Can anyone ID this aircraft?
- Thread starter adeptitus
- Start date
Historical footnote- the Aircraft is a chinese copy of a Russian copy of a B29 superfortress, apparently the Soviets were so meticulous in replicating every detail of the pattern aircraft (one of three USAAF planes that force landed in russia during ww2) that all Russian and Chinese examples of the type have battle damage repair patches in the fuselage copied from the original! The soviet engineers tried to point out this was unecessary but the KGB watchers told them Stalins' orders were to be obeyed to the letter!
renmin
Junior Member
Actually, the Chinese B29s were not copied. Russia sold the B29 bombers to China after it became useless to the Russians.
Some of the Russian B29 fleet was scraped, the others were sold to China.
My apologies, I should have said a Chinese example of a Russian copy of an American plane, my point was about the unecessary copying of the patches by the Soviet engineers, which can be found on every Soviet built example of the type.
Aerodriver
New Member
Also all the Russian built examples have Boeing on all the rudder pedels, they were exact copies.
few points here:
Firstly, those Tu-4 were not sold to China, they were donated to China as Stalin's present to Chairman Mao for his birthday. I believe those planes were brand new as well, not retired ones. At the time (mid-1950s) China and Soviet Union still had a very close alliance
Secondly, the Tu-4 used for the AEW role was actually fitted with four turboprop engines, not the original piston engines used by Tu-4. China removed the old engines and replaced them with WJ-6 turboprop engines.
The last few Tu-4 bombers in service with the PLAAF retired in the mid-1980s. Of course by that time they were no longer used as bombers, but special electronic intelliegnce aircraft and UAV carrier
Firstly, those Tu-4 were not sold to China, they were donated to China as Stalin's present to Chairman Mao for his birthday. I believe those planes were brand new as well, not retired ones. At the time (mid-1950s) China and Soviet Union still had a very close alliance
Secondly, the Tu-4 used for the AEW role was actually fitted with four turboprop engines, not the original piston engines used by Tu-4. China removed the old engines and replaced them with WJ-6 turboprop engines.
The last few Tu-4 bombers in service with the PLAAF retired in the mid-1980s. Of course by that time they were no longer used as bombers, but special electronic intelliegnce aircraft and UAV carrier
As noted by a number of members the airframe is an ex-Soviet Tu-4 known as a BULL by NATO.
The Tu-4 based Airborne Early Warning (AEW) project KJ-1 commenced in 1967 using a modified BULL airframe and a Type 843 radar but all the additional electronics are said to have created a very heavy and under-powered airframe which was subsequently re-engined. But the radar failed to meet expectations and the project and further AEW development effort with this airframe were both cancelled in 1971.
This radar should not be confused with the landbased transportable height finder, which carries the same numeric designator.
However, the airframe was added to the PLAAF inventory but probably did not seen active service beyond the end of the 1980s.
Very little is known or has been publicly released about this radar but there is no doubt that Chinese progress on project KJ-1 would have been technology limited during the 1960s and 1970s. It may actually come as a surprise to some that China was working on such a project at this very early stage (1967), when the UK, for example, was struggling by with the vintage SHACKLETON bomber and its ASV-21 radar plus the carrier-borne GANNET with its AN/APS-20E and BELLHOP picture data transfer system to meet its UK and RN maritime AEW and ASW needs respectively.
There is an interesting original picture of the Type 843 rotordome on a Tu-4 at the fas.org website <http://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/row/aew-prc.htm> which shows probable airframe 4114 out for inspection.
If anyone knows anything about the Type 843 radar I would be a very grateful recipient.
Jacey
The Tu-4 based Airborne Early Warning (AEW) project KJ-1 commenced in 1967 using a modified BULL airframe and a Type 843 radar but all the additional electronics are said to have created a very heavy and under-powered airframe which was subsequently re-engined. But the radar failed to meet expectations and the project and further AEW development effort with this airframe were both cancelled in 1971.
This radar should not be confused with the landbased transportable height finder, which carries the same numeric designator.
However, the airframe was added to the PLAAF inventory but probably did not seen active service beyond the end of the 1980s.
Very little is known or has been publicly released about this radar but there is no doubt that Chinese progress on project KJ-1 would have been technology limited during the 1960s and 1970s. It may actually come as a surprise to some that China was working on such a project at this very early stage (1967), when the UK, for example, was struggling by with the vintage SHACKLETON bomber and its ASV-21 radar plus the carrier-borne GANNET with its AN/APS-20E and BELLHOP picture data transfer system to meet its UK and RN maritime AEW and ASW needs respectively.
There is an interesting original picture of the Type 843 rotordome on a Tu-4 at the fas.org website <http://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/row/aew-prc.htm> which shows probable airframe 4114 out for inspection.
If anyone knows anything about the Type 843 radar I would be a very grateful recipient.
Jacey