The Air Force's need for a high-speed strategic bomber capable of attacking targets in the United States after taking off from an airfield in the USSR led to the deployment of a wide front of work on the aerodynamics of promising heavy aircraft, their power plants, weapons and on-board equipment. The design bureau, research institutions of the Ministry of Aviation Industry and the Air Force, as well as the country's leading aviation universities took part in the work. At the Moscow Aviation Institute, V. M. Myasishchev, appointed, after the liquidation in 1946 of the OKB headed by him, the head of the department of aircraft construction of the MAI. Under the leadership of Myasishchev, students and graduate students made a large number of studies on strategic bombers of various schemes (with straight and swept wings, TD, turbojet engines or combined power plants), as well as long-range aviation escort aircraft (in particular, student D. P. Pokarzhevsky developed a project of a fighter aircraft with an air launch, located in the bomb compartment of a bomber, while the basic parameters and aerodynamic layout of this aircraft were very close to the American "outboard" fighter "Goblin", although the author of the project at that time knew practically nothing about the American car). By the end of the 1940s V. M. Myasishchev managed to form the appearance of a strategic aircraft with a turbojet engine, capable, after a slight increase in the efficiency of existing engines, to carry powerful bomb weapons at an intercontinental range.
Taking into account the extensive experience in the design of long-range bombers, which V. M. Myasishchev (in particular, under his leadership in 1942 the DBB-102 aircraft was created, equipped with a pressurized cabin, tricycle landing gear and the level of technical improvements corresponding to the American Boeing B-29 aircraft, which made its first flight in the same year, and in 1945. projects of a strategic bomber DVB-302 with four AM-46 PDs and a maximum range of 5000 km and an RB-17 jet bomber with four RD-10 turbojet engines were developed), Vladimir Mikhailovich was asked to head the new OKB No. 23 formed on March 24, 1951, which was entrusted with the development of an intercontinental jet bomber - an analogue of the Boeing B-52 and Convair B-60 aircraft created in the United States. At the same time, in accordance with the same decree, the technical design of a new, largest combat aircraft in the world began (estimated maximum take-off weight - 180,000 kg). Preliminary studies and blowing in the TsAGI wind tunnels of 12 different aircraft variants made it possible to determine the optimal appearance of the new bomber. Four A. A. turbojet engines were chosen as the power plant. Mikulin with a takeoff thrust of 8700 kgf.
ZM bomber (front view)
It was planned for the first time in our country to create a swept wing of a very large size (span more than 50 m), an unusually large cargo compartment, a bicycle chassis for a super-heavy aircraft and a new pressurized cabins; place four powerful turbojet engines at the junction of the wing and fuselage; ensure the use of new control systems; to place fundamentally new types of equipment on board. The aircraft crew consisted of eight people: navigator-bombardier, navigator-operator, two pilots, flight engineer-gunner, gunner-radio operator and top gunner in the front pressurized cabin, as well as a gunner in the aft pressurized cabin. In addition, a place was provided in the front cockpit for the PREP electronic intelligence operator, who is not a permanent crew member. The aircraft was armed with six 23 mm cannons in three turrets - upper, lower and aft. All crew members were protected by armor and placed in ejection seats (which favorably distinguished the M-4 from the newest British bombers "Vulcan", "Victor" and "Valiant", on which only two pilots had catapults, and the other three crew members in case of an accident had to be thrown out of the plane through the escape hatch, which left them relatively few chances of escape).
To speed up the work under the Myasishchev Design Bureau program, three Tu-4 aircraft were transferred, which were used as flying laboratories for flight testing of various bomber systems and equipment (in particular, rescue equipment, landing gear, launch boosters were tested on the LL). In record time, already by May 1, 1952, the last drawing of the machine frame was transferred to production, and on May 15, working drawings for installation were issued. The development of technological documentation was carried out by OKB together with Plant No. 23 and NIAT. The scale of work on the construction of the bomber is evidenced by the fact that it was required to install 1,300,000 rivets, 130,000 bolts, 1,500 electrical appliances on the car, and stretch about 60 km of electrical wiring. The capacity of individual fuel tanks reached 4000 kg of fuel, individual blanks weighed up to 2000 kg, the dimensions of the cladding sheets reached 1800 x 6800 mm with a thickness of up to 6 mm, pressed profiles up to 12 m long were used.
