The Tupolev Tu-1 was a prototype

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

night fighter A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after the Second World War) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used i ...

variant of the

Tupolev Tu-2 The Tupolev Tu-2 (development names ANT-58 and 103; NATO reporting name Bat) was a twin-engine Soviet high-speed daylight and frontline (SDB and FB) bomber aircraft of World War II vintage. The Tu-2 was tailored to meet a requirement for a hig ...

medium

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...

that first flew after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It was cancelled when its experimental Mikulin AM-43V engines reached the end of their service life.

Development

Impressed by the performance of the

de Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, shoulder-winged, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the Second World War. Unusual in that its frame was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or ...

the Soviets asked

Tupolev Tupolev (russian: Ту́полев, ), officially Joint Stock Company Tupolev, is a Russian aerospace and defence company headquartered in Basmanny District, Moscow. Tupolev is successor to the Soviet Tupolev Design Bureau (OKB-156, design off ...

to modify a Tu-2 as a high-speed day bomber with a reduced crew as the ANT-63. The second prototype of this project was ordered to be converted in February 1946 for use as a three-seat long-range interceptor capable of carrying an airborne

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

set with the internal designation of ANT-63P and the official designation of Tu-1. It was given prototype Mikulin AM-43V engines driving four-bladed

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

s, and fitted with new radio equipment. It reverted to the standard Tu-2S undercarriage. Two

Nudelman-Suranov NS-45 The Nudelman-Suranov NS-45 was an enlarged version of the Soviet Union, Soviet Nudelman-Suranov NS-37 aircraft autocannon. It was evaluated for service on 44 Yakovlev Yak-9K aircraft during World War II, but proved to stress the airframes too much ...

guns with 50 rounds each were fitted on the underside of the nose, two

Volkov-Yartsev VYa-23 The Volkov-Yartsev VYa-23 (Волков-Ярцев ВЯ-23) is a autocannon, used on Soviet aircraft during World War II. Development In 1940, A.A. Volkov and S.A. Yartsev created an autocannon, called TKB-201 for the new 23 mm round. I ...

Nudelman-Suranov NS-23 The NS-23 was a aircraft cannon designed by A. E. Nudelman, A. Suranov, G. Zhirnykh, V. Nemenov, S. Lunin, and M. Bundin during World War II as a replacement for the Volkov-Yartsev VYa-23 cannon. It entered service in 1944. The NS-23 round was d ...

cannon were fitted in the wing roots with 130 rounds per gun. The dorsal gunner was given a UBT machine gun with 200 rounds and the ventral gunner received a UBT with 350 rounds of ammunition. It retained the internal bomb bay which could carry up to of bombs. The Tu-1 first flew on 22 March 1947 and underwent manufacturer's tests until 3 OctoberGordon, p. 91 or 3 November 1947. Sources disagree about the mounting of radar during these tests.

Bill Gunston Bill Gunston (1 March 1927 – 1 June 2013) was a British aviation and military author. He flew with Britain's Royal Air Force from 1945 to 1948, and after pilot training became a flying instructor. He spent most of his adult life doing research ...

says that a Soviet derivative of the German

FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN-2 The Lichtenstein radar was among the earliest airborne radars available to the Luftwaffe in World War II and the first one used exclusively for air interception. Developed by Telefunken, it was available in at least four major revisions, cal ...

was tested, however Yefim Gordon believes that no radar was fitted at all and the short service life of the AM-43V prototype engines curtailed the planned tests and development. At any rate, the aircraft was not selected for production because its AM-43V engines were not ready for production.

Specifications

References

* * {{Tupolev aircraft Tu-0001 1940s Soviet fighter aircraft Mid-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1947 Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft

Development

Specifications

See also

References