Antonov Atomic plane.

Antonov nuclear-powered version of the An-22.
Today, the idea of ​​creating nuclear aircraft seems too dangerous, but in the 50s of last century, the best scientists and designers of the world worked on it, including "Antonov"

The An-124 Ruslan, the world's largest production aircraft, is known to millions of people around the world. But none of our most loyal fans, who know the names of almost all modifications of the world-famous winged machines, have ever come across publicly available information about the object - An-124A. A poster species model of the aircraft with this name was declassified a few years ago and transferred to the funds of the National Museum named after O.K. Antonova.
"Antey" for special purposes
The exotic shape of the fuselage of the model airplane with a large teardrop-shaped "hump" between the centerplane and the tail gives its unique feature - a nuclear reactor placed on board, with a rated capacity of 320 megawatts. Thanks to the energy produced with its help, it was planned to achieve an unprecedented result in aviation - the ability to be in the air for more than 50 hours in a row. At the same time, the plane had to cover a distance of up to 42,000 kilometers in a continuous flight, while at that time the best result belonged to the bombers (6-10 thousand kilometers). However, this was only the recommended flight duration. In practice, such a machine could fly much longer until the crew loses the ability to work efficiently, or technical problems begin. The total radiation dose to the crew should not exceed one ber (permissible exposure for employees of a nuclear power plant for several months under normal conditions). Among other stated characteristics of the future aircraft: takeoff weight 380 tons, payload - 40 tons, cruising speed - 850 km / h, flight altitude - 9000 meters. These were only preliminary design calculations, which were preceded by tests of existing nuclear reactors on real serial An-22 aircraft.

Today, the idea of ​​creating nuclear aircraft seems absurd or too dangerous to many aviation experts, but half a century ago it was seriously worked on by the best scientists and designers in the world.

Intensive use of "peaceful atom" energy in the USSR began in the 1950s. Scientists were not yet fully aware of the scale of the destructive effects of radiation on the human body - they were attracted by the unprecedented amount of electricity generated by fission of uranium nuclei. Nuclear power plants were designed, the first nuclear icebreaker, which consumed only about 45 grams of nuclear fuel per day instead of tons of oil. The same applied to nuclear submarines, which significantly increased the battery life compared to diesel counterparts.

In 1955, Soviet aircraft designers were tasked with creating a strategic

Aircraft with a nuclear power plant to ensure high range during combat patrol. In addition, the use of this technology should provide significant savings in financial terms. At that time, the flight to the maximum range of one regiment of strategic bombers with jet engines could "eat" several thousand tons of kerosene. Thus, from an economic point of view, the cost of building a complex nuclear power plant seemed completely justified. The relevance of the program was fueled by Soviet intelligence data on the active work of the Americans on the project NB-36 - a flying laboratory with a nuclear reactor based on a serial B-36 bomber. Missile technology at that time was not yet reliable enough and the bombers had high hopes.

In the USSR, several leading design bureaus and design organizations worked on the development of a new type of aircraft. The main problems that the designers had to solve were to protect the crew from the radiation of the power plant, to ensure the integrity of the nuclear reactor in the event of an emergency, and to create engines capable of operating using nuclear reactor energy without emitting radioactive particles into the atmosphere.

In Tupolev's DKB, flight tests with a nuclear reactor on board, which was not connected to the engines, were conducted on the Tu-95LAL - a flying nuclear laboratory based on a serial long-range bomber Tu-95. In three months of 1961, the atomic "bear" performed 34 flights. During the tests, the reactor's ability to withstand overload and vibration in flight was tested, the crew protection system and the psychological reaction of the pilots to the fact that they are exposed to radiation were tested. Further development of the program was to be Tu-119 and Tu-120 aircraft. The Myasishchev State Security Committee proposed to install nuclear turbojet engines on a ready-made promising M-50 bomber, changing its name to the M-60. Variants of a slightly smaller flying nuclear boat M-60M and an unmanned nuclear aircraft M-30 were also considered. But no real prototypes were created.

Antonov's work on the nuclear program began in 1965. The largest Soviet aircraft at that time was a heavy transport An-22, which allowed to install a more serious than the Tu-95LAL crew protection system. On its basis, a project of a long-range low-altitude anti-submarine defense aircraft with a nuclear power plant - An-22 PLO, as well as a variant of the intercontinental air-missile system equipped with naval ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads - An-22R was developed. His power plant was to include developed under the leadership of AP Alexandrova small reactor with biosecurity, distribution unit, piping system and special turboprop engines NK-14A designed by MD Kuznetsov, whose power at takeoff and landing was to be provided with traditional aviation fuel, and in flight - the energy of the reactor development of this nuclear program).

In 1970, the An-22 №01-06 (USSR-08837) was equipped with a small point source of neutron radiation (only 3 kilowatts) and a multilayer protective partition in the direction of the cockpit. The crew of Yu.V. Kurlina performed 10 flights with a working source. Later, in 1972, an advanced nuclear reactor was installed on № 01-07 (CCCP-08838). In the event of an emergency, the reactor, made as a stand-alone unit in a lead shell, could be dropped from the aircraft and made a soft parachute landing. The test crew consists of a commander

VA Samovarov, co-pilot SA Gorbyk, navigators OP Korshunov and later NI Malash, flight engineer VM Vorotnikov, flight attendant VV Slinchenko, performed 23 flights lasting several hours in Semipalatinsk.

    "We were assured that the radiation doses we received were insignificant. It was believed reluctantly, because dead sparrows were constantly found around the plane, which had enough of these doses to pull their paws up "- recalls in the book" Flight Risk "OP Korshunov.

After the 23rd flight, the An-22 study was considered successful, the test aircraft was parked and design work continued on the project. After the program closed, in 1973 the An-22 (№01-07) was transferred (without a reactor) to one of the Air Force regiments (CCCP-08838).
Even bigger and more powerful

In parallel with the work on the An-22 in 1971, the designers of Antonov's DKB had already conceived the project of an even larger military transport aircraft - the An-124. One of the variants of this promising machine, which was awarded the stamp "Top Secret" was to be the An-124A - a barrage carrier of strategic missiles, with a nuclear reactor as the main source of energy for engines. BN Shchelkunov was appointed the leading designer of the project. Upon closer inspection of the declassified model, a large number of portholes placed on two levels along the entire length attract attention.