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This Month in Aviation History

Aircraft of the Month for December 2000


Tupolev Tu-98 "Backfin"

by Alex Stoll

T

he Tu-98 was a supersonic light bomber developed as a replacement for the Il-28. Its twin afterburning Lyulka AL-7F turbojets were one of the most powerful engines in the world at the time. The thin wing was swept back at fifty-five degrees. The bomb bay was below the main wing spar; the intakes passed over it. The main landing gear retracted rearwards into the fuselage under the engine bays because the wing was too thin. The three crewmen sat in tandem, with the navigator sitting in the glazed nose and the radio operator/gunner's cabin behind the pilot. While the Tu-98 was the last Soviet bomber to have a glazed nose, it was the first to use remotely-operated tail guns. The two 23-mm cannon in the tail barbette were aimed with the help of a radar on the tip of the vertical tail. It made its first flight in 1955 and was shown to Western delegates at Tushino in June 1956. From 1956 to 1960, Western sources, confused by continued testing of Backfin-type aircraft, reported that the aircraft was in service as the Yak-42. In 1958, an elaborate analysis in a German magazine claimed that fifteen "Yak-42 Backfins" were being built each month.


At the 1956 Tushino display; starbord of the Tu-98 is an unidentified twin-engined
MiG fighter related to the Ye-4/5; on the port side is either the Ye-4 or the Ye-5

In reality, there was no production. The Soviet military decided that instead of buying a direct replacement to the Il-28, they would use fighter-bombers and strike aircraft. The Tupolev bureau revised the Tu-98 into the Tu-102, with a longer, slimmer fuselage and with the main landing gear moved to trailing edge fairings on the wings. This aircraft first flew in 1958 and entered service as the Tu-28P "Fiddler," a long-range interceptor. Some features of the Tu-98 even were passed on to the Tu-22 "Blinder."

This Month in Aviation History
(Bold indicates anniversaries of multiples of five)
1 Dec 1959 - The first production B-58 is delivered
2 Dec 1965 - First flight of the Mirage III-V
 3 Dec 1999 - South Africa buys 28 Gripens
4 Dec 1952 - First flight of the XS2F-1 (later S-2) prototype
6 Dec 1957 - First flight of the L-188 Electra prototype
7 Dec 1941 - Pearl Harbor is attacked
8 Dec 1965 - Service entry of the DC-9
 9 Dec 1988 - First flight of the Gripen prototype
11 Dec 1986 - First flight of the F-15E
12 Dec 1970 - First flight of the F-14 prototype
 12 Dec 1979 - First flight of the YSH-60B
14 Dec 1959 - An F-104C sets a world altitude record of 31,513m
14 Dec 1977 - First flight of the Mi-26
14 Dec 1984 - First flight of the X-29
16 Dec 1948 - First flight of the X-4
17 Dec 1903 - First flight of a powered aircraft
17 Dec 1935 - First flight of the DC-3
 17 Dec 1937 - First flight of the PB2Y
17 Dec 1958 - First flight of the first Chinese assembled MiG-19
17 Dec 1963 - First flight of the the C-141
18 Dec 1995 - First flight of the the NH 90
 19 Dec 1981 - First flight of the Tu-160		 21 Dec 1936 - First flight of the Ju 88A prototype
21 Dec 1964 - First flight of the F-111
21 Dec 1970 - First flight of the F-14A prototype
 22 Dec 1954 - First flight of the Convair R3Y-2
22 Dec 1964 - First flight of the SR-71
22 Dec 1977 - First flight of the An-72 prototype
22 Dec 1988 - First flight of the first E-8A
23 Dec 1974 - First flight of the B-1A prototype
23 Dec 1966 - First flight of the Mirage F1 prototype
24 Dec 1952 - First flight of the Victor
24 Dec 1955 - First flight of the F27 prototype
 26 Dec 1982 - First flight of the An-124 prototype
26 Dec 1956 - First flight of the F-106A
26 Dec 1956 - First flight of the Leduc 0.22
27 Dec 1960 - First flight of the J 35D
 28 Dec 1967 - First flight of the Harrier GR.1
28 Dec 1985 - First flight of the Fokker 50
 29 Dec 1960 - The F-4 enters service at NAS Mirimar
 30 Dec 1947 - First flight of the Mikoyan-Gurevich I-310
30 Dec 1970 - The first F-14A prototype crashes due to a hydraulics failure
 30 Dec 1983 - First flight of the Indonesian CN-235
31 Dec 1986 - First flight of the Lavi
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