In November, the M-4 was completed and transported for factory tests at the flight test and development base of the OKB in the city of Zhukovsky. On December 27, 1952, the MAP gave permission for the first flight of the aircraft, and on January 20, 1953, the new bomber took off for the first time (a crew of six was headed by test pilot FF Opadchiy). During 1953, 28 flights were performed with a total duration of 64 hours and 40 minutes. During the tests, a maximum speed of 947 km / h - a record for an aircraft of this class - and a service ceiling of 12,500 m were reached.
On December 23, 1953, a second prototype was launched for flight tests, somewhat different from the prototype (it took about 4,700 new drawings to be issued). The most significant changes included a 1 m reduction in fuselage length; development of a new front landing gear and redesign of the rear landing gear, which made it possible to increase the take-off angle of attack from 7.5 ° to 10.5 °; increase in flap area by 20% and flap deflection angle from 30 "to 38"; installation of external suspension assemblies for guided bombs; widespread use of high-strength alloy V-95. As a result of all the improvements, it was possible to reduce the weight of the airframe by 850 kg, and the take-off run (without starting boosters) by 650 m.
Scheme of the ZM aircraft, below - ZMD
By the decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of September 19, 1953, plant No. 23 was ordered to build an experimental batch of M-4 aircraft - three in 1954 and eight in 1955. On April 15, 1954, the bomber was officially submitted for state tests, which began on May 4, 1954 Thus, despite the fact that the technical design of the aircraft V. M. Myasishchev began two years later than the similar American Boeing B-52 bomber, the M-4 took off only ten months after the first flight of the American aircraft, and the serial production of strategic jet bombers in Russia and the United States began almost simultaneously.
Bomber ZM
ZM (side view)
Due to the short runway length of the factory airfield, the first production aircraft with undocked wing consoles were transported on a special barge along the Moskva River to the city of Zhukovsky, to the LII airfield, where the V. M. Myasishchev. Later, the takeoff of bombers from the Filevsky airfield was also mastered.
On May 1, 1954, the M-4 aircraft was first publicly demonstrated at the air parade over Red Square, its appearance caused a strong international resonance, in the United States for the first time they started talking about the technical lag behind Russia in the field of long-range bomber aviation.
During the flight tests, a strong "shimmy" of the bow wheeled cart was revealed, which in some cases even led to a breakdown from the bomber sight mounts. However, the problem was solved quite quickly: on the recommendation of TsAGI, the damper of the front pillar was changed and the size of the wheels was reduced.
One of the M-4 aircraft, which was undergoing military tests at the airfield in Engels, in 1955 was used as a kind of target during the training of military pilots from the Air Force Combat Use Center (one of its divisions was then based at the Razboyshchina airfield near Saratov). attacks of a high-speed bomber from the front hemisphere. It was believed that such attacks at fighter and bomber speeds approaching 1000 km / h could not be carried out (in particular, this conclusion was reached in the United States, where the B-47 and B-52 jet bombers were equipped only with a stern firing point, leaving the front hemisphere unprotected). "Fire" at M-4 from a cinema photo machine gun was opened at the maximum distance (about 3000 m), the exit from the attack was carried out downward, under the bomber (according to the pilot E. M. gradually occupied almost the entire sight of the MiG-17 fighter). It was found that the MiG-17 can successfully attack a jet bomber not only in the tail, but also in the forehead, which justified the preservation of powerful cannon armament on the M-4, providing a close-to-spherical firing zone.
In 1956, on the second experimental M-4, the use of the aircraft as a torpedo bomber, operating against large sea targets, was practiced, which significantly expanded the field of combat use of the vehicle. It should be noted that in the future, the "naval theme" became one of the main for all domestic heavy bombers, but their main weapon was not torpedoes, but anti-ship missiles.
