Tupolev Tu-4

September 30, 2025 - The ASh-73 also powered some of Aeroflot's remaining obsolescent Petlyakov Pe-8 airframes, a much-earlier Soviet four-engined heavy bomber, whose production was curtailed by higher-priority programs. The B-29's remote-controlled gun turrets were redesigned to accommodate the Soviet Nudelman NS-23, a harder-hitting and longer-ranged 23 mm (0.91 in) cannon. Additional changes were made as a result of problems encountered during testing related to engine and propeller failures, and equipment changes were made throughout the aircraft's service life. The Tu-4 first flew on 19 May 1947 and was flown by test pilot Nikolai Rybko.

The empennage was dominated by the decidedly Boeing-trademark - a large, curved vertical tail fin with applicable horizontal planes. The undercarriage was nothing more than two-wheeled main landing gear legs under the wings and the two-wheeled nose leg under the cockpit floor. The Tu-4 required a full operating crew of eleven personnel to operate the various onboard systems.

16 hours ago - 4 × Shvetsov ASh-73TK 18-cyl. air-cooled radial piston engines at 2,400 hp or 4 x AI-20K turboprop engines at 2,700 hp · Guns: 10 × 23 mm Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 aircraft cannon, two cannon in each of the four turrets and two cannon in the tail barbette Missiles: 2 × KS-1 Komet standoff missiles (Tu-4K only; these anti-ship missiles resembled a scaled-down MiG-15) Bombs: 6 × 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) bombs or 1 x RDS-1, RDS-3 or RDS-5 nuclear fission bomb (Tu-4A only)

May 17, 2024 - -The radio was changed to one off a B-25 lend lease bomber, and the IFF system was changed · Incidentally there were some equipment mounts from removed equipment that were present in the sample the Soviets copied. They showed up on the Tu-4 because they wanted it to be exact. ... The funniest part for me they copied ashtrays in cockpit...

Stalin quickly ordered the reverse engineering of the three bombers into a new Soviet heavy bomber, and assigned the daunting task to Andrei Tupolev. The first aircraft was disassembled down to each screw to be studied, the second was repaired for flight testing, and the third, being the most minimally damaged, was left as a standard reference for the designers. In total, 900 factories and research institutes were involved in the project. The most significant change was in the engine department and armament, with the Tu-4 being powered by Soviet-built copies of the Wright R-3350 engines used in the B-29 and the .50 cal turrets replaced with NS-23 cannon turrets.

May 28, 2023 - The caption states that this KS-1 is under the wing of a Tu-4K but it is actually the swept wing of a later Tu-16 Badger jet bomber. A Tu-4K with KS-1 missiles in flight. The Raduga KS-1 Komet (NATO code name: Kennel) was the Soviets first short range air-to-surface missile, primarily developed for anti-ship missions. It resembled a scaled down MiG-15 jet with the cockpit and undercarriage removed.

January 30, 2023 - The Tupolev Tu-4 was fitted with a mixed complement of bomb racks, including the KD4-546A and KD4-546A. However, from Kazan’-built Tu-4 c/n 225701 onwards, a standardized set of bomb racks was introduced, enabling the aircraft to carry FAB-250M46 and FAB-500M46 bombs on two rows of shackles.

July 3, 2025 - The Tu-4’s defensive armament mirrored the B-29’s ten, .50-caliber machine guns, but later models replaced these with 23mm cannons for improved firepower. Remarkably, the Soviets even replicated minor details of the B-29, from the shape of the wing rivets to the color of the cockpit paint.

October 4, 2024 - Alike as two peas?’ So, for that reason, a very small hole indeed, made with the thinnest possible drill, appeared on the left wing of all Tu-4 strategic bombers…’” · and a better known variant regarding interior paint: See also Tu-95 Strategic Bomber - Cold War Giant and World’s Noisiest Aircraft Ever · “The scroll tunnel connecting cockpit and rear parts of the bomber was half green and half white, because Boeing run out of one of the color when painting this particular specimen.

…of this effort was the Tu-4, the first truly strategic Soviet bomber. Tupolev simultaneously converted the Tu-4 for civilian use as the Tu-70, setting a precedent that he would later follow for several other military aircraft.

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The Bull is a midwing, four-engine, medium bomber with two bomb bays centrally located in the fuselage, extending fore and aft of the wing. Defensive armament consists of four turrets located in upper forward, lower forward, lower rear, and tail positions. The first B-4 bomber was finished ...

November 7, 2023 - This event presented a unique opportunity to the Soviets — the chance to reverse-engineer one of the world’s most advanced bombers. Led by Andrei Tupolev, one of the Soviet Union’s foremost aircraft designers, a team was assembled to reverse-engineer the B-29 down to its last rivet. Every component was meticulously disassembled, studied, and duplicated. A Chinese Tu-4.

ANT-64 - What might have been if the Tu-4 wasn't

Initial flight of an upgraded aircraft was in late 2014, with the last redelivered in 2020. A second-stage "Tu-160M" -- originally "Tu-160M2" -- upgrade is adding a full glass cockpit and a modernized NVI-70 (Novella-70) radar, plus other updated avionics systems. Much the same updates are being provided to the upgraded Tu-22M3M "Backfire" bomber.

December 14, 2025 - A new requirement was issued to both Tupolev and Myasishchev design bureaus in 1950: the proposed bomber had to have an un-refueled range of 8,000 km (5,000 mi), far enough to threaten key targets in the United States. Other goals included the ability to carry an 11,000 kg (24,000 lb) load over the target. Tupolev was faced with selecting a suitable type of powerplant: the Tu-4 showed that piston engines were not powerful enough for such a large aircraft, and the AM-3 jet engines for the proposed T-4 intercontinental jet bomber used too much fuel to give the required range.

Tupolev Tu-4 - bomber, photo, technical data, development history

May 17, 2024 - Tupolev Tu-4. When The Soviets Reverse Engineered The Boeing B-29 Superfortress, 1943 [1078X1500] ... Ki-61, captured by the Americans in Tokyo in September 1945. The pilot of this plane shot down 12 B-29 heavy bombers.

December 11, 2025 - Its landing speed was 100 km/h (60 mph) greater than previous bombers and it had a tendency to pitch up and strike its tail upon landing. It was difficult to fly, and had poor all-round visibility. In 1962, Tupolev commenced work on a major update of the Tu-22. Initially, the bureau planned to add a variable-sweep wing and uprated engines into the updated design. The design was tested at TsAGI's wind tunnels at Zhukovsky. During this time Sukhoi developed the T-4, a four-engine titanium aircraft with canards.