Heavies Allies in Axis markings

[pampa14]

I share with you a collection of photos, some of them extremely rare, showing Allied bombers captured by Germans, Italians and Japanese. One question, does anyone know if during the Second World War a B-29 bomber was captured and tested? To see the photos, visit the link below:


aviacaoemfloripa.blogspot.com.br/2011/01/bombardeiros-aliados-capturados.html



Best Regards.

[isc]

I believe four B-29s  force landed in Russia fifth one crashed, these were impounded, and the Russians cloned them, the Russian version becoming the Tupolev TU-4 (NATO name Bull).  Two days after Japan surrended, the B-29s, and crews were released.  The TU-4 served the USSR, and China until the 1960s, later ones turboprop powered.  The piston engine was theAHs-73 an 18 cylinder development of the Wright R-1820, developing 2400hp.  isc

[davidd]

The ASh-73YK engines (ASh for Arkadiya Shvetsov, the main designer of air-cooled radials aero-engines in the Soviet Union) was a direct copy of the Wright R-3350 Duplex Cyclone 18 which powered the B-29 - it was not an 18-cylinder double up of the R-1820 nine-cylinder radial. Like the airframe itself, and the fire control system, the Soviets realized that the only way to get a Soviet version of the B-29 to really perform was to provide it with Soviet R-3350s, fitted with duplicate superchargers, and armed with a duplicate version of the fire control system, all technical challenges which the Americans believed were way beyond the skills or understanding of Soviet engineers of the time, and even more daunting for their primitive aircraft industry. It took them a couple of years, but the challenge was met, by dint of pouring enormous resources into solving the technical problems involved in this massive project. This was probably the first successful example of reverse engineering of such complex equipment on such a grand scale, and was subsequently acknowledged as the means by which all facets of the Soviet aircraft were brought more or less up to the level of the western powers. Rather ironically, such examples are now known more popularly as Chinese imitations.
David D

[isc]

Thanks David for the engine info, something didn't ring true with the gen that I got(don't believe Wiki), I seem to remember that the ASh-73 was actually lighter than the R-3350 because they used the actual castings from the original engine as patterns.
I don't think there was an opportunity for the Germans, or Japanese to get hold of the B-29. isc

[nuuumannn]

The ASh-73YK engines

Slight correction, ASh-73TK for TurboKompressor from the twin TK-19 turbosuperchargers. The ASh-73TK was based on the M-71 (or ASh-71) 18 cylinder two row radial, which was in turn based on two single row ASh-63s, commonly designated M-63s which were improved variants of the M-62, which were copies of the Wright 1820 Cyclone - full circle.

The reverse engineering of the B-29 did wonders for the Soviet aircraft industry and every big Tupolev was influenced by the technology. One of the biggest challenges for the industry was forging the undercarriage shock struts as one unit out of the correct alloy; another complexity was the gun turrets and their remote operating system. Rumour has it that Stalin was so keen on replicating these as exact as possible that the Boeing logo on the steering column was copied.



Dogs running around all over the place at Monino; I had constant companions during my three hours wandering about in the rain.