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It's a Tu-142. The MAD sting at the top of the fin gives it away.

The Tu-142 was updated late model lenghtened fuselage version of the Tu-95 for ASW work.

When the Soviets brought out the cruise missile carrying Bear H, it was originally going to be a Tu-142 (the new school) instead of a Tu-95 (the old school), until someone checked the wording of the SALT treaty and found that would make all Tu-142s treaty birds (including the ASW ones).

13 posted on 06/07/2011 11:43:49 PM PDT by Oztrich Boy (Monarchy is the one system of government where power is exercised for the good of all - Aristotle)

>>It’s a Tu-142. The MAD sting at the top of the fin gives it away.
The Tu-142 was updated late model lenghtened fuselage version of the Tu-95 for ASW work.<<

That is really interesting. Thanks for the info and I hope you don’t get upset (and DO chortle) when I tell someone who makes the same Google search I did “hey, that isn’t a Tu-95! What was you thinking?”

Information is always a good thing and a little fun along the ways makes it better :)

BTW — was my latter pic an accurate Tu-95? It does look, let us say, clunkier, than the original Tu-142 pic I posted.