Tupolev Tu-4 (Bull)

History of Tupolev Tu-4 (Bull)

During World War II, the Soviet Union was threatened by Imperial Japan in the East and Nazi Germany in the West. Its commitment to the war effort on both fronts requires a base stockpile of medium bombers that can reach both fronts. The Soviet Union's main strength was its long-range aviation, but this unit was responsible for managing a fairly limited number of dozens of Petlyakov Pe-8 bombers. As the war drew to a close, the West especially the United States saw itself as the Soviet Unions new enemy, posing a serious challenge to its existing fleet of bombers that could be brought into service once the war broke out. end. The new Soviet nuclear program also started in 1943 and continued to rely on successful long-range, high-flying weapons platforms.

The Americans lent a large amount of war material to the Soviet Union (contrary to Stalin's interpretation) during the battle with Germany, including Douglas DC-3 transports and North American B-25 medium bombers. However, none of these airframes can be converted into a more suitable role.

While the Soviet Union did manage to "requisition" some four-engine Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and Joint B-24 Liberators that landed on Soviet soil when necessary, these aircraft were inherently limited, especially on modern battlefields and early days The days are completely past their prime.

Instead, the United States has enjoyed great success with its new long-range four-engine heavy bomber, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, which regularly visits mainland Japan from far-flung bases. The U.S. military's need to cover vast ocean views during the battle against the Japanese Empire prompted the need for such aircraft.

Concerned about the Americans gaining a technological advantage, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin called for a design with similar scope and capabilities to the B-29.

In 1944, the Soviet companies Tupolev and Myasishchev were commissioned to develop the aircraft, but neither of them knew how to make it possible. Due to the technical requirements involved, the initial design was hampered and all further work on these early projects came to a complete halt. However, in 1944, the Soviets found their luck when three B-29s made an emergency landing after completing their mission to mainland Japan. These B-29s immediately became Stalin's property, and the technical hurdles that limited the Soviet Union's initial efforts were now lifted.

Then, Tupolev's concerns were ordered to simply copy the American design - thus the Tupolev "Tu-4" was born. The first flight of the prototype was recorded on May 19, 1947, when the aircraft officially entered service in 1949. Production of the "new" bomber began in the same year and continued until 1952, with 847 eventually produced. The Tu-4 served in the Soviet Air Force and was handed over to Allied China in the 1950s.

All told, the Soviet Union had three complete B-29 bombers (the most famous of which was the "Ramp Tramp") and what the US Air Force said crashed in Siberia as a fourth. Their crews were held for months, and they were interrogated before being released - a Soviet practice.

The Soviet Union made little disguise about the fact that their Tu-4 was just a replica of the American B-29. This type is very similar in form and function to American-made products - every rivet has been carefully considered. Essentially, the Tu-4 adopted Soviet weapons, engines, and instrumentation to meet Soviet requirements for an aircraft, while still largely retaining the B-29's cigar-shaped fuselage and its heavily glassed cockpit cockpit . Weapon stations unique to the B-29 have been placed in place, in keeping with the Soviet design. The wings were still mid-mounted monoplanes extending some distance from the fuselage, each with a pair of large engine nacelles with massive four-bladed propellers.

The tail is dominated by Boeing's proprietary trademark - a large curved vertical tail with a horizontal surface. The landing gear consisted of only two wheel main landing gear struts under the wings and two wheel front struts under the cockpit floor. The Tu-4 requires 11 full operators to operate various onboard systems. Propulsion is provided by four Shvetsov ASh-73TK 18-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines, each producing 2,400 horsepower.

That gives the plane a top speed of 347 mph, a range of 3,355 miles, and a service ceiling of 36,745 feet. By comparison, the B-29 was powered by four Wright R-3350-23/23A turbocharged radial piston engines producing 2,200 horsepower, had a top speed of 357 mph, a range of 5,600 miles, a service ceiling of 32,000 feet, and Carry 20,000 lbs of internal ordnance while being defended by 12 x 12.7mm Browning machine guns and 1 x 20mm cannon.

Defense of the Tu-4 is provided by a network of 10 x 23 mm Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 series air cannons. The two guns were mounted through four separate turrets, two at the top and two at the bottom of the hull.

The standard bomb load consists of 6 x 2,205 lb conventional bombs, although in the event of a nuclear war or for deterrence these bombs will be replaced by a single RDS-1, RDS-3 or RDS-5 nuke. Anti-ship version of the aircraft This resulted in the use of a pair of KS-1 "Komet" anti-ship missiles.

The main production model "Bull" was simply called "Tu-4". From this, the already mentioned anti-ship variant was further developed as "Tu-4K" and equipped with KS-1 "Komet" anti-ship missiles. Two further developments of the Tu-4 bomber were also proposed, with improvements to the obsolete Tu-80 and Tu-85 under the designation "barge" - only one and two prototypes were built, respectively. The Tu-75 introduced a dedicated cargo transport aircraft, and the passenger version became the Tu-70 "Carl". Neither design has been mass-produced, with each appearing only in "one-off" prototypes.

The Tu-4 was first spotted by Western observers on August 3, 1947, during the Aviation Day celebrations at Moscow's Tushino Airport. Three flew through the crowd during the celebration, followed by a fourth - proving that the Soviets had mastered the art of duplicating advanced American technology.

The Tu-4 then became an integral part of the evolving Cold War landscape, placing Western targets within the reach of nuclear weapons for the first time in historya fact that shocked American war planners in the West.

In February 1953, the USSR delivered 10 Tu-4 bombers to neighboring China, from where China attempted to supply its own "AWACS" airborne radar platform, which was operated by Ivchenko AI- Powered by a 20K engine. The "project name" was developed from 1967. The project ultimately failed and ended with the cancellation of the project in 1971.

The Chinese continued to use the Tu-4 as a long-range strategic bomber until 1988.

The Soviet Union kept their Tu-4 at the forefront until the 1950s when the type began to give way to a new generation of Tupolev Tu-16 Badger strategic bombers. These continued successful careers culminated in more than 1,000 examples.

The last Tu-4 of the Soviet Air Force was decommissioned in the early 1960s.

The B-29 allowed the Soviets to fill a technological gap and set the stage for their greatest aircraft initiative of the Cold War, the upcoming Tu-95 Bear bomber.

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