Why this Soviet Bomber was Nicknamed a 'Widow Maker' - TU-22

There is nothing more Soviet than an airplane designed to carry alcohol in order to keep its crew comfortable during flight. This is the story of the Tu-22 Supersonic Booze Carrier, and it's #NotWhatYouThink #NWYT #longs

Music:
Errors Expected - The Fly Guy Five
Stellar Finale - FormantX
The League - Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen
There Is No Sequel - Philip Ayers
No Stone Unturned - Brendon Moeller
Out of Order - The Fly Guy Five
Lunch Break in Milan - Trabant 33

Footage:
Select images/videos from Getty Images
Shutterstock Enterprise
Soviet Archives
Russian Ministry of Defense

[LaczPro]

This doesn't seem like "Not what you think"... This is exactly what I thought. The pride and joy of the soviets: A plane that's cooled with vodka!

[tornado]

Comrade 1: "Comrade 2, do you understand why I pulled you over?"

Comrade 2: "No Comrade 1, I don't understand, I wasn't drinking or anything."

Comrade 1: "Exactly Comrade 2, you were driving *under* the influence. Here is a jug of vodka and be safe out there Comrade."

[Ass_of_Amalek]

designing a heavy bomber to have just one pilot at that time seems very strange.

[theotherohlourdespadua]

Paper Skies made an excellent video on this bomber plane and it went exactly as you expect...

[International_Corn]

"Comrade were on a oil crisis-"

-"Let the vodka do the work"

[enysuntra]

I have heard that once, they considered replacing ethanol with methanol. From the lowliest maintenance handyman to the top generals, this was rejected as damaging and make flying the plane dangerous.

Well, I guess they were right. Blind pilots and maintenance personnel are indeed always a major safety risk.

[YoungGandalf]

Ivan: "I'm hot. Why is there no AC?"
Igor: **passed out**

[qulzam]

This man has sick sense of humor and can make joke without even offending anyone.

[bobdanley]

As a young HUEY crewchief many years ago I was going through the alternate fuels list for the aircraft. Bacardi 151 was on that list. This pleased me for some reason.

[aviationphu]

Here before NWYT changes the thumbnail

[cyrilmeynier]

When a a tupolev Tu-22 man-eater got too close from the border, the german used to send a Lockheed F-104 widow-maker to intercept.

[hydroblobber]

The TU-22 missed missed most of its targets, killed many of its pilots and intoxicated it's entire crew.
Very Soviet indeed

[foxyfoxington]

The fact that it failed to meet its target and killed many of its pilots arguably makes it more Soviet than the vodka cooling system does.

[Hidden_Trump]

Mig-25 was called an Alcohol Carrier. It carried not vodka, but pure alcohol. And after each flight they had to drain the alcohol and replace it with new alcohol.
One day a Mig-25 had landed and an officer of the airfield wanted to drain some alcohol from it. He gave a pilot an empty bottle, but the pilot had fucked him off, he said, if you"d had a drum to drain alcohol in it, it would have sense, but it was no use to give me a bottle, the drainage orifice is the size of a drum

[brileymitchell]

This guy, Found and explained, and mustard are all the holy trinity of YouTube

[navbtactual]

6:15 wow that's so cool how miniatures can accurately recreate the breakup of aircraft... Like animation before it was prominent and accurate with data.

[thesittingacheroraptor]

"Complete dissapointment" okay fair enough, but condider this. Vodka fuel.

[Myopicvisions]

Belenko, when he defected with the Mig-25, exposed the fact that many planes were not operational because the coolant was sold on the black market.

[fxpdtst]

Отлетал на ТУ - 22 десять лет, и горжусь этим, прекрасный самолет.

[lajoyalobos]

This explains why some Soviet/Russian vehicles were/are often left inoperable due to maintenance crews drinking the fluids.