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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. Even now, 25 years after its collapse, almost all Russian and Ukrainian aircraft have their roots in the communist super state.\u00a0 Favoring clever robust design over high technology and refinement, the Soviet approach enabled the mass production of cheap machines. Many of these were outstanding, but some \u2013 for reasons of politics, bad luck or incompetence \u2013 were diabolical. Let\u2019s pack beer and vobla, and take a walk through the rusting graveyard of the eleven worst Soviet aircraft.<\/strong><\/p>\n (If you enjoy this- there\u2019s a donate button on Hush Kit’s Blog <\/a><\/strong>above and below \u2013 we can\u2019t survive without donations. Thank you)<\/p>\n 11. Tupolev Tu-116<\/strong><\/p>\n With the death of Stalin,\u00a0the 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.\u00a0 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. The Tu-116 replaced the Tu-95\u2019s 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. While no one appeared to think arriving on a diplomatic mission in something that looked exactly like a strategic bomber<\/span> 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. Deprived of their raison d\u2019\u00eatre 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. \u00a0The Tu-116 was a poor idea and implemented badly. It was mercifully left to wallow in obscurity, somewhat like the Miss Havisham of Soviet aviation.<\/p>\n \u2014 Bing Chandler, former Lynx helicopter Observer (now works in flight safety)<\/em><\/p>\n![\"PENTAX](\"https:\/\/hcsblogdotorg.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/05\/tu1.jpg?w=620\")
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