Stalin and the Bomb

by David Holloway

everyone liked Miasishchev’s M-201 bomber [as the new version was called], but you would not call it intercontinental in the full sense; the fuel supply was limited, and from the very beginning the designer had to rack his brains over inflight refuelling of the bomber.28 When Khrushchev complained that the 201M did not have a true intercontinental range, Miasishchev replied that it could bomb the United States and then land in Mexico. Khrushchev was not amused: “What do you think Mexico is – our mother-in-law? You think we can simply go calling any time we want? The Mexicans would never let us have the plane back.”