Horseman 77 wrote:
Correct me if I am wrong but wasn't Russia able to produce a Prop driven bomber The B29?
( A bomber the USA used in WWII ) by copying one they had seized ?
You are right about the B29, three American B-29 bombers flying against Japan had landed in Siberia and were seized by the Soviets. In mid 1945 the three American B-29 bombers were delivered to Moscow. One plane was transferred to the Flight-test institute in Zhukovski to train pilots for preparing flight training manuals, the second plane was disassambled to study its' design and the third was left as a yardstick. However, the Soviets decided not to attempto to copy the American engine, and instead equipped the bomber with the Soviet ASH-73TK engine designed by A.D. Shvetsov. This engine retained the B-29's original turbocompressor and the magnet and heat-resistant bearings. The Soviet bomber also carried improved gun turrets of Soviet design. The Bull is a midwing, four-engine, medium bomber with two bomb bays centrally located in the fuselage, extending fore and aft of the wing. Defensive armament consists of four turrets located in upper forward, lower forward, lower rear, and tail positions. The first B-4 bomber was finished in the spring of 1947 and carried out its' first flight on 19 May 1947. Flight tests continued through 1949. Full-scale production of the aircraft, under the designation Tu-4. began in 1947 at the plant Nr. 22 in Kazan and at plant Nr. 18 in Kuibyshev. In 1948, an additional construction plant in Moscow, Nr. 23, was adapted to build the TU-4. Production in Moscow began in 1950 and when total production of the TU-4 finally finished in 1952, a total of 847 bombers had been produced [according to Russian sources -- according to Western estimates, a maximum of about 1,300 were deployed by 1954].
Horseman 77 wrote:
They were able to produce it ( copy it ) at about the same time we started using the B52 Strato Fortress.
Actually they had a Tu-16 (Badger) before B52 Stratofortress was used.
Tu-16:
The first prototype of the "88" aircraft received the designation Tu-16 and carried out the first flight on 27 April 1952. During flight tests, the aircraft exceeded the expected speed but lagged in range due to insufficient engine performance. As a result, the second prototype had a reduced weight though less speed at small and medium altitudes. In April 1953 it actually exceeded the expected range.
In December 1952, series production was initiated. In 1953 series production of the TU-16 began at the plant Nr. 22 in Kazan and in 1954, also at the plant Nr.1 in Kuibyshev and at the plant Nr. 64 in Voronezh. During production, the aircraft were outfitted with a modified AM-3 engine - the PD-3MT. While the bombers were already operational, the AM-3 and PD-3M engines were replaced by PD-3M-500 engines with improved characteristics. When production of the TU-16 finally stopped in 1963, a total of 1509 aircraft had been built.
Deployment of the first TU-16 bombers started in 1954. They replaced the TU-4, operating in theaters close to Soviet territory.
B52:
The B-52A first flew in 1954, and the B model entered service in 1955. A total of 744 B-52s were built with the last, a B-52H, delivered in October 1962. Only the H model is still in the Air Force inventory and is assigned to Air Combat Command and the Air Force Reserves.
The first of 102 B-52H's was delivered to Strategic Air Command in May 1961. The H model can carry up to 20 air launched cruise missiles. In addition, it can carry the conventional cruise missile that was launched in several contingencies during the 1990s, starting with Operation Desert Storm and culminating with Operation Allied Force.