su-15 | It Doesn't Have To Be Right...

It’s been a while since I did one of these, so I thought it about time I added to the series. Photos are now easier to find on the internet, but finding just the right one has become somewhat harder. For some reason, it all appears to be Soviet this time…

air

Tupolev Tu-95 Bear

Yakovlev Ya-28 Brewer

Beriev Be-42 Albatross

Sukhoi Su-15 Flagon

sea

Alfa Class submarine

A port bow view of a Soviet Kara class guided missile cruiser underway.

Kerch, Kara Class cruiser

Pyotr Velikiy, Kirov Class battlecruiser

Smetlivy, Kashin Class destroyer

land

RT-20 (SS-15 Scrooge) ICBM and mobile launcher

RT-21 Temp 2s (SS-16 Sinner) ICBM and mobile launcher

RSD-10 Pioneer (SS-20 Saber) and mobile launcher

OTR-23 Oka (SS-23 Spider) theatre ballistic missile and mobile launcher

wibbly wobbly ætheric thing

1RL134 (P-19 Danube) radar

SNR-75 (Fan Song) radar

Saturn (P-35 Bar Lock) radar

1S12 (P-40 Long Track) radar

One of the things we used to have was the USSR, which meant we also had the Cold War. That gave us “the three-minute warning”, fallout shelters, Mutually Assured Destruction, vast military-industrial complexes, spies and defectors and assassinations, and all manner of political posturing that nowadays all looks a bit farcical but was quite scary at the time. It also gave us some very effective-looking military aircraft. On both sides. Here are some Soviet ones.

fighters

Mikoyan Mig-21’Fishbed’
(source: militarywallpapers.com)

Mikoyan MiG-25PU ‘Foxbat-C’ trainer
(source:militaryphotos.net)

Sukhoi Su-15 ‘Flagon’
(source: Wikipedia)

Tupolev Tu-28 ‘Fiddler’

Yakovlev Yak-28 ‘Maestro’

bombers

Myasishchev M-4 ‘Bison’
(source: valka.cz)

Myasishchev M-50 ‘Bounder’
(source: testpilot.ru)

Sukhoi T-4

Tupolev Tu-16 ‘Badger’
(source: Wikipedia)

Tupolev Tu-22 ‘Blinder’
(source: airliners.net)

The Tupolev Tu-28 was, and remains, the largest and heaviest fighter ever to see service. The Myasishchev M-50 was a prototype – only one was ever built. A second prototype, designated M-52, was built but never flew. The Sukhoi T-4 was also a prototype, and was never given a NATO reporting name.