at that time the term was unheard of. As I said. only one aircraft was ever flown. Much of my info was gleaned from a book that nearly got me arrested in Murmansk! The Observers Soviet Aircraft Directory published in the 70s was sat on my desk among other aircraft directories when my ship visited there. (even the I was an aircraft nut!) The security police spotted it and wanted to know how I got it! as even THEY couldnt get hold of this information! They thought I was a spy! I offered to give them the the book telling them I could get a new copy in London! The declined my offer but stopped me from going ashore on that occasion in case I went "missing!" Other information came from the internet and numerous other books in my library. Since the West still only has "official details" about a lot of these aircraft the true performance figures are seldom known.

the Cancelled Avro 730, It was at the metal cutting stage when the axe fell. I cant help wondering if a bit of industrial espionage went on here!

[brett 2,316]

Good stuff Alan. It also led me to look into the Area Rule and the great work of Richard Whitcomb

Always enjoy a history lesson so thanks for the information you provided and for the great pic's.

[allardjd 1,853]

I'm going to be skeptical about the supercruise claim. Western estimates of Soviet bloc aircraft during those times were usually wildly inaccurate, typically exaggerating greatly what the AC actually turned out to be capable of. One suspects that to some extent that was intentional, since those inaccurate estimates provided the impetus to get our next aircraft designed and built. The best example may be the MIG-25. We were so fearful of what it could do that the F-15 was conceived to answer it. It turned out, once Victor Belenko defected and delivered one into our hands in Japan, that it hadn't anything like the capability that Western "experts" had predicted.

The idea that the Soviets could produce a supercruise-capable aircraft in 1959 seems like quite a stretch considering other types they produced at that time and after.

Where on earth do you come up with FS versions of all these odd aircraft?

John

[Dizzy 0]

It turned out, once Victor Belenko defected and delivered one into our hands in Japan, that it hadn't anything like the capability that Western "experts" had predicted.

Some times I think those "experts" just say stuff to scare people into spending more on military equipment.

[hurricanemk1c 195]

Great shots Alan - nice history lesson!

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

John I too share your scepticism about some of the Soviet claims regarding their aircraft from that era. As you correctly surmised the West was running scared of almost everything, shooting at shadows , so to speak. Many of the TV sci fi shows of the time built on this fear, Star Trek being one, although somewhat cloaked to the unninitated it's messages were all to clear. Doomwatch, The Avengers, and numerous others also appeared. The film Firefox was the ultimate "fear" movie I guess where the West went to great lengths to gain Soviet technology. The reality when it finally emerged was totally different of course, It would seem that Russia had been living in fear of the West all along and the myriad of prototype aircraft that they produced were in reply to the percieved threat that WE meant to THEM ! The M-50 was one such aircraft but due to it's size it was difficult to hide and experts in the West had a pretty good idea as to what it could probably do. For aviation mad teenagers such as myself the Cold War produced some fantastic stuff and I am glad that I was alive to witness it.

Regarding the obscure models, I just keep searching the web every week to see what's new. I have dozens of reference books about aircraft, I just type in the name of something and see what comes up! Often finding obscure sites that have produced just one FS model. This one though was one of the Alphasim paywhere aircraft that has been released as freeware due to their age.

Glad everyone seems to enjoy this one though. Thanks for the feedback.