Evening star., 1955-05-13
Soviet Shows
Big JET Planes
Over Moscow
Heavy Bombers
Like U. S. B-52 Can
Garry A. Weapons
By JOHN A. GILES

The United states announced
today that two flights Of Soviet
heavy jet bombers. comparable
to the atom-carrying American
eight-jet B-52s, had been OBJ
served over Moscow.
The flights one of eight
planes and the other Of 10 air
craft-were seen prior to the
annual Moscow May Day parade,
In which Russia shows its mill
tary might.
The announcement was made
by the Defense Department.
A Pentagon spokesman said it
had been "coordinated on the
highest levelS"-obviouSly refer
ring to the White House.
The brief announcement fol-
lows:
"The Soviets have recently
elected to expose some new air
craft development in air parade
formation over Moscow. These
observations establish a new
basis of our estimate Of Soviet
production of the heavy jet
bomber and of the medium
bomber.
Other New Types
There has also been an ap-
pearance of a turbo-prop bomber
and a new all-Weather fighter
has appeared, as expected. This
knowledge is evidence of the
modern technology of the Soviet
aircraft industry and the ad-
vances which are being made by
them"
Under questioning by report
ers, the spokesman said the an
nouncement was taken from in
telligence reports. He then iden-
titled the flights as having in
volved the Russian type-37 jet
bomber.
During recent House Apropri-
ations hearings. Gen. Nathan
Twinlng, Air Force Chief of
Staff, said the type 37s were
comparable in size to our newest
1ong-range bomber, the B-52.
In Production Stage
The spokesman said today
that the carefully worded an
nouncement would indicate that
the Russians now had moved
from the prototype stage of
airplane development" in the
heavy jet bomber field to the
production stage.
The B-42 Stratofortress long
range bomber is designed as a
replacement for the giant B-36
in the Strategic Air Commands
global fleet. But production is
not in high gear.
The 350,000-pound B-52 can
reach speeds of 600 miles per
hour and attitudes in excess of
$4,000 feet. 1t has a range of
more than 5000 miles.
Much larger but similar in
appearance to the smaller jet
BAT bomberS-which are in pro-
duction-the B-52's wings are
angled at 35 degrees.
Significant Aim
Gen. Twining had this to say
about Soviet air power:
THE addition of the heavy
Jet bomber-the type 37-to this
already powerful air fleet will
give them even longer range
striking power and is of par
ticularly significance to the
United States. The Soviets need
a long-range bomber to attack
America. This new heavy jet
Is aimed Squarely in our direc-
ton.
In any discussion Of Soviet
capability we must assume that
they are capable of using air re-
fueling to extend the range of
their bombers. 1t has become a
routine operation in our Air
Force and success with it must
be known to the Communists.
Aircraft Grounded
In this years May Day cele-
bration in Moscow bad weather
grounded all aircraft. May Day
a year ago the Reds openly
paraded numbers of medium Jet
bombers similar to the BAT and
called type 80.
At that time, as Gen. Twining
pointed out in his testimony,
the Communist flew "a new long
range jet bomber in the flights"
the type 81 which the an
nouncement today stated they
are able fly in flights of 8 to 10. |
The spokesman could offer no
explanation of why the an
nouncement was made at this
particular time.