Myasishchev M-4 Bison
The Myasishchev M-4, NATO reporting name Bison, was a four-engined Soviet jet strategic bomber from Vladimir Myasishchev's design bureau, built to strike North America. It first flew on 20 January 1953 and went into production at Plant No. 23 in Moscow, but its range fell short of the intercontinental mission; the improved 3M, flown in 1956, became the main version. In all, 93 aircraft were built before production ended in 1963, yet the type's appearances over Moscow in 1954 and 1955 fed the American "bomber gap" scare. The family spent its later career largely as maritime reconnaissance aircraft and tankers, the last tankers retiring in 1994, and three airframes were converted into VM-T Atlant heavy-lift aircraft for the Soviet space programme.
Why It Mattered
The Myasishchev M-4, known to NATO as the Bison, was the Soviet Union's first four-engined jet bomber to reach operational service. It came from a design bureau re-established in March 1951 under Vladimir Myasishchev, ordered to build an intercontinental bomber that could strike North America. The aircraft fell well short of that mission: its range was insufficient to reach the most valuable American targets and come home. Its influence was out of all proportion to the 93 aircraft eventually built. Unveiled over Red Square on May Day 1954, it appeared again at Tushino in July 1955, when a first wave of ten aircraft was joined by eight more on a second pass. Western analysts assumed that more than 28 were already in service and projected 800 by 1960, and the United States built thousands of B-47s and B-52s against the perceived threat of the "bomber gap". AirlineReporter's verdict is that the type succeeded as an aircraft mainly in psychological terms.
Design Notes
The M-4 was a four-engined, swept-wing bomber, its Mikulin AM-3 turbojets buried in the wing roots. Its most unusual feature was its tandem, or bicycle, landing gear: small stabilising wheels sat out at the wingtips, and the nose leg extended at take-off to set the correct angle of incidence. A crew of eight operated the aircraft, and its defensive armament was six 23 mm cannon in manned and remote-controlled turrets. The improved 3M, which first flew on 27 March 1956, used Dobrynin VD-7 engines and a larger wing, and the FAS credits it with a maximum range of 11,850 km. Engine changes continued through the production run: after reliability problems with the VD-7, the 3MS of 1958–60 went back to RD-3M-500A engines, while the 3MN took the VD-7B.
Operational History
Series production began in 1955 at Plant No. 23 in Moscow, and deployment of the first ten bombers started in July that year. Thirty-four M-4s were built, including the two prototypes. Series production of the 3M began at the end of 1956, and its deployment started in 1958. No M-4 or 3M ever flew in combat, and none was exported to the Soviet Union's allies. In service the family was used primarily for long-range maritime reconnaissance and strike work, alongside other supporting roles. Most surviving bombers were converted in the 1970s and 1980s into tankers — the M-4-2, 3MS-2 and 3MN-2 — and Bison tankers refuelled other Bisons and Bears. Production of all versions ended in 1963, with 93 aircraft built in total on the FAS and AirlineReporter accountings. The 3M bombers remained in air force service until the end of the 1980s, and the 3MS-2 tanker regiment was still in service in 1994.
Afterlife
The withdrawn 3M bombers were removed in accordance with the START-1 treaty, and the vast majority of retired airframes were broken up under the arms limitation agreements. Three aircraft took a different path: converted from 3MN-2 tankers, the VM-T Atlant carried Energia rocket components and the Buran orbiter on mounts above the fuselage, flying first on 29 April 1981 and completing 150 flights in all. Four aircraft are known to survive, among them a 3MD at the Central Air Force Museum at Monino and an M-4 at the Long Range Aviation museum at Dyagilevo. AirlineReporter notes that the Monino aircraft may be the only surviving 3MD.