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Old August 5th, 2017 #10
Ray Allan
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Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 15,170
Default Tu-4: Russian B-29

While not a Lend-Lease item, the USSR produced in postwar a close copy of the American Boeing B-29 Superfortress called the Tu-4 (NATO name: "Bull"). In WW2, 3 USAAF B-29s made emergency landings in Soviet territory after bombing missions over Japan. Lacking a modern heavy bomber of his own, Stalin ordered the design bureau of Andrei N. Tupolev to reverse-engineer the B-29, and the first Soviet-made version, the Tu-4, first flew in 1947 and entered service in 1949. The aircraft dropped the first Soviet atomic bomb the same year. Tu-4 spawned a number of other Soviet military bombers and transports in addition to civilian airliners. An interesting fact about the B-29 is both the present-day Russian Tu-95 "Bear" series and the US B-52 bomber are descendants of this airplane.

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Last edited by Ray Allan; August 5th, 2017 at 05:23 PM.