Tu-22M3 Project: Help needed

[brianacooper11]

To gather more information for the Tu-22M3 project, I'm going to Russia. I don't speak Russian. I'm taking pictures of military aircraft, and asking very technical questions. Being pushy. "May I get in the cockpit, too? Spaciba, tovarisch?"

 

Would any Moscovite be willing to escort me for a few days in the Moscow region? It would be really nice to have someone translate to the nice officer that I am not a spy, and that I don't like Russian prisons any more than Russians do. It would be sometime during the week of August 7-13, and the big thing is travelling to Monino. I have tried having someone ask the Central Air Force Museum about better-than-outside-pictures access, but he got a strange 'no' that he wasn't sure was final. I would like to try again. I would also like to go to the Tupolev museum, explain the project, and see if they might be able to share any helpful information I don't have yet. Not trying to steal state secrets, just details on a thirty year old example, I can be specific. For a project like this there is never enough information. Anyone's help with any of this would be much appreciated. I'm basically going with no firm offer of information or assistance from anyone, but I'm hoping I might get something by appealing in person. It doesn't hurt to try, and I've been wanting to go to Russia for a long time anyway.

 

Brian

Edited July 21, 2016 by brianacooper11

[sea2sky]

I would suggest you post this to a Russian part of the forum. I'm Russian and I'm pretty confident - you can get any info on any piece of military equipment for anything that have been built 30 years ago by just accessing right people. You don't have to travel there. There are lots of military-enthusiasts among Russians (and particularly on this forum) that have manged to gather lots of leaked data, and that kind of data is flying around the net. I saw it myself many times, like copies of the design documents, drawings etc.

[pepin1234]

Yes do it in the Russian forum.

[brianacooper11]

ruskybeaver,

 

Could you translate onto the Russian forum for me? I have no idea how well Google Translate would translate what I said.

 

3DArtistExtreme and I are already going to a museum in Ukraine to do a bunch of scanning and photography for cockpit modeling, and some exterior. Travelling so far, I decided to go further. It also takes more information to produce a detailed simulation than you might think, i.e. getting into the nitty gritty of the navigation computer, radar symbology and functionality, etc. If I don't have something, I know enough to make it up and be close to the mark, but if I can have the correct information I will take it. We have great drawings, a detailed aerodynamic study, pilot conversations, etc, some maintenance manuals, but some details are lacking. I'm trying to plug those holes any way I can.

 

Another complication with the Tu-22M3 is that no two are alike. They have cockpit variations between batches, and it seems like many modifications they didn't have panel space, they just made up a box and threw it somewhere. Crazy airplane. There are switches on the bulkhead behind you. I am not modeling it, but you can't program the INS while seated; you put in lat/long in a box behind the seat before you get in. There are photos of the RWR for the pilot in three different places, with two different shapes. Stuff like that comes up. If I can see another Tu-22M3 cockpit at Monino, or Ryazan, or wherever, I get a better picture overall, I think.

Edited July 21, 2016 by brianacooper11

[brianacooper11]

Before someone asks why I can read a Russian manual, but I need a translator for the forum: I can translate the Cyrillic alphabet, many technical words make sense, but everything else I use Google Translate and a Russian-English aviation dictionary for. I don't even know how to ask where the bathroom is. I will look that one up before I go.

[Vitormouraa]

I can't help, but I wish the best of luck!

[sea2sky]

I will translate and post.

[brianacooper11]

I just realized, if I need an English-Russian translator, I can post my request in English on a Russian forum. I've got to look so stupid :music_whistling:

 

Brian

Edited July 21, 2016 by brianacooper11