Project Description
Bomber Aircraft TU-22 TECHNICAL DETAILS
The Tu-22 was intended originally as a supersonic replacement for the Tupolev Tu-16 bomber. Preliminary design of an aircraft to meet this requirement, designated Samolyot 105 by Tupolev, was started in 1954, with the first prototype completed in December 1957. It made its maiden flight from Zhukovsky on 21 June 1958, flown by test pilot Yuri Alasheev. The availability of more powerful engines, and the TsAGI rediscovery of the Area rule for minimizing transonic aerodynamic drag, resulted in the construction of a revised prototype, the 105A. This first flew on 7 September 1959.
