72184 SUKHOI T-49 SOVIET INTERCEPTOR JET

The Sukhoi T-49 was a Soviet prototype fighter aircraft from the Cold War period. A prototype flight took place in 1960, but the machine never entered production. The plane was a dorsal wing with delta wings. The Sukhoi T-49 was developed on the basis of the mass-produced Su-9 fighter, but in fact it was a development of another prototype machine - the T-3, from which the Su-11 aircraft, very similar to the Su-9, was created. Compared to its predecessors, it retained many similar design features, but it had a clearly changed nose part, which had two air inlets to the engine located on the sides of the fuselage. This solution was to improve the performance of the aircraft. However, the placement of the radar in the nose of the plane, in a specific, conical cover, has been preserved. Work on the T-49 began at the turn of 1958/1959, and a year later the prototype test was carried out. However, in the end, the development of the T-49 was completed very quickly because it did not live up to the hopes placed on them.