# Stalin's Bomber; the Remarkable Tupolev Tu-4



## nuuumannn (Dec 8, 2017)

Hi Guys, the most recent addition to my warbird site is the 'B-29-ski - Soviet Superfortress' the Tupolev Tu-4. I have added the aeroplane as a focus page examining its history and design aspects, as well as images. The development of the Tu-4 was an incredible story and researching the text, which forms the basis of an article for a magazine, gave me a better appreciation of both the aircraft itself and the B-29 from whence it came. The Boeing bomber really was a big advance over its predecessors, so to the Russians it was positively alien. Many of the tools and techniques employed in the B-29's construction were just not used by the Soviets when they began building the Tu-4. Whilst I was in China I saw two of the last three surviving complete examples of the Tu-4, and I had photographed the only Russian survivor many years ago at Monino, so take a look at these images, then link to the What's New page below.





Monino




Crew positions




Powerplant




Landing gear




Armament




Fuselage

Link to page: Warbirds | Warbirds Walkaround

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## airminded88 (Dec 8, 2017)

Cool photographs!
I have always found the story of the Tu-4 very fascinating and would like to learn more about it.

Cheers


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## Peter Gunn (Dec 8, 2017)

Nice pics! Thanks.

Man those are some big time props on that thing, and what engines is it sporting?


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## Elmas (Dec 8, 2017)

_View: https://youtu.be/S7Wzs7GLqmk_


It is very amusing that the Russian engineers did realize that certain small defects of the plane could have been corrected but, since Stalin had ordered to reproduce the B-29 _exactly as it was_, they did not dare to do it ...

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## vikingBerserker (Dec 8, 2017)

It is very impressive how they reversed engineered them.

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## Wurger (Dec 8, 2017)




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## fubar57 (Dec 8, 2017)

Good stuff. It don't look right the them engines


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## Gnomey (Dec 8, 2017)

Great shots!


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## nuuumannn (Dec 8, 2017)

airminded88 said:


> I have always found the story of the Tu-4 very fascinating and would like to learn more about it.



Click on the link and you can! 



Peter Gunn said:


> and what engines is it sporting?



Ditto re the link.



Elmas said:


> since Stalin had ordered to reproduce the B-29 _exactly as it was_, they did not dare to do it



You got it. It's difficult for us in our societies today to fathom that kind of ruthless power.



fubar57 said:


> It don't look right with them engines



Yep, Geo, I've always thought the B-29 was a sexy beast, but those nacelles don't do any good at all to its looks.

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## Graeme (Dec 9, 2017)

Nice photos and story Grant! 

Sometimes forgotten is Tupolev built a civil version before the Tu-4 flew....

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## Graeme (Dec 9, 2017)



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## Airframes (Dec 9, 2017)

Great stuff.


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## parsifal (Dec 9, 2017)

amazing


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## nuuumannn (Dec 9, 2017)

Graeme said:


> Sometimes forgotten is Tupolev built a civil version before the Tu-4 flew



Yes, the Tu-12 or 'Samolyot 70' later Tu-70. Note that it has the B-29 style nose glazing; it actually incorporated components from captured B-29s, including outer wings, engine nacelles, flaps, undercarriage etc; so a lot of B-29 in there. Only the fuselage was new, really. The prototype flew in October 1946, four months before the prototype B-4 (Tu-4), which was the copy, not incorporating B-29 parts. A pure cargo variant was also built, the Tu-75, which had a slightly different fuselage to the Tu-70.


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## Peter Gunn (Dec 11, 2017)

nuuumannn said:


> Click on the link and you can!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Ahh, many thanks, the Mark I Eyeball system I am using apparently suffered a major failure and I missed it.


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## Wayne Little (Dec 12, 2017)

Cool stuff.


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