Funky NATO names for Soviet aircraft

[okcrum]

Bristol whatchamacallit?

Nope.

Hint #3: note wingspan, what would that be for?

 

[bassteban]

Nope.

Hint #3: note wingspan, what would that be for?

High altitude- reconnaissance/research..? No idea.

 

[Dan Mee]

judging from the wing span, must be fairly high altitude, and from the nose cone, I'm guessing a fairly late-in-the-war night fighter. Kinda reminiscent of a Mossie, but if it's not made by DH I'm not sure. Definitely British, is it a prototype of something?

 

[okcrum]

judging from the wing span, must be fairly high altitude, and from the nose cone, I'm guessing a fairly late-in-the-war night fighter. Kinda reminiscent of a Mossie, but if it's not made by DH I'm not sure. Definitely British, is it a prototype of something?

Westland Welkin, this one with a radar installed, so it's likely one of two NF Mk II built. About 75 Mk I were built with pressurized cockpits as high altitude fighters in response to highly modified JU-86s on reconnaissance missions over England, but these never turned into a second bombing campaign, and modified Spitfires were used to intercept the recon aircraft, making the Welkin unnecessary. For the time, there was a lot of new tech in these aircraft, and they were hard to fly at altitude for the same reason the U2 is: there are only a few knots of flying speed between high incidence stall and shock stall.

 

[bassteban]

That's an entirely new one on me, okcrum. I was aware of the modded JU-86s & Spitfires part of the story but had never heard of the Welkin before.

 

[crucislancer]

That's an entirely new one on me, okcrum. I was aware of the modded JU-86s & Spitfires part of the story but had never heard of the Welkin before.

Same here. Time to look that one up.

 

[bassteban]

Typical JU-86
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High-altitude pressurized cabin section of JU-86P. It also had longer-span wings.

 

[okcrum]

OK, that last was tougher than I thought it would be, so let's return to the Soviet cold war theme - what's the bomber flanked by the two Su-11s (or MiG-21s, I can't really tell from this view)?

 

[bassteban]

Myasischev(sp?)M-50

Edit: The flanking fighters say *not MiG-21* to me for some reason- can't put my finger on it. Were they operational at the time the Mya was flying?

 

[okcrum]

Myasischev(sp?)M-50

Edit: The flanking fighters say *not MiG-21* to me for some reason- can't put my finger on it. Were they operational at the time the Mya was flying?

Yes, I believe this is a Tass newsphoto from the early 1960s, say, '60-62 period. Both the Su-11 and MiG-21 were around at the time, but not yet in numbers. I'd guess this is from a May Day flyover in Red Square. The Russians used to show off their new stuff at these events, even if they were not yet deployed. Some things seen at these shows were never deployed, but were stillborn or sometimes used for maskirova (sp).

Both fighters look like they have too wide a wingspan to be Sukhoi or MiG, but that could be the camera angle or some retouching.

You can see why stuff like this drove the NATO intel types crazy.

Edit: Good catch! Your turn...Myasishchev M-50 put that design bureau out of business; it was supposed to be the Soviet answer to the B-58.

 

[EdHunter]

Epic thread resurrection!

Here's a nice easy one to get the ball rolling again:

 

[bassteban]

Oh, I dunno the specifics but it's a cargo-carrying postwar derivative of the Avro Lancaster if I'm not mistaken. Not a York, is it?

Edit: Not cargo but passengers; it's a Lancastrian.

 

[bassteban]

Aaand since I'm reasonably sure I'm right, i'll just go right ahead and give y'all this:

 

[Blazer]

American military aircraft always have a letter in their designation to show what kind of plane it is. And it has been that way since the beginning of military air power in the USA.

This is a Douglas F-15 and a North American P-51 Mustang in formation flight.
With those two planes, the F of F-15 stands for "Fighter" and the P of P-51 stands for "Pursuit"

This is a Boeing B-52, B standing for "Bomber"

This is a Lockheed C-130 Hercules, C standing for "Cargo"

So when the NATO came to be the decision was made to give Soviet aircraft nicknames starting with the letters used in the American designation system, so it would be easy to classify what aircraft a certain make is.

All the Russian Fighter planes have NATO names starting with an F

This is a Sukhoi Su-27 "Flanker" the nickname beginning with an F which shows it to be a fighter.

This is a Tupolev Tu-142 "Bear", the nickname with a B designating it a Bomber.

Now those people who gave those nicknames to those planes were sometimes kinda biased and as such, some Russian planes got very unflattering Nicknames and none more so than their Cargo planes.

And I figured it to be fun to showcase those nicknames, some bordering on sheer stupidity.

This is an Illyushin Il-14 "Crate"

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The Antonov An-2 "Colt"

The Illyushin Il-18 "Clam"

The Tupolev 104 "Camel"

The Antonov An-8 "Camp"

The Tupolev 124 "Cookpot"

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The Antonov An-12 "Cub"

The Illyushin Il-76 "Candid"

The Tupolev 134 "Crusty"

The Tupolev 154 "Careless"

But not all the Soviet cargo planes got degrading nicknames, sometimes the result of their R&D was so good that it was reflected in the NATO nickname the planes got.

Such as the graceful Ilyushin Il-62 "Classic"

Or the awesome Tupolev 144 "Charger"

Of course, given the similarity to a certain Anglo-French build supersonic design people know it by an unofficial nickname which is even more degrading than anything the NATO could have called it: "Concordski"

The majestic Antonov 124 "Condor"

And the enormous Antonov 225 "Cossack"

Nothing but admiration there and it's reflected in the names.