The Tupolev Tu-16 is a twin-engined jet strategic heavy bomber used by the Soviet Union. It has been flown for almost 70 years, and the Chinese license-built version Xian H-6 remains in service with the People's Liberation Army Air Force, with more being built as of 2020.
The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" is a strategic bomber that was built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 is the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built. It has the longest wingspan of any combat aircraft ever built, at 230 ft (70 m). The B-36 was the first bomber capable of delivering any of the nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal from an internal bomb bay without aircraft modifications. With a range of 10,000 mi (16,000 km) and a maximum payload of 87,200 lb (39,600 kg), the B-36 is capable of intercontinental flight without refueling.
The Convair YB-60 was a prototype heavy bomber built by Convair for the United States Air Force in the early 1950s. It was a purely jet-powered development of Convair's earlier mixed-power B-36 Peacemaker.
Nuclear propulsion includes a wide variety of propulsion methods that use some form of nuclear reaction as their primary power source. The idea of using nuclear material for propulsion dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. In 1903 it was hypothesized that radioactive material, radium, might be a suitable fuel for engines to propel cars, planes, and boats. H. G. Wells picked up this idea in his 1914 fiction work The World Set Free. Many aircraft carriers and submarines currently use uranium fueled nuclear reactors that can provide propulsion for long periods without refueling. There are also applications in the space sector with nuclear thermal and nuclear electric engines which could be more efficient than conventional rocket engines.
The Tupolev Tu-4 is a piston-engined Soviet strategic bomber that served the Soviet Air Force from the late 1940s to mid-1960s. The aircraft was a copy of the American Boeing B-29 Superfortress, having been reverse-engineered from seized aircraft that had made emergency landings in the USSR.
The Tupolev Tu-95 is a large, four-engine turboprop-powered strategic bomber and missile platform. First flown in 1952, the Tu-95 entered service with the Long-Range Aviation of the Soviet Air Forces in 1956 and was first used in combat in 2015. It is expected to serve the Russian Aerospace Forces until at least 2040.
The Myasishchev M-50 is a Soviet prototype four-jet engine supersonic strategic bomber which never attained service. Only one flightworthy prototype was built, which was first flown in October 1959. The M-50 was constructed by the Myasishchev design bureau.
The development of the Convair B-36 strategic bomber began in 1941 with the XB-36, which was intended to meet the strategic needs of the US Army Air Forces, and later of the United States Air Force with its Strategic Air Command. In 1948, the B-36 become a mainstay of the American nuclear deterrent. It underwent a number of design changes before being withdrawn from service in 1959. It was also well suited to high altitude very long range reconnaissance missions, and several alterations were made with this mission profile in mind.
A nuclear-powered aircraft is a concept for an aircraft intended to be powered by nuclear energy. The intention was to produce a jet engine that would heat compressed air with heat from fission, instead of heat from burning fuel. During the Cold War, the United States and Soviet Union researched nuclear-powered bomber aircraft, the greater endurance of which could enhance nuclear deterrence, but neither country created any such operational aircraft.
A supersonic aircraft is an aircraft capable of supersonic flight, that is, flying faster than the speed of sound. Supersonic aircraft were developed in the second half of the twentieth century. Supersonic aircraft have been used for research and military purposes, but only two supersonic aircraft, the Tupolev Tu-144 and the Concorde, ever entered service for civil use as airliners. Fighter jets are the most common example of supersonic aircraft.
The Tupolev Tu-95LAL experimental aircraft which flew from 1961 to 1965 was a modified Tupolev Tu-95 Soviet bomber aircraft, analogous to the United States' earlier Convair NB-36H. It was intended to see whether a nuclear reactor could be used to power an aircraft, primarily testing airborne operation of a reactor and shielding for components and crew. The reactor did not actually power the aircraft.
The Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion (ANP) program and the preceding Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft (NEPA) project worked to develop a nuclear propulsion system for aircraft. The United States Army Air Forces initiated Project NEPA on May 28, 1946. NEPA operated until May 1951, when the project was transferred to the joint Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)/USAF ANP. The USAF pursued two different systems for nuclear-powered jet engines, the Direct Air Cycle concept, which was developed by General Electric, and Indirect Air Cycle, which was assigned to Pratt & Whitney. The program was intended to develop and test the Convair X-6, but was canceled in 1961 before that aircraft was built. The total cost of the program from 1946 to 1961 was about $1 billion.
Project Halitosis was a 1965 undertaking by the United States Air Force to study the amount of radioactive gases released from their experimental nuclear-powered bomber program. The heavily modified NB-36H bomber contained a small, open-circuit nuclear reactor to test the physical and radiological stresses it placed on the airframe and was not used for power. The radioactive gases released from the air-cooled reactor gave the program its "bad breath" reference. The project was part of the U.S. Air Force's Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion project which operated between 1950 and 1967.
The WS-125 was an American super-long-range strategic bomber project during the Cold War to develop a nuclear-powered aircraft.
The Myasishchev M-60 was a Soviet design for a nuclear-powered bomber. The design was similar to the M-50 bomber prototype.
The Saab 36 was a cancelled Swedish supersonic bomber planned by Saab AB during the 1950s. The aircraft was intended to be able to carry an 800 kg free-falling nuclear weapon, but the Swedish nuclear weapons program was cancelled in the 1960s; the plans for the bomber had been cancelled in 1957. The Saab 36 was to be fitted with delta wings, as was the Saab 35 Draken fighter. The engine was to be a version of the British Bristol Olympus turbojet, the same engine powering the Avro Vulcan jet bomber.
The Tupolev Tu-12 was an experimental Soviet jet-powered medium bomber developed from the successful piston-engined Tupolev Tu-2 bomber after the end of World War II. It was designed as an interim aircraft to familiarize Tupolev and the Soviet Air Forces (VVS) with the issues involved with jet-engined bombers.
The General Electric J87 was a nuclear-powered turbojet engine designed to power the proposed WS-125 long-range bomber. The program was started in 1955 in conjunction with Convair for a joint engine/airframe proposal for the WS-125. It was one of two nuclear-powered gas turbine projects undertaken by GE, the other one being the X39 project.
The Convair NB-36H was an experimental aircraft that carried a nuclear reactor to test its protective radiation shielding for the crew, but did not use it to power the aircraft. Nicknamed "The Crusader", it was created for the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion program, to show the feasibility of a nuclear-powered bomber. Its development ended with the cancellation of the ANP program.
