Monoplane

Tupolev Tu-72 / Tu-73

TerryLeave a comment
Tu-73

The bureau developed the Tu-72 as a contender for the Soviet air force’s main light bomber requirement, which was ultimately met by the cheaper Il-28. It was to be a mid-winged, twin-engined aircraft without sweep, and the engines were due to be hung under the wings. Rolls-Royce Nenes were the chosen powerplants, but Air Force worries over the adequacy of two engines to power an aircraft of this size and weight led Tupolev to design a similar, but slightly larger aircraft, the Tu-73, with a third engine, this time a 3500-lb / 1600kg Rolls-Royce Derwent, fitted in the tail but with an S-shaped duct air intake noticeable at the front of the fin. While design work of both aircraft continued in parallel, it was the three-engined Tu-73 that was actually built.

Its first flight was made on 29 December 1947. It went well. During state tests, its performance was measured as top speed 870km/h, range 2,800km, and service ceiling 11,500m.

The Tu-74 (or Tu-73R) was a proposed photo-reconnaissance version which was not developed.

The Tu-78 and Tu-79 were essentially the Tu-73 but with Soviet licence-built Rolls-Royce engines.

Tu-73
Engines: 2 x 2270kg Rolls Royce Nene I and 1 x 1589kg Derwent V turbojet
Max take-off weight: 24200 kg / 53352 lb
Empty weight: 14340 kg / 31614 lb
Wingspan: 21.71 m / 71 ft 3 in
Length: 20.32 m / 67 ft 8 in
Wing area: 67.36 sq.m / 725.06 sq ft
Max. speed: 872 km/h / 542 mph
Range: 2810 km / 1746 miles
Armament: 6 x 23mm cannon
Bombload: 3000kg

Tupolev Tu-73

Tupolev Tu-70

TerryLeave a comment

The Tu-70, NATO code name ‘Cart’, was a one-off long range airliner development from the Boeing B-29/Tupolev Tu-4. The prototype, incorporating a B-29 landing gear, tail unit and engines, first flew on 27 November 1946, designed for crew of eight and 48 VIP passengers, but used with crew of six and 72 passengers as staff transport for air force. A new nose with conventional cockpit/flight deck instead of low-drag Superfortress-style nose was built.

Engines: 4 x ASh-73TK, 1770hp
Max take-off weight: 51400 kg / 113318 lb
Empty weight: 38290 kg / 84415 lb
Wingspan: 43.05 m / 141 ft 3 in
Length: 35.61 m / 117 ft 10 in
Height: 9.75 m / 32 ft 0 in
Wing area: 161.7 sq.m / 1740.52 sq ft
Max. speed: 560 km/h / 348 mph
Range: 4900 km / 3045 miles
Crew: 6
Passengers: 48

Tupolev Tu-70

Tupolev Tu-85

TerryLeave a comment

At the end of the 1940s, Vladimir Dobrynin’s engine design bureau had developed a new air-cooled, twenty-four cylinder in-line piston engine, the VD-4K, which offered a 4,300hp supercharged power output. Dmitri Markov set about designing a very long-range strategic bomber with these engines. Starting from the Tu-80 he began by designing a high-aspect wing with increased span – now it was 55.94m compared to the 43.83m of the Tu-75 and Tu-80, and wing area was 273.6sq.m, compared to 162.7sq.m. Wing aspect ratio was 11.4:1.

This allowed the new aircraft to carry forty-four tonnes of fuel which would give it a range of 12,000km. He streamlined the fuselage, and provided accommodation for a second crew which would be needed with the aircraft’s twenty-six hour endurance capability. Normal crew was eight so the Tu-85 carried sixteen in a pressurised cabin. The Tu-85 was fitted with large four-blade propellers, and it was armed with five turrets each fitted with a pair of NR-23 cannons which could be remotely controlled by a gunner, who had a screen to show the arc of fire from each position a development of the B-29/Tu-4 system.

The Tu-85 was constructed at factory N 156 in 1949 and 1950. When completed, it was brought to Zhukovski aerodrome, reassembled and readied for flight. On 9 January 1951, Aleksei Pereliot was in command as it took off for the first time.

In factory and state tests, it gave excellent results. Although its empty weight was 55.4 tonnes and its normal take-off weight seventy-five tonnes, it could take off at 107 tonnes when necessary, allowing it to carry the enormous fuel load needed to achieve its 12,300km range with a five-tonne payload, or to increase its normal five-tonne bomb load to twenty tonnes. Cruising speed for maximum range was established at 450km/h, but maximum speed was much higher. At low level, it was measured at 563km/h, and at a level of 10,000m it reached 665km/h.

