The high flyer! - Myasishchev M-17

Most people are familiar with the famous Lockheed U-2 'Dragon Lady', but did you know that Russia had also developed a similar type of aircraft within the cold war?

My illustration of the M-17 in it's element - FL700! 

The Myasishchev M-17 "Stratosphera" (NATO code named 'Mystic A') is a soviet high-altitude subsonic jet which was designed with the sole purpose of intercepting drifting spy balloons called ADAs (Automatic Drifting Balloons) made by the USA, which were used for valuable reconnaissance. 

The USA also already had an aircraft capable of high altitude flying (the U-2) which was constantly used to fly over Russia to gather information about top-secret projects being developed. The Soviet Union was not happy about this within the cold war and on the 1st of May 1960 one was finally shot down. Attempts to recreate the American aircraft were attempted however the venture of copying the aircraft was ceased in 1962...

The continuous usage of ADAs posed a serious threat to the soviet union, mainly due to them being virtually unreachable to anti-aircraft fighters back in the day - hence the M-17 was born, specifically 'Subject 34' which was the proposed prototype by Myasishchev, a high-altitude ADA fighter.

Development:

Subject 34, nicknamed 'Chaika' (or 'Seagull' in English) due to it's anhedral wing design, was still in its testing stage. On the 27th of December 1978, the aircraft piloted by test pilot 'K. V. Chernobrovkin' was performing ground speed taxi tests set out by the test program in top secret. The pilot having completed his assignment had decided to independently violate the rules and attempted another taxi test but at a much greater speed and did not take into account that there were obstacles on the runway (these tests were completed in minimal visibility) was forced to take off to prevent a collision. This unplanned takeoff in an unprepared plane in difficult weather conditions caused the aircraft to crash hitting a hillside, destroying the aircraft and tragically killing the pilot who was not fixed down by his seatbelts.

Before Subject 34 could even be developed into operation hardware, the threat of ADAs receded due to the emergence of both reconnaissance satellites and the Lockheed A-12.

In 1982 a second prototype was created, now named the M-17, which was successfully lifted into the air on May 26 1982 by test pilot 'E. N. Cheltsov' and in August of the following year the aircraft was handed over to the state for testing - where 133 flights were conducted. During these tests it was found that the aircraft was capable of reaching an astonishing 70,500ft (21,500m) at speeds of 150knots IAS.

On the third instance of the M-17, the aircraft was fitted with a cannon mount which fired high-explosive incendiary shells at balloon targets - where 0 balloons were shot down at altitudes ranging from 30,000ft - 70,000ft. 

The M-17 was also converted to have scientific equipment in the place of where the cannon mount and sighting station was and had conducted high-altitude research flights for the Global Ozone Reserve program research about holes in the ozone layer.

In the spring of 1990 the aircraft also set 25 world records for speed, rate of climb and altitude for its weight class of aircraft and for having a single turbojet.

Subsequently because of this the aircraft was converted into the M-55 "Geophysica" which is another interesting aircraft I hope to cover in the near future, which is the upgraded version of the M-17 but includes 2 turbofans!...

Specifications:

Powerplant: RD-36-51V (58.84kN Thrust)

Fuel Capacity: 10,000 L

Endurance: 2 h 14 min

Takeoff Speed: 95 knots

Landing Speed: 102 knots

Cruise Speed: 467 knots

Practical ceiling: 70,700ft