| I think the long range Tu-95 Bear by Tupolev was the aircraft that everyone expected the Soviets to use to cross over the Polar route in huge numbers.
"The Tu-95 BEAR was perhaps the most successful bomber produced by the Soviet aviation, enjoying long service in a variety of roles and configurations. It was the only bomber deployed by any country to use turbo-prop engines, which provided extraordinarily long endurance at speeds only slightly less than comparable turbojet-powered heavy bombers."
The Hercules was designed to carry a heavier nuclear warhead because the fragmentation warhead did not have the kill radius that a nuke has. So 40 Kt was supposed to air burst and damage a larger amount of bombers and render their payload harmless by igniting the HE portion of their warheads. Bigger job, bigger tool.
__________________  “War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.” —John Stuart Mill |