By now, turbine engines were establishing themselves and offering higher speeds with lower fuel burns. The Tu-85 was the end of the line for Tupolev’s piston-engined, and also for Soviet aircraft. Limited flight trials were undertaken but further development was later cancelled. Only one Tu-85, the prototype was built. It was the last large Tupolev aircraft without swept wings.

Engines: 4 x VD-4K piston engines, 3160hp
Max take-off weight: 107000 kg / 235896 lb
Empty weight: 55400 kg / 122137 lb
Wingspan: 55.94 m / 184 ft 6 in
Length: 39.31 m / 129 ft 12 in
Height: 11.36 m / 37 ft 3 in
Wing area: 273.6 sq.m / 2945.00 sq ft
Max. speed: 665 km/h / 413 mph
Cruise speed: 563 km/h / 350 mph
Ceiling: 13000 m / 42650 ft
Range: 13000 km / 8078 miles
Crew: 11-16

Tupolev Tu-85

Tupolev Tu-80

TerryLeave a comment

At the end of 1948, just as production Tu-4s were beginning to be delivered to the VVS, Tupolev and Markov began work on a replacement. In a sense, it was an improved B-29 design, with a major programme to trim weight and thus to improve performance.

A new wing with better aerodynamic qualities and with a lighter but stronger spar was developed with integral wing tankage. The fuselage was lightened and the round Tu-4 nose of the same chord as the fuselage was replaced with one in which the cockpit was raised above the nose for improved visibility. A new, more angular tail was also built, with a distinctive dorsal fin. Its engines were four of Shvetsov’s ASh-73TKFNs, a Soviet-built turbocharged version of the original B-29 engines.

All these changes resulted in the Tu-80 being substantially lighter than the Tu-4, and this allowed it to carry more fuel. Its first flight was made on 1 December 1949 from Zhukovski. In state tests, its maximum speed was established as 640km/h. But the Tu-80 was just another step on the way to the Soviet Union achieving a long-range strategic bomber. With the coming of age of turbines, it was not developed beyond its test programme.

Engines: 4 x ASh-73FN, 1770hp
Max take-off weight: 67200 kg / 148151 lb
Empty weight: 41030 kg / 90456 lb
Wingspan: 44.3 m / 145 ft 4 in
Length: 36.6 m / 120 ft 1 in
Height: 8.91 m / 29 ft 3 in
Wing area: 173.1 sq.m / 1863.23 sq ft
Max. speed: 650 km/h / 404 mph
Ceiling: 11180 m / 36700 ft
Range: 7000-8000 km / 4350 – 4971 miles
Crew: 11

Tupolev Tu-80

Tupolev Tu-10

TerryLeave a comment

Another Tu-2 variant was the Tu-10. This was a four-crew aircraft fitted with inline Mikulin AM-39FNVs of 1850hp. Its first flight took place on 19 May 1945, and it proved to have perhaps the best performance of any Tu-2. At 8600m it attained a speed of 641km/h. Ceiling was 10,450m but range fell to 1,740km. A small batch was produced in Omsk between 1945 and 1947.

Tupolev Tu-4

TerryLeave a comment

Three examples of the Boeing B-29 arrived in late 1944 (examples of which had made emergency landings in Russia during 1944 in the course of operations against Japan); one being dissected and analysed, and the other two used as crew trainers and evaluation.

The Soviet Union built the Tu-4 by copying them as a virtual exterior clone of the B-29 but with significant interior modifications. It was a heavier aircraft and did not possess either the pressurised tunnel linking the forward to midships crew locations or the integral fuel tankage of the B-29. The first of a 20-aircraft pre-production batch flew on 3 July 1947.

Placed in service in 1948, series production terminated after over 400 aircraft had been delivered in 1952, by which time the Tu-4 was in large scale service with the Soviet DA (Long-Range Aviation), being accorded the NATO reporting name ‘Bull’. Some were used as wingtip-to-wingtip inflight-refuelling tankers, others as conventional HDU-equipped tankers.

It is reported that about 1200 were built.

The type was exported to China where some were re-engined with Ivchenko AI-20 turboprops and were sporadically used into the 1990s as AEW and drone launching platforms.

Chinese Tu-4 with TVD AI-20

Gallery

Engines: 4 x ASh-90, 1705kW
Max take-off weight: 61300 kg / 135144 lb
Empty weight: 35000 kg / 77162 lb
Wingspan: 43.1 m / 141 ft 5 in
Length: 30.2 m / 99 ft 1 in
Height: 8.5 m / 28 ft 11 in
Wing area: 161.5 sq.m / 1738.37 sq ft
Max. speed: 570 km/h / 354 mph
Ceiling: 11000 m / 36100 ft
Range w/max.payload: 5000 km / 3107 miles
Crew: 11
Armament: 5 x 23mm cannons
Bombload: 5000kg

Tupolev Tu-4

Tupolev ANT-58 / ANT-59 / ANT-60 / Tu-2

TerryLeave a comment

The origin of the Tupolev Tu-2 lay in the ANT-58, ANT-59 and ANT-60 light bomber prototypes that came from the design bureau of Andrei N. Tupolev during 1938-40. Powered by two 1044kW Mikulin AM-37 V-12 engines, the ANT-58 made its first flight on 29 January 1941.