ZM bomber (rear view)
Due to the insufficient efficiency of the AM-3 engines, the first serial bombers did not show the required intercontinental range (instead of 9500 km, the practical flight range of the M-4 aircraft with a normal bomb load of 5000 kg was only 8500 km). Work was required to further improve the flight characteristics of the bomber. One of the ways to solve the problems that arose was to install new, more efficient engines on the aircraft. The design bureau carried out the layout work and the corresponding calculations of the aircraft variants with two VD-5 turbojet engines V. A. Dobrynin, four and six AL-7 A. M. Cradle and four AM-ZF A. A. Mikulin (in particular, with four AL-7F aircraft, the aircraft was supposed to have a practical range with 5000 kg of bombs of 12,000 km and a ceiling over the target of 14,000 m). In 1956-57. On the M-4 plane, the RD-ZM5 engines, created under the leadership of P. Zubets, were installed. Later they were replaced by RD-ZM-500A turbojet engines with a maximum thrust of 9500 kgf, and in the "emergency" mode - 10,500 kgf. With the new power plant, the aircraft reached a maximum speed of 930 km / h at an altitude of 7,500 m and reached a ceiling of 12,500 m.
The long flight range made it possible to use the M-4 bomber as a photo reconnaissance aircraft for flights deep into the rear of the enemy. At the same time, a small revision was required: in order to increase the altitude, some of the equipment and weapons were removed from the aircraft, the crew was reduced to five people, the necessary photographic equipment was installed in the cargo compartment. As a result, with a flight range of 8,000 km, it was possible to obtain an altitude above the target of 15,000 m, like the British bombers of the "V" series.
In accordance with the resolution of the CM of March 19, 1952 No. OKB-23 was tasked with designing and building a high-altitude long-range bomber "28" with four VD-5 turbojet engines. On October 1, 1952, the draft design of the aircraft was submitted for consideration by the Air Force, and on December 1, 1952, its executive model was submitted. The state commission, which considered the model of the aircraft, put forward a number of additional requirements that were not provided for by the TTT of the Air Force. To satisfy them, it was necessary to make significant changes to the design of the bomber. So, for example, the customer demanded to increase the range and number of bombs (which entailed lengthening the cargo compartment by 18%, reinforcing the frame and some rearrangement of the fuselage), as well as installing a Xenon radar rifle sight.
The ZM aircraft is preparing to take off
ZM in flight
The executive layout of the increased cargo compartment was presented to the commission on October 3, 1953 and received approval.
The installation of the RP "Xenon" was the first attempt to use such equipment on a domestic jet bomber, however, the large dimensions of the station (if the optical sighting post were also preserved) would lead to a decrease in flight speed by 30 km / h and flight range by 6%. It was also supposed to reduce the crew to six people (a five-seater version of the vehicle was also being worked out). A distinctive feature of the tactical use of the C28 aircraft was the high altitude above the target, reaching 17,000 m.
ЗМ (bottom view)
The tail section of the ZM aircraft
However, work on a specialized high-altitude version of the bomber was somewhat delayed, and in 1955 the state commission was presented with a draft design and layout of a simpler modernized aircraft, designated ZM (M-6). And on March 27, 1956, flight tests of this machine had already begun, which has a different shape of the nose end of the fuselage, lengthened by 1 m (the RBP-4 radar was located in the very nose of the bomber, followed by the navigator's blister), improved (after the "shimmy" story) chassis, lightweight airframe design (in particular, the cabin weight decreased by 500 kg), horizontal tail without transverse positive V, more powerful and lighter engines BD-7 (4 x 11,000 kgf) with specific fuel consumption, reduced compared to AM- FOR by 25%, and the crew reduced from eight to seven. On the new aircraft, it was possible to slightly increase the capacity of the fuel tanks, in addition, attachment points for outboard fuel tanks were provided, located under the engine nacelles and in the cargo compartment. The maximum take-off weight of the bomber reached 193 tons without tanks and 202 tons with PTB. The flight range in comparison with the bombers of the previous modifications increased by 40%, and with one refueling in the air with a normal bomb load exceeded 15,000 km; the duration of the flight reached 20 hours. Now the bomber could rightfully be called intercontinental: it received the ability, taking off from an airfield located in the depths of the USSR, to strike at the United States and return to its base.
