Myasishchev M-50

The Myasishchev M-50 (NATO reporting name Bounder) was a Soviet prototype four-engine supersonic bomber which never attained service. Only one prototype was built, which was believed to have first flown in 1957. The M-50 was constructed by the Myasishchev design bureau.

It was a fast jet bomber with four engines: two Dobrynin VD-7 and two VD-7F turbojets. Two engines were located under the wing and two on the tips of its shoulder-mounted, truncated delta wings.

The second M-50 was designated M-52 and carried Zubets 16-17 turbojets, around which the aircraft had been designed. The engine installation was modified, and a second tailplane added to the top of the fin. M-50 participated in a Soviet Aviation Day flyby in 1961. M-52 was completed but was not flight tested.

Like most of the early 1960s supersonic strategic bomber projects, the M-50/52 program was terminated due to the development of the ICBMs and the priority assigned to the Soviet space program.

Nuclear bomber hoax
The 1 December 1958 issue of Aviation Week included an article, Soviets Flight Testing Nuclear Bomber, that claimed that the Soviets had made great progress in their own nuclear aircraft program. This was accompanied by an editorial on the topic as well. The magazine claimed that the aircraft was real beyond a doubt, stating that "A nuclear-powered bomber is being flight tested in the Soviet Union. ... It has been observed both in flight and on the ground by a wide variety of foreign observers from Communist and non-Communist countries." In reality, however, the article was a hoax. The aircraft in the photographs was later revealed to be an M-50 and not a nuclear-powered plane at all.