At the end of World War II, many German engineers were 'seconded' by the Soviet government to continue their advanced research under direct supervision of the USSR.

By early 1948 Semyon Alekseyev had been appointed supervisor/chief warden/supervisor of OKB-1, with Dr. Brunolf Baade remaining as chief designer.

This has caused confusion in the past with '150' being ascribed to Alekseyev and not OKB-1 (OKB-1 was not named after Baade for propaganda reasons).

The outrigger undercarriages were mounted in large pods at the wingtips which also served as endplates and anti-flutter balance weights.

The twin-wheeled nose and main gears had levered suspension and different tracks to improve rough-field performance.

The kneeling undercarriage was initiated at the start of the takeoff run and gradually bled oil out of the Oleo-pneumatic strut until the required incidence of three degrees was reached just before liftoff.

The co-pilot/radio-operator and dorsal gunner were accommodated under a large greenhouse-style canopy, the navigator in the extreme nose, and the tail-gunner in his own pressure cabin sitting on a downward-firing ejection seat.

The forward compartment crew members were intended to have ejection seats but photographic evidence in the reference given does not show this.

Baade was in constant contact with the 'powers that be' defending the slow progress but falling short of blaming the paranoid administration system.

The seventeenth flight on 9 May 1953 proved to be the last, when the pilot Yakov Vernikov misjudged the flare on landing, the aircraft ballooned and stalled into the runway from approx 10m.