In 1958, the ZM aircraft passed military trials and was officially put into service. However, during the operation of the bombers, it turned out that the overhaul life of the VD-7 turbojet engine could not be brought to the specified value. This required frequent replacement of engines, which in turn reduced combat readiness and increased operating costs. Therefore, it was decided to install the RD-ZM-500A engines, which have proven themselves on the M-4, on the ZM. Aircraft with such a power plant received the designation ZMS. Their flight range without PTB decreased to 9400 km.
A little later, a new modification of the VD-7 was created - the VD-7B engine. It was possible to bring its resource to a given level and slightly increase its efficiency, but for this it was necessary to sacrifice the maximum thrust, it was only 9500 kgf. Bombers with VB-7B received the designation ZMN. Having slightly worse speed and altitude characteristics than the ZMS, they had a 15% longer range.
In 1960 g.began equipping long-range aviation regiments with ZMD aircraft - the last serial modification of the bomber. This machine had a larger wing area (with a constant span), as well as a pointed nose of the fuselage, ending with a fuel receiver rod of the air refueling system.
In the early 1960s, after the official closure of the V. M. Myasishchev, in Zhukovsky began flight tests of the ZME high-altitude bomber equipped with VD-7P (RD-7P) engines with a maximum bench thrust of 11,300 kgf. At high altitude, the thrust of the new engines was 28% higher than that of the VD-7B, which significantly improved the flight characteristics of the bomber. However, in 1963, tests of the vehicle were discontinued, and the serial production of V. M. Myasishchev at the plant in Fili. In total, 93 M-4 and ZM aircraft of all modifications were built, including about 10 M-4 and 9 ZMD.
On the basis of the ZM bomber in 1956, a project was developed for a passenger and military transport double-deck aircraft b29 >>. On the military transport version, it was supposed to use a cargo ramp, which made it possible to take on board heavy military equipment. However, this aircraft was never built in metal (for the first time a military transport aircraft of this class - Lockheed S-141 - was created only in 1963). The project of the world's first unobtrusive strategic bomber with the front surfaces of the wing and empennage, made using radio-absorbing materials, also remained unrealized.
Insufficient combat radius of action of the first modification of the strategic bomber sharply put before the OKB V. M. Myasishchev's problem of finding unconventional ways to increase the flight range. The solution to the problem was seen in equipping the aircraft with an air refueling system. As a refueling aircraft, it was advisable to use a converted bomber of the same type as the aircraft being refueled; thus simplified the organization of the flight of a group of bombers and tanker aircraft with the same flight characteristics, as well as ground maintenance of the long-range aviation fleet (the UK followed a similar path, creating in parallel with the "V" series bombers their "tanker" variants. create a specialized tanker aircraft KS-135).
ZM aircraft cannon
By order of the Minister of Aviation Industry of September 17, 1953, OKB-23 was assigned the task of developing a system for refueling in flight. In October-November 1953, OKB-23 investigated various options for the refueling system and opted for the "hose-cone" system. The development of the system was carried out jointly with the OKB SM. Alekseev under the leadership of G. I. Arkhangelsk. In 1955, the M-4A prototype aircraft was equipped with refueling equipment - a winch, a flexible hose wound on a drum and ending in a funnel, as well as pumps for pumping fuel. On another aircraft, M-4-2, a fuel receiver rod was mounted in the bow. In parallel with the creation of the ZMS bomber, its "tanker" version, the ZMS-2, was also being developed, which entered service almost simultaneously with the strike aircraft. The tanker aircraft based on the ZMN bomber received the designation ZMN-2. Later, all M-4s were also converted into tanker aircraft. When the bombers were “converted” into tankers, the fuel receiver rod was removed from them, the bomb compartment was tightly “sewn up” (there was only a small hatch for the outlet of the hose with a cone) and an additional 3600 liter fuel tank was installed. For twenty years, until the end of the 1980s, when the Il-78 aircraft appeared, the tanker V. M. Myasishchev remained the only type of such aircraft in the domestic strategic aviation, providing combat use of the ZM, Tu-95, and later Tu-160 bombers. Part of the ZM tanker aircraft (as part of one aviation regiment) was in the ranks of long-range aviation until 1994. At present, these aircraft are put into reserve.
