YEFIM GORDON

As World War II drew to a close, the Soviet government was well aware that today''s allies would soon be tomorrow''s adversaries. This meant new bombers had to be developed for dealing strikes at the potential adversaries'' military and political centers. Having gained access to German jet aircraft technology and the men behind it in 1945, the Soviet Union put them to good use when developing its own jet bombers.The first jet bomber to fly in the USSR was the Junkers EF131. Built in 1946, it was based on the unconventional forward-swept wing Ju 287 V2, which had been captured in incomplete form. This was followed by the EF140 (a similar FSW design differing in powerplant) and the equally unusual T-tailed, bicycle-gear ''aircraft 150'' developed by Brunolf Baade which was ultimately rejected in favor of the Tupolev Tu-16.The first wholly indigenous Soviet jet bomber came from the Ilyushin design bureau; it was the four-engined IL-22 of 1947. Other experimental Ilyushin bombers - the IL-30, IL-46 and IL-54 which lost out to competing designs - are described in this book, as are the Tupolev ''aircraft 77'', ''aircraft 82'' and the ''aircraft 72/73/78'' series which culminated in the Tu-14 twinjet bomber built on a small scale, mainly for the Soviet Navy.

Among the best-selling aviation titles of recent years have been Midland''s Lutwaffe and British Secret Projects series. Soviet secret projects now come under the spotlight. This first volume covers bomber concepts from the various design bureaus from the 1940s onwards. Many unusual and sophisticated aircraft are featured in these pages, allowing comparisons between what the Soviets were working on and what was being produced in the West during that period.