picture 170230

Of all the Soviet medium and heavy turboprop and jet bomber types, the Tupolev Tu-16 was the most numerous. It was heavily involved in the live testing of Soviet nuclear and thermonuclear bombs. The aircraft pictured here dropped the first Soviet thermonuclear bomb on 22 November 1955. Because of the bomber’s whiteish anti-flash finish, the Soviet nuclear physicist and weapons designer Andrei Sakharov associated it with the ‘messenger of death’. Witnessing this man-made doomsday machinery in action was among the factors which led Sakharov to have second thoughts about his work and the system his toils served, and in due course to he became one of the best known Soviet dissidents. (Artwork by Tom Cooper)