Il-78 tanker aircraft
ZM aircraft rendered completely unusable in accordance with the START treaty
After the disbandment in 1960, the OKB V. M. Myasishchev, work on further improving the aircraft was suspended, but in the mid-1970s an attempt was made to modernize it, which included equipping the ZM bomber with two guided missiles. One of the ZMD aircraft was equipped with external rockets suspension units, but this work did not receive further development. Myasishchev's bombers turned out to be reliable machines that earned the love of long-range aviation pilots (as almost the only serious flaw of the aircraft, the bicycle chassis was called, which complicates takeoff and landing in comparison with the tricycle landing gear of Tupolev bombers). During the operation, only four ZM aircraft were lost (two tanker aircraft were lost as a result of a collision in the air in 1992).
ZM bombers were in service with long-range aviation until 1985 and were destroyed in accordance with the Soviet-American agreement on the reduction of strategic offensive weapons (a photograph “breaking the heart” of every aviation lover appeared on the pages of the press depicting an airfield dump littered with many ZMs with autogenous cuttings fuselages and wings). It should be noted that the Americans, too, with their B-52s subject to reduction under international treaties, dealt with no less barbaric means, chopping them up with a giant guillotine). In 1980, the newly recreated design bureau of V. M. Myasishcheva, on the basis of the ZM bomber, created the VM-T "Atlant" aircraft intended for the transportation of bulky cargo on external attachment points located above the fuselage. Fuselage "Atlanta" was reinforced, installed a new two-fin tail and automatic control system. The first flight of this aircraft took place on April 29, 1981.
In 1992, together with TsAGI and NPO them. A. M. Cradle in the OKB im. V. M. Myasishchev, work began on the creation of a multipurpose experimental carrier of space objects "Demonstrator" on the basis of the VM-T "Atlant" aircraft, designed to test the air launch of a hydrogen-oxygen rocket engine with cryogenic components, to study the dynamics of separation of the aerospace system and the carrier aircraft, to create a control system for unmanned aerial vehicles at the stages of launching, descent from orbit and automatic landing, as well as studying the technology of servicing reusable launch systems.
ЗМ - "Demonstrator"
The "Demonstrator" is supposed to be used in programs for the creation of promising Russian aerospace forces, as well as for testing rocket and space modules of the "Horus", "Korgus" and "Hotol" class. On the space systems of the "Demonstrator" it is planned to install the LRE D-57M, created by NPO Saturn. The launch mass of the rocket and space module is 50,000 kg, the mass of the system in the assembly is 165,000 kg, the maximum speed of the rocket module at the end of the active phase of the flight is 2,200 m / s (M = 7). In addition, the Demonstrator can be used to launch small commercial cargo into orbit.
A number of world records were set on the ZM aircraft in 1959, in particular, the lifting of a cargo weighing 10 tons to a height of 15 317 m, 55, 2 tons - to 13 121 m and a flight speed with a load of 25 tons at a distance of 1000 km - 1028 km / h (crew commanders N. I. Goryainov and A. S. Lipko).
FEATURES OF THE DESIGN. The ZM aircraft is made according to the normal aerodynamic configuration with a high swept wing and swept tail. The airframe design provides the possibility of a long flight at low altitude and high speed, which distinguishes the ZM from other heavy bombers of the 1950s (Tu-16, Tu-95, Boeing B-47, Boeing B-52). High aspect ratio wing (sweep 34 ° 48 min). Each console has two aerodynamic ridges. On the trailing edge there are trimmed ailerons and flaps.
The maximum aerodynamic quality of the ZM aircraft is 18.5.
