Tu-4

B-29


Name: Tupolev Tu-4
Type: Strategic Bomber
Crew: 11
Length: 30.18 m
Wingspan: 43.05 m
Height: 8.46 m
Wing area: 161.7 m²
Weight empty: 36,850 kg
Normal weight: 47,850 kg
Maximum takeoff weight: 55,600 kg - 63,600 kg
Maximum speed: 558 km/h at 10,250 m
Service ceiling: 11,200 m
Maximum range: 5,400 km at 3000 m with 63,600 kg take-off weight including 3,000 kg of bombs and 10% fuel reserves
Powerplant: 4 × Shvetsov ASh-73TK 18-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines, 1,790 kW (2,400 hp) each

Armament: 

10 × 23 mm Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 aircraft cannon
6 × 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) bombs
2 × KS-1 Komet standoff missiles (Tu-4K)
1 x RDS-1, RDS-3 or RDS-5 nuclear fission bomb (Tu-4A)
 
The Tupolev Tu-4 (NATO reporting name: Bull) is a piston-engined Soviet strategic bomber that served the Soviet Air Force from the late 1940s to mid-1960s. It was reverse-engineered from the American Boeing B-29 Superfortress. 

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 had become obsolete.

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 United States refused twice to supply the Soviet Union with B-29s under Lend Lease. However, on four occasions during 1944, individual B-29s made emergency landings in Soviet territory and one crashed after the crew bailed out. In accordance with the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact, the Soviets were neutral in the Pacific War and the bombers were therefore interned and kept by the Soviets.

Three repairable B-29s were flown to Moscow and delivered to the Tupolev 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.

Only one of the four had de-icing boots as used on the Tu-4. The fourth B-29 was returned to the US along with its crew with the end of the Russo-Japanese entente following the Soviet declaration of war against Japan two days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, in accordance with the Yalta agreement.