TB-1 (ANT-4) | |
---|---|
General information | |
Type | Heavy bomber |
National origin | Soviet Union |
Manufacturer | Tupolev |
Primary users | Soviet Air Forces |
Number built | 218 |
History | |
Manufactured | 1929–1932 |
Introduction date | 1929 |
First flight | 26 November 1925 |
Retired | 1948 |
The Tupolev TB-1 [lower-alpha 1] (development name ANT-4) was a Soviet bomber aircraft, an angular monoplane that served as the backbone of the Soviet bomber force for many years, and was the first large all-metal aircraft built in the Soviet Union.
In 1924, the Soviet Air Force instructed TsAGI, (Центра́льный аэрогидродинами́ческий институ́т (ЦАГИ) – Tsentralniy Aerogidrodinamicheskiy Institut or Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute) to design a heavy-bomber. TsAGI gave the task to the division led by Andrei Tupolev. [1] Tupolev's team designed a twin-engined all-metal monoplane with a corrugated Duralumin skin — based on Tupolev's earlier work utilizing the all-metal aircraft design techniques first pioneered by Hugo Junkers in 1918 — powered by two Napier Lion engines, and named the ANT-4. [2]
The first prototype was built during 1925 on the second floor of Tupolev's factory in Moscow, it being necessary to knock down a wall to allow the aircraft to be taken out of the building in pieces. After reassembly at Moscow's Khodynka Aerodrome, it was flown on 26 November 1925. [3]
Testing was successful, and it was decided to put the ANT-4 into production as the TB-1. Production was delayed, however, by shortages of aluminium, and by the need to find a replacement for the expensive imported Lion engines, the BMW VI (and later the Soviet licence-built version, the Mikulin M-17). Production eventually started at the ex-Junkers factory at Fili, Moscow in 1929, 216 following the two prototypes, production continuing until 1932. [4] [5] It was produced in both wheel- and float-gear variants (a total of 66 ANT-4 seaplanes built).
The first production aircraft was completed as an unarmed civil aircraft, named Strana Sovyetov (Land of the Soviets) for a propaganda flight from Moscow to New York, taking an eastward course via Siberia, reaching its destination on 3 November 1929, flying 21,242 km (13,194 mi) in 137 flying hours. [6] The TB-1 became the Soviet Air Forces' first standard heavy bomber, also being fitted with floats for use as a torpedo bomber (TB-1P), and for aerial survey operations.
It was also widely used for experimental purposes, being the first mothership used in the Zveno project carrying two Tupolev I-4 fighters over the aircraft's wings as parasite aircraft. [7]
The TB-1 was replaced as a heavy bomber by the similar, but much larger, four-engined Tupolev TB-3, with many aircraft being converted to civil freighters (designated G-1) for use by Aeroflot and Aviaarktika, Aeroflot's polar division. One Avia Arktika ANT-4, flown by Anatoly Liapidevsky, played a key role in the rescue of the crew of the steamship Chelyuskin , which sank on 12 February 1934 after being trapped in ice near the Bering Strait. Liapidevsky was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. G-1s continued in use with Avia Arktika until 1948. [7] [8]
One ANT-4, an ex-Aviaarktika Tupolev G-1, survives, being preserved at the Ulyanovsk Aircraft Museum. [8]
Data from The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft 1875–1995 [10]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
Related development
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