Fuselage - circular section (maximum diameter - 3.5 m). The crew of seven people on the ZM aircraft (crew commander, assistant commander, navigator, second navigator, senior onboard technician, senior air gunner-radio operator, commander of firing installations) is located in two pressurized cabins. The M-4 aircraft (crew of eight) has a glazed fuselage nose with a navigator's cabin. On the ZM bomber, the nose of the fuselage with the radar antenna is given a more rounded shape. On a ZMD aircraft, the bow has a pointed shape.
The chassis is of a bicycle type and has a "rearing" system that makes it easier to take off. The main chassis bogies are four-track. The base of the landing gear is 14.41 m, the track of the underwing struts is 52.34 m. At the ends of the wing there are supporting struts with two-wheeled carts, which retract into special gondolas. The equipment of the M-4 aircraft included an RPB-4 bomber radar. Some of the ZM aircraft were equipped (for the first time in the USSR) with an aiming and navigation system, which included a powerful "Rubin" radar operating in a circular view mode (to prevent irradiation of the navigator sitting directly behind the radar compartment, a special elastic radio-absorbing coating of the cockpit walls was used, made in the form of separate sheets).
A blister of the PB-11 optical bomber sight is located under the nose of the fuselage. The aircraft was equipped with an NBA navigation and bomber assault rifle, which provided automatic navigation referencing and bombing with various types of ammunition in a given sequence. There was an autopilot. The Argon radio sight was installed in the rear fuselage to control the defensive armament.
| Aircraft type |
M-4 |
ZM |
ZMS |
ZMD |
| Wingspan, m | 50, 53 | 53, 14 | 53, 14 | 53, 14 |
| Aircraft length, m | 47, 67 | 51, 70 | 51, 70 | 51, 80 |
| Empty weight, kg | 79 700 | 74 430 | 75 740 | 76 800 |
| Maximum takeoff | ||||
| weight, kg | 184 000 | 202 000 | 192 000 | 192 000 |
| Combat load mass, kg | 18 000 | 24 000 | 24 000 | 24 000 |
| Normal landing | ||||
| weight, kg | 105 000 | 105 000 | 105 000 | |
| Maximum speed, km / h | 930 | 940 | 925 | 925 |
| Practical ceiling | ||||
| over the target, m | 12 250 | 12 150 | ||
| Practical range | ||||
| flight (with 5000 kg of bombs), km | 8100 | 11 850 | 9400 | 10 950 |
| Practical range | ||||
| flight with one refueling, km | 15 400 | 12 400 | 13 600 |
There was a warning station about enemy radar irradiation and automatic passive jammers (three containers with dipole reflectors are located in the rear compartment of the chassis).
Aircraft ZMS-2 and ZMN-2 provided refueling in the air using the "Konus" system (the maximum amount of fuel delivered in flight is 40,000 kg, the refueling capacity is 2250 l / min). Refueling could be carried out in the altitude range of 6000-9000 m at a speed of 470-510 km / h; at a distance of 4,000 km, the aircraft was capable of transferring 40 tons of fuel.
Crew members were placed on ejection seats. The ejection was carried out downward, through five hatches in the lower part of the fuselage, and the navigator, the first pilot and the second pilot were sequentially ejected through one hatch, for which the pilot's seats were moved horizontally along special guides.
The bomber's armament included six AM-23 (23 mm) cannons in three remote-controlled mounts. The ammunition load of the stern installation is 2000 shells, the rest - 1100 shells each.
Free-falling bombs with a total mass of up to 24,000 kg could be suspended in the bomb compartment, including 52 FAB-500, three (four in overload) FAB-6000 or one (two in overload) FAB-9000, two anti-ship torpedoes with a caliber of 533 mm, sea mines. Nuclear weapons - two "special ammunition" weighing 2000 kg, or one - 4000 kg.
Strategic bomber 3M, serial number 7300602, 1957
3M on the run
Engels, landing of the tanker 3MS-2
Strategic bomber Vladimir Mikhailovich Myasishchev-3M (3MS1) receives fuel from the tanker 3MS2
1994 The last landing of 3MS-2, then scrapping
Tanker 3MS-2
