FUSELAGE CREATIONS TUPOLEV TU-16 ‘BADGER’

Description

The Tupolev Tu-16 (NATO reporting name: Badger) is a twin-engine jet bomber developed and operated by the Soviet Union and its allied states. The Badger first flew in April 1952 and quickly entered service in 1954. Notably in 1955, a Tu-16 was used to drop RDS-37, the Soviet Union’s first thermonuclear weapon, over Semipalatinsk Test Site, Kazakh SSR.

The Tu-16 is widely regarded as one of the most successful Soviet bombers, with more than 1,500 airframes produced across a wide range of variants. It also served with the Egyptian, Iraqi, and Indonesian Air Forces, seeing operational use in several significant conflicts of the 20th century. Although production in the Soviet Union ended in 1962, its legacy continued through the People’s Liberation Army Air Force in China, which produced the Xi’an H-6 as a licensed-built copy of the Badger.

The tag in your possession is crafted from a Tu-16K-26P (Badger-G) parachute box, a specialised electronic warfare and missile-carrying variant equipped with KSR-5P missiles. Serial number 36-05, 74 Yellow, was produced in 1957 and delivered to the 132nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment (TBAP). During the Cold War, this regiment was part of the 326th Heavy Bomber Aviation Division (under the command of Dzhokhar Dudayev) and was stationed at Raadi Airfield in Tartu, Estonian SSR.

In the late 1980s, when the 132nd Regiment transitioned to the Tupolev Tu-22M, this Tu-16 was transferred to the 251st Guards Instructor Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment, stationed in Bila Tserkva, Ukrainian SSR. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the aircraft remained in Ukraine and reportedly participated in a special 1992 event hosted by Russia at Dyagilevo Air Base, while still under the command structure of the former Soviet Long-Range Aviation forces. Among the attendees were U.S. Air Force B-52 and KC-10 aircraft. During this event, the Tu-16 conducted a flypast for both hosts and guests, documented in photographs.

Volodymyr Zinchenko, a technician working on the aircraft, painted a Ukrainian flag on the nose of this Tu-16 and its sister ship – a symbolic gesture of pride by Ukrainian aviators. The final flight of this Tu-16 took place in 1992, after which the aircraft was disarmed and subsequently disassembled.

In 2025, our team acquired this part with the help of Ukrainian aviation enthusiasts, and it can now be appreciated by aviation enthusiasts around the world.