Inside a Russian Tu-4

[Old SAR pilot]

Neat pics of the interior of a Russian copy of the B-29 at englishrussia.com:

http://englishrussia.com/2013/05/23/the ... y/#respond

[sandiego89]

Neat, thanks for posting. Looks like the only thing that was not copied from the B-29 was the interior paint color- pretty horrid interior green.

[peter]

Interesting pictures, what a sick color green inside though ugh.. She needs some TLC you can almost smell the mold!

[The Inspector]

Fascinating peek! can't imagine how many invectives were tossed around due to that what looks like a Schrader valve on the bottom of the ammo bin.Thanks

[Digger]

Great pics,

I read somewhere - and this may have been just a cold war story - that the Soviets actually got a hold of the B-29 drawings and the Tu-4 was the result.

Is this true? and are the similarities that close that the Soviets must have had the technical data or at least an aircraft to copy?

If they are so much alike, would it be possible there are some interchangable parts, sections etc


Peter

[Tiger Tim]

The story I had heard was one way or another Russia ended up with three B-29s by the end of WWII which they refused to return to the United States. Sometime thereafter at a big public event (a May Day parade or something?) three B-29s did a fly by in formation, then a pause for effect, then a FOURTH flew by! At that point there could be no doubt the B-29 had been reverse engineered.

Wikipedia has a decent article on it, IIRC, but I'm on my phone at the moment so linking it is a pain.

-Tim

[The Inspector]

Actually, while his entire design team was under political arrest by Stalin, Tupolev was TOLD he better have a flying copy ready in 18 months from....NOW or 'tough poopski comrade, you might learn to like Siberia'.
They did manage to convert from SAE to metric and reverse engineer everything including a damage repair patch on the vertical of the H.H. Arnold Spl. in the allotted time frame.
After the war the Russians tried to order wheels and tires that fit the B-29 from GOODYEAR. They also built 1 TU-70 airliner based on the TU-4 not a handsome airplane at all, sort of DC-6 via Brabazon Committee.

[Chris Brame]

More like a deflated Stratocruiser?

[maxum96]

More like a deflated Stratocruiser?

Actually, not a bad looking airplane. I like it that they reused the B-29/TU4 nose glass.

[maxum96]

double post

[K5DH]

Neat pics of the interior of a Russian copy of the B-29 at englishrussia.com:
http://englishrussia.com/2013/05/23/the ... y/#respond

Proceed with caution, folks. When I clicked on the link, my Norton Antivirus software blocked an attempted virus attack.

[John Dupre]

So if it were possible to have a movie made catering to your own tastes I think one made about American warbird types caught somewhere with the only possibility of escape was restoring and flying a Tu 4 would be way cool. I don't care if it is technically unfeasable or dramatically unfathomable it would be cool.

[Digger]

So three B-29's flyover Stalins Parade followed by a fourth ie Tu-4.

Any ideas on the id's of the US B-29's involved? I'm assuming they may have been survivors from Japan bombings etc.


Peter Smythe

[The Inspector]

42-6256 B-29-5-BW 'Ramp Tramp' 462nd BG, 771st B.S. MACR 7178, aircraft later used as drop carrier mother plane for Soviet 346P X-1ski.
42-6358 B-29-15-BW' Ding Hao' 468th B.G. 794th B.S. MACR 9865.
42-6265 B-29-5-BW 'Gen. H.H. Arnold Spl' 468th B.G. 794th B.S. MACR 9664

[PbyCat-Guy]

Check this out documentary titled "Stealing the Superfortress" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Wzs7GLqmk