It was mercifully left to wallow in obscurity, somewhat like the Miss Havisham of Soviet aviation. The Tu-116 was a poor idea and implemented badly. Deprived of their raison dвЂ™ГЄtre the two aircraft served out their miserable lives flying technicians to the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, presumably to ensure the Franken-liner was hidden from public view. While no one appeared to think arriving on a diplomatic mission in something that looked exactly like a strategic bomber might be a bad idea, the nail in the coffin of the Tu-116 was actually the 737 style air stair that allowed the First Secretary of the Communist Party to emerge from the bowels of the aircraft, something he deemed beneath his standing. The Tu-116 replaced the Tu-95вЂ™s bomb bays with a passenger compartment for the head of state and his entourage, in a prescient nod to post-9/11 security arrangements it was impossible to access the cockpit from the passenger compartment, messages being passed by pneumatic tube. Fearing that mating an airliner fuselage to the wings of a Tu-95, to make the Tu-114, would take more time than was available before a 1959 state visit to the USA, a less ambitious back up plan was made.

With the death of Stalin,В the Khrushchev Thaw left the Soviet Union in the tricky position of wanting to engage with the wider world but with no indigenous way of getting there. (If you enjoy this- thereвЂ™s a donate button above and below вЂ“ we canвЂ™t survive without donations. If you enjoy this kind of thing, you may also like the 10 worst US aircraft Once youвЂ™ve done that we hope you enjoy 10 Incredible Soviet fighter Aircraft that never entered service. You will keep us impartial and without advertisers вЂ“ and allow us to carry on being naughty.

Please do help us and click on the donate button above вЂ“ you can really make a difference (suggested donation ВЈ10). WeвЂ™re trying to do something different with Hush-Kit: give aviation fans something that is both entertaining, surprising and well-informed. To keep this blog going- allowing us to create new articles- we need donations. LetвЂ™s pack beer and vobla, and take a walk through the rusting graveyard of the eleven worst Soviet aircraft. Many of these were outstanding, but some вЂ“ for reasons of politics, bad luck or incompetence вЂ“ were diabolical. Favouring clever robust design over high technology and refinement, the Soviet approach enabled the mass production of cheap machines. Even now, 25 years after its collapse, almost all Russian and Ukrainian aircraft have their roots in the communist super state. The Soviet Union lasted a mere sixty-nine years (the Spitfire has been flying longer), but in that time produced some of the largest, fastest, toughest and most agile aircraft.

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