The Tupolev Tu-4 (NATO reporting name: Bull) was a pistonengined Soviet strategic bomber that served the

Soviet Air Force from the late 1940s to mid1960s. It was a reverse-engineered copy of the U.S.-made Boeing B-29 Superfortress.
Contents
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1 Design and development

1.1 First public appearance

2 Operational history

3 Variants

4 Operators
o

4.1 Soviet Union

4.2 People's Republic of China

5 Survivors

6 Specifications (Tu-4)

7 See also

8 References

8.1 Notes

8.2 Bibliography
9 External links

Design and development[edit]

Tu-4 and MiG-9

Toward the end of World War II, the Soviet Union saw the need for a strategic bombing
capability similar to that of the United States Army Air Forces. The Soviet VVS air arm had the
locally designed Petlyakov Pe-8 four-engined "heavy" in service at the start of the war, but only
93 had been built by the end of the war and the type was limited by having been equipped
with unreliable turbocharged V12 diesel engines at the start of its service to give it longer
range. The U.S. regularly conducted bombing raids on Japan, from distant Pacific forward
bases using B-29 Superfortresses. Joseph Stalin ordered the development of a comparable
bomber.
The U.S. twice refused to supply the Soviet Union with B-29s under Lend Lease.[1][2] However,
on four occasions during 1944, individual B-29s made emergency landings in Soviet territory
and one crashed after the crew bailed out.[3] In accordance with the SovietJapanese Neutrality
Pact, the Soviets were neutral in the Pacific War and the bombers were therefore interned and
kept by the Soviets. Despite Soviet neutrality, America demanded the return of the bombers,
but the Soviets refused.[4] Three repairable B-29s were flown to Moscow and delivered to
theTupolev OKB. One B-29 was dismantled, the second was used for flight tests and training,
and the third one was left as a standard for cross-reference. [5] With the Soviet declaration of
war against Japan in accordance with theYalta agreement to enter the war within 90 days of
VE day (to allow it time to move its forces from Europe to Asia) at about 11pm on August 8,
1945two days after the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the subsequent entente with
Japan ending, the fourth B-29 was returned to the US along with its crew.[6]
Stalin told Tupolev to clone the Superfortress in as short a time as possible instead of
continuing with his own comparable ANT-64,[7] and Soviet industry was to produce 20 copies of
the aircraft ready for State acceptance trials in just two years. [8]
The Soviet Union used the metric system, thus sheet aluminum in thicknesses matching the B29's imperial measurements were unavailable. The corresponding metric-gauge metal was of
different thicknesses. Alloys and other materials new to the Soviet Union had to be brought into
production. Extensive re-engineering had to take place to compensate for the differences, and
Soviet official strength margins had to be decreased to avoid further redesign, [9] yet despite
these challenges the prototype Tu-4 only weighed about 340 kg (750 lb) more than the B-29, a
difference of less than 1%.[10]
The engineers and suppliers of components were under pressure from Tupolev, Stalin, and the
government to create an exact clone of the original B-29 to facilitate production and Tupolev
had to overcome substantial resistance in favor of using equipment that was not only already in
production but in some cases better than the American version.[11] Each component made and
each alteration was scrutinized and was subject to a lengthy bureaucratic process. Differences
were limited to the engines, the defensive weapons, the radio (a later model used in lend-lease
B-25s was used in place of the radio in the interned B-29s) and the identification friend or

foe (IFF) system the American IFF being unsuitable.[12] The Soviet engine, the Shvetsov ASh73 was a development of the Wright R-1820 but was not otherwise related to the B-29's Wright
R-3350.[13] and the remote-controlled gun turrets were redesigned to accommodate the harder
hitting and longer ranged Soviet Nudelman NS-23 23mm cannon.[14] Kerber, Tupolev's deputy
at the time, recalled in his memoirs that engineers needed authorization from a high-ranking
general to use Soviet-made parachutes.[5] Additional changes were made as a result of
problems encountered during testing, related to engine and propeller failures [15] and equipment
changes were made throughout the aircraft's service life. [16] Although it has been widely quoted,
the Tu-4 did not have a random hole drilled in the wing either to emulate a bullet hole or
because a Boeing engineer made a mistake the Soviets had three complete aircraft and the
wreckage of a fourth and the likelihood of all four having a hole in the same place is too small
to be credible.[citation needed] The aircraft included 1 Boeing-Wichita 5-BW, 2 Boeing-Wichita 15BWs and the wreckage of 1 Boeing-Renton 1-BN three different models from two different
production lines. Only one of the 4 had de-icing boots as used on the Tu-4. [17]
The Tu-4 first flew on 19 May 1947, piloted by test pilot Nikolai Rybko.[18] Serial production
started immediately, and the type entered large-scale service in 1949. Entry into service of the
Tu-4 threw the USAF into a panic, since the Tu-4 possessed sufficient range to
attack Chicago or Los Angeles on a one-way mission, and this may have informed the
maneuvers and air combat practice conducted by US and British air forces in 1948 involving
fleets of B-29s.[19] Some attempts to develop midair refueling systems were made to extend the
bomber's range, but these were fitted to only a few aircraft.

First public appearance[edit]

The aircraft was first displayed during a flyover at the Aviation Day parade on 3 August 1947 at
the Tushino Airport in Moscow. Three aircraft flew overhead. It was assumed that these were
merely the three B-29 bombers that were known to have been diverted to the USSR during
World War II. Minutes later a fourth aircraft appeared. Western analysts realized that the
Soviets must have reverse-engineered the B-29. [20] The appearance of an obviously
Superfortress-derived Tu-70 transport over the crowd removed any doubt about the success of
the reverse-engineering.

Operational history[edit]
Eight hundred and forty-seven Tu-4s had been built when production ended in the Soviet
Union in 1952, some going to China during the later 1950s. Many experimental variants were
built and the valuable experience launched the Soviet strategic bomber program. Tu-4s were
withdrawn in the 1960s, being replaced by more advanced aircraft including the Tupolev Tu16 jet bomber (starting in 1954) and the Tupolev Tu-95 turboprop bomber (starting in 1956). By
the beginning of the 1960s, the only Tu-4s still operated by the Soviets were used for transport

or airborne laboratory purposes. A Tu-4A was the first Soviet aircraft to drop a nuclear weapon,
the RDS-1.[21]