Tupolev Tu-22M0 / Tu-22M1 (Backfire-A)
The first swing-wing Backfires — 18 pre-production and pilot-series aircraft · First flight 1969 · Built 1969–1972
Although it was given a Tu-22 designation, the Tu-22M was almost a completely new aircraft. It replaced the fixed wing of the Tu-22 "Blinder" with variable-sweep outer panels and moved the engines into the rear fuselage, fed by intakes on either side of the cockpit. The first Tu-22M0 flew on 30 August 1969, and nine of these pre-production aircraft were built.
They were followed by nine pilot-production Tu-22M1s, built in 1971–72. Western intelligence knew the early aircraft as Backfire-A. Their main job was to prove the design before series production of the Tu-22M2 began in 1972.
Two early aircraft survive in museums: Tu-22M0 "33" at the Central Air Force Museum at Monino near Moscow, and a Tu-22M1 at the Riga Aviation Museum in Latvia.
