The designer who delivered the intercontinental jet bomber Tupolev said was impossible: in 22 months
When Stalin wanted an intercontinental jet bomber, Tupolev said it was impossible. Myasishchev flew the M-4 in 22 months. Tupolev later conceded: "Without Myasishchev we would have had no such bomber."
The defining figure of Soviet heavy bomber design after Tupolev, he made the M-4 Molot (Bison), the world's first operational intercontinental turbojet strategic bomber, a reality in 22 months when Tupolev had told Stalin it could not be done. He began in Tupolev's KB on the TB-1, TB-3, and ANT-20 Maxim Gorky, then was arrested in 1938 and designed the Pe-2 alongside Petlyakov in the NKVD's TsKB-29 sharashka. In 1951 Stalin personally ordered OKB-23 revived; Myasishchev delivered the M-4, followed by the supersonic M-50 and the 3M that set 19 world records. He directed TsAGI from 1960 to 1967, steering the USSR's central aerospace research establishment, and his design bureau outlived him: its VM-T Atlant carried Buran shuttle components to Baikonur.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1926–34Tupolev KB (AGOS TsAGI) — wing design for TB-1, TB-3, ANT-20
- 1934–37Head of experimental aircraft brigade (KB-6) at TsAGI; ANT-41 torpedo bomber
- 1937–38Chief designer at Plant No. 84 — adapted DC-3 into Li-2 (~14,000 built)
- 1938–40Arrested; designed Pe-2 under Petlyakov in NKVD TsKB-29 sharashka
- 1940–43Released, headed own OKB; DVB-102, USSR's first pressurized-cabin bomber
- 1943–46Chief designer at Plant No. 22 — Pe-2 variants, DIS escort fighter, DB-108
- 1946–51Dean & department chair at MAI; OKB dissolved for 'low output'
- 1951–60Chief/General Constructor OKB-23 — M-4 (1953), 3M (1956), M-50 (1959); 19 world records
- 1960–67Head of TsAGI — directed supersonic, variable-geometry, and VTOL research
- 1967–78General Constructor, EMZ — M-17 Stratosphera, M-18, M-20, VM-T Atlant
Related historical events
Wartime development of the DVB-102 high-altitude bomber
In 1939 Myasishchev proposed the long-range, high-altitude bomber designated 102 while leading a design team in the organization developing Petlyakov’s Pe-2 and Tupolev’s Tu-2. As the war displaced the design bureau and production to Omsk, the first prototype flew in February 1942; accounts differ between 17 and 19 February. The aircraft incorporated two pressurized crew compartments and structural solutions that were novel at the time. During testing, the M-120 engines failed to meet the required performance, and the prototype underwent repeated modifications. It received M-71 engines and a revised forward cabin in 1943, then continued primarily high-altitude testing from 1944 through July 1945. It reached 10,500 metres, but problems including range and engine reliability remained. After the war, changing priorities in long-range aircraft development led to the project being suspended, and it did not enter series production. Some solutions developed for it, including extensive use of large forged and pressed components and a twin-fin tail, continued in Myasishchev’s later aircraft designs.