Tupolev TB-4

Tupolev TB-4 (ANT-16)
Type:	Heavy bomber
Design country:	Soviet Union
Manufacturer:	ZAGI ( Tupolev )
First flight:	July 3, 1933
Number of pieces:	1 prototype

The Tupolev TB-4 ( Russian Туполев ТБ-4 , factory designation ANT-16 - АНТ-16 ) was a heavy bomber aircraft designed by the Soviet designer Andrei Nikolaevich Tupolew in the 1930s .

history

It was developed as a further development of the four-engine TB-3 , but, in contrast to this, received a much larger wing area of ​​422 m² (TB-3: 230 m²) and two additional AM-34 motors on a steel frame on the back of the fuselage. Like the TB-3, the TB-4 was designed as a cantilever low- wing aircraft in all-metal construction. The planking consisted of corrugated iron. In the fuselage there were two five-meter-long bomb shafts in which up to 4000 kg of bombs could be carried. The rear wheel chassis was rigid and had two large main wheels.

Construction work began in March 1930. On July 3, 1933, the TB-4, piloted by Michail Gromow , took off on its maiden flight. The flight test lasted until September 2 and was completed alternately by the pilots Ryazanov, Stefanowski and Nyuchtikow. Approval was granted on September 29th. In the course of testing, however, it turned out that the engines used, despite their number, were too weak for an aircraft of this size, and so the program was finally discontinued. The machine was converted into a civil aircraft dummy in 1937 in the film "The great wings" (Большие крылья).

As a further development, the then largest land aircraft in the world, the Tupolev ANT-20 , was created a year later .

Technical specifications

Three-sided tear

Parameter	Data
crew	12
span	54.00 m
length	32.00 m
height	11.73 m
Wing area	422 m²
Empty mass	21,400 kg
Payload	11,880 kg
Takeoff mass	33,280 kg
Wing loading	78.8 kg / m²
Power load	7.4 kg / hp
drive	six liquid-cooled 12-cylinder V-engines Mikulin AM-34R
Starting power	830 PS (610 kW) each
Tank volume	4,950 kg
Top speed	200 km / h near the ground
Landing speed	105 km / h
Service ceiling	2,750 m
Range	1,450 km with maximum tank volume 775 km with maximum payload
Take-off / landing runway	800 m / 400 m
Armament	four 20 mm MK, ten 7.62 mm machine guns and 4,000 kg bomb load

literature

• Heinz A. F. Schmidt: Soviet planes . Transpress, Berlin 1971, p. 146 .

Web links

Commons : Tupolev ANT-16  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Туполев ТБ-4 (АНТ-16). Retrieved June 7, 2019 (Russian).