RED STAR No 11 MYASISHCHEV M-4 AND 3M

The story of the Soviet Union's first intercontinental jet bomber which was to have become a carrier of nuclear missiles and the Soviet answer to the Boeing B-52. Much to the surprise of many, the little-known Myasishchev bureau was chosen to do the job; it had been disbanded a few years earlier and reinstated solely to create such a bomber. Known to the West as the Bison, the new bomber had many innovative features (including a bicycle landing gear) and was created within an unprecedentedly short period of just one year. Western military observers were stunned when the aircraft was formally unveiled at the 1953 May Day parade. The M-4 and the much-improved 3M remained in service for forty years until retired and scrapped in compliance with the START Treaty. The Bison also served as the basis for the VM-T Atlant specialised cargo aircraft designed to piggy-back the Buran space shuttle and components of the Energiya launch rocket. Also described are the many projected derivatives of the M-4 designed in the 1950s, including long-range airliners. With 185 black and white and fourteen pages of colour photographs, and 23 line artworks.