Tu-2/B-29 AEW

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Raguleader@reddit

Turboprops would probably solve the biggest design flaw the Tu-4 probably inherited from the B-29.

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TigerIll6480@reddit

The B-29 was fine in the postwar years when they were fitted with improved engines.

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ksmigrod@reddit

I'm not sure, that USSR had access to the plans of post war improved engines.

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TigerIll6480@reddit

They had competent engineers who could figure things out on their own.

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But the Tu-4 was a nonsense from the beginning. Since nothing fitted with the metric standard, they had to set up the whole manufacturing from scratch, which was a major pain for them and a remarkable achievement. The only concession that Stalin was willing to make was literally the plate saying made in US. It would have been easier to make a new design even if based on the B-29 than what they had to do, but you don't argue with Stalin and his folks. The airplane itself is very pretty (it's literally a B-29 in soviet livery), but looking at it knowing it's history was quite a moment.

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Balmung60@reddit

They changed the defensive armament to 23mm cannons even though they had their own .50 cal machine guns they could have substituted and rather than copying the M2/AN. They also used domestic ASh-73 engines rather than copying the Duplex Cyclone engines used by the B-29 (the ASh-73 was similar and a parallel development of the Wright Cyclone engine, but not a copy of the Duplex Cyclone).

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Balmung60@reddit

The USSR used different engines. They didn't use the Duplex Cyclone, but rather the ASh-73, which was a similar engine developed from the Cyclone engine that they'd already licensed. A parallel development of the Duplex Cyclone, rather than a copy of it.

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