The ANT-60 was re-engined with the big and powerful 1104kW M-82 radials because of the relative unreliability of the AM-37s. The result was the definitive Tu-2 bomber that was to see service with the V-VS during the last year of World War II and well into the 1950s.

Soviet industry was still in a state of upheaval following the years of 1941-2, when the German army struck deep into Belorussia and the Ukraine. The Tu-2 was too complicated an aircraft for the conditions prevailing, and after many months in which the Tu-2 was modified and simplified for the mass production lines, the Tu-2S (Seriinyi, or series) appeared, flying for the first time on 26 August 1943. A small number of Tu-2s had previously been passed to front line regiments in September 1942, where their performance, armament and bombload had received general enthusiasm.

Tupolev Tu-2 Article

By January 1944 the first production Tu-2 and Tu-2S bombers had been passed to the regiments of the V-VS, but it was not until June of that year that Tu-2s saw action on a large scale. The sector was the Karelian (Finnish) front in the north where the V-VS forces, under the overall command of General A.A. Novikov, numbered 757 aircraft of the 13th VA (Air Army), the V-VS KBF (Red Banner Baltic Fleet) and the 2nd GVIAK (guards fighter corps). Of the 249 Tu-2 and Petlyakov Pe-2 light bombers in the Soviet order of battle, many came under Colonel I.P. Skok’s 334th Bomber Air Division which subsequently received a citation for its work. Reconnaissance work was now being carried out by Tu-2D and Tu-2R aircraft with modified mainplanes, nose glazing, and capacity for vertical and oblique cameras. Wartime production of the Tupolev Tu-2 and its sub-types amounted to 1,111. As a bomber it did not come into its own until the autumn of 1944. However, as German resistance stiffened on nearing the eastern borders of the Reich V-VS bombers, including Tupolev Tu-2s, were called up to attack strongpoints at Kustrin and other fortified ports and cities. September 1945 saw many Tu-2s in action against the Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria before the final surrender.

Tu-2

Tupolev was awarded a Stalin Prize for his Tu 2 medium bomber, the only wholly new Soviet wartime aircraft to go into production.

Variation:
Sukhoi UTB-2

Gallery

Tu-2S
Engines: 2 x ASh-82FNV, 1380kW
Max take-off weight: 11360 kg / 25045 lb
Empty weight: 7474 kg / 16477 lb
Wingspan: 18.86 m / 62 ft 11 in
Length: 13.8 m / 45 ft 3 in
Height: 4.55 m / 15 ft 11 in
Wing area: 48.8 sq.m / 525.28 sq ft
Max. speed: 550 km/h / 342 mph
Ceiling: 9500 m / 31150 ft
Range: 1400 km / 870 miles
Crew: 4
Armament: 2 x 20mm cannons, 3 x 12.7mm machine-guns
Bombload: 4000kg

Tupolev Tu-2

Tupolev ANT-63P / Tu-1

TerryLeave a comment

An attempt to produce a radar-equipped three-seat long-range night and all-weather fighter also suited for the escort mission, the ANT-63P, alias Tu-1, was one of a number of progressive developments of the ANT-61 (Tu-2S) bomber. Initially powered by two 1,900hp Mikulin AM-39F 12-cylinder liquid-cooled engines, the ANT-63P (the suffix letter indicating Perekhvatchik, or “Interceptor”) carried a fixed forward-firing armament of four 23mm cannon, two in the wing roots and two in the lower forward fuselage. The nose was intended to accommodate a PNB-1 Gneiss-1 airborne intercept radar based on the German FuG 220. First flown on 30 December 1946, the ANT-63P attained 680km/h and demonstrated a range of 2500km. Official interest in piston-engined fighters was waning by this time, and although the ANT-63P was re-engined with 1,950hp Mikulin AM-43V engines driving four-bladed propellers, being tested in this form in December 1947, no production was undertaken.

