The Tupolev Tu-4 served the Soviet Air Force from the late 1940s to mid-1960s. It is the only Soviet bomber to have served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. The aircraft was retired from service in the 1970s and is now a museum exhibit in Moscow.
About Tupolev Tu-4 in brief
The Tupolev Tu-4 served the Soviet Air Force from the late 1940s to mid-1960s. It was reverse-engineered from the American Boeing B-29 Superfortress. The Soviet Shvetsov ASh-73 engine was a development of the Wright R-1820. It also powered some of Aeroflot’s remaining obsolescent Petlyakov Pe-8 much-earlier heavy bomber whose production was curtailed by higher-priority programs. Entry into service in 1949 threw the Tu- 4 into service with the USAF as a large-scale bomber. It is the only Soviet bomber to have served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, and the last to serve in the Soviet Army Air Force after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1961. It has been the subject of a number of films, including “The Godfather” and “The Second World War”, as well as a TV series, “Tupolev”, which aired on Russia’s Channel 4.
The aircraft was retired from service in the 1970s and is now a museum exhibit in Moscow, along with other Soviet military aircraft. It had a range of more than 100,000 miles (200,000 km) and was used as a training aircraft by the Russian Air Force until the early 1980s. The Tu-3 was the only other Soviet strategic bomber to serve during the Cold War, but it was replaced by the Mi-17. It served until the mid-1980s as a light bomber for the Russian Army Air Corps. It remains in service today, serving as a trainer for the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
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This page is based on the article Tupolev Tu-4 published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 01, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
