Soviet Jet V/STOL Bomber and Transport Concepts of the 20th Century

Since the advent of the helicopter, aviation designers have struggled to develop a practical concept that could combine the vertical take-off and landing capabilities of the helicopter with the high-speed forward flight capability of a fixed-wing aircraft. In addition to developing the world’s second operational vertical and/or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) fighter/attack aircraft – the Yakovlev Yak-38 Forger – the Soviet Union was also responsible for a plethora of other fixed-wing jet V/STOL transport and bomber aircraft designs throughout the 20th Century. These concepts are catalogued here - ranging from the Bartini anti-submarine warfare (ASW) V/STOL aircraft to the Yakovlev Yak-33 supersonic bomber and Yak-40 civil transport to the Myasishchev M-12 transport. This paper is the twelfth in a series compiling V/STOL aircraft projects of the Twentieth Century from around the world.