ANT-63P
Engines: 2 x AM-43V
Max take-off weight: 14460 kg / 31879 lb
Wingspan: 18.86 m / 62 ft 11 in
Length: 13.60 m / 45 ft 7 in
Wing area: 48.80 sq.m / 525.28 sq ft
Max. speed: 641 km/h / 398 mph
Range: 2250 km / 1398 miles

Tupolev ANT-63P (Tu-1)

Tupolev ANT-46 / DI-8

TerryLeave a comment

Ordered in December 1934 as a single prototype under the designation DI-8, the ANT-46 was a two-seat fighter (Dvukhmestny istrebitel) derivative of Aleksandr Arkhangelsky’s SB high-speed bomber (ANT-40). Featuring a lightened structure and powered by two 800hp Gnome-Rhone 14Krsd 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engines, the ANT-46 was intended to carry two 100mm Kurchevski APK-100 recoilless guns as its primary armament, these weapons being buried in the outer wings between the ailerons and the flaps, and projecting fore and aft. In addition, it was intended to mount a battery of four 7.62mm guns in the extreme nose, but these were not carried by the prototype, which featured a glazed nose generally similar to that of the SB.

First flown on 9 August 1935, the ANT-46 was actually flown before the ANT-29, the factory flight test programme being completed successfully in June 1936, but state acceptance testing was not undertaken as official interest in the recoilless gun – for which the ANT-46 had been specifically developed – had terminated with the arrest, in February 1936, of Leonid Kurchevski.

Max take-off weight: 5553 kg / 12242 lb
Empty weight: 3487 kg / 7688 lb
Wingspan: 20.30 m / 67 ft 7 in
Length: 12.24 m / 40 ft 2 in
Wing area: 55.70 sq.m / 599.55 sq ft
Max. speed: 388 km/h / 241 mph
Range: 1780 km / 1106 miles

Tupolev ANT-46 (DI-8)

Tupolev ANT-44 / MTB-2

TerryLeave a comment

In December 1934, Tupolev was asked to design a naval heavy bomber (Morksoi Torpedonosets Bombardirovshik = naval torpedo bomber = MTB). With his seaplane specialist Ivan Pogosski dead, he gave the project to Aleksander Golubkov who came up with a more conventional design than the earlier ANT ‘hydroplanes’ – a single hull with a high-wing profile, made entirely from duraluminium. It was an amphibian with a retractable wheeled undercarriage, and the floats, mounted near the wingtips on struts, were load-carrying. Powerplants were four Gnome-Rhone 14Krsds, which gave 810hp each, and were mounted in the wing leading edges. The wing shape resulted in the ANT-44, as the project was designated, being called the Chaika (Seagull).

Construction of the prototype began on 4 October 1935, and the aircraft was manufactured with smooth sheets of duraluminium, which were now becoming available in place of the former corrugated ones. The work was carried out in the TsAGI-ZOK factory N156. It was completed in March 1937, and brought by road to Khodinka, from where it made its first flight on a fixed wheeled undercarriage (because the retractable mechanisation was not yet ready) on 19 April 1937. Its pilot was Timofei Riabenko. State tests were conducted with the undercarriage fixed down; maximum speed was measured at 355km/h, maximum take-off weight at 18,500kg, and range with a bomb or torpedo load of 2,500kg was 2,500km. The state tests were completed in July.

A second aircraft was completed in June 1938. By now the first had its undercarriage modified to retract, while the second aircraft had a retractable one from the start. It had 840hp Mikulin M-87As fitted and was dubbed the ANT-44bis or -44D.

By September, both aircraft were taken on service with the Soviet Navy, as the MTB-2A.

No production was ordered, and they served some operations in the Great Patriotic War from bases in the Black Sea. Led by Ivan Sukhomlin, the MTB-2As were used to bomb oil refineries in Bulgaria and Romania, both then under Nazi occupation.

Before the Soviet Union was invaded by Germany, Ivan Sukhomlin had earned four world records, with the ANT-44bis. In June 1940, he set several records lifting different loads to record altitudes for amphibians, and on 7 October he achieved a record for amphibians by carrying a two-tonne load over a 1,000km closed circuit at an average speed of 241.999km/h. Although this record was not acknowledged by the FAI until after the war, it stood unbeaten until 1957.

MTB-2A
Engine: 4 x M-87
Max take-off weight: 21500 kg / 47400 lb
Wingspan: 37.0 m / 121 ft 5 in
Length: 24.0 m / 79 ft 9 in
Height: 9.0 m / 30 ft 6 in
Wing area: 144.7 sq.m / 1557.54 sq ft
Max. speed: 350 km/h / 217 mph
Cruise speed: 250 km/h / 155 mph
Ceiling: 7200 m / 23600 ft
Range: 4500 km / 2796 miles
Range w/max.payload: 2500 km / 1553 miles
Crew: 4-5
Armament: 6 x 7.62mm machine-guns
Bombload: 2000kg

Tupolev ANT-44 / MTB-2