The Tupolev Tu-72 was a proposed Soviet medium bomber of the late 1940s. It was based on the

Tupolev Tu-8 The Tupolev Tu-8, OKB designation '69', was a long-range variant of the Soviet Tupolev Tu-2 medium bomber that first flew after the end of World War II. It was canceled when it proved to be unstable, structurally unsound and its generators were no ...

, but differed by having a slightly longer fuselage, increased defensive armament, and slightly enlarged vertical stabilizers. The first flight of the Tu-72 was scheduled for 1948, but the project was cancelled due to the success of the

Tupolev Tu-4 The Tupolev Tu-4 (russian: Туполев Ту-4; NATO reporting name: Bull) is a piston-engined Soviet strategic bomber that served the Soviet Air Force from the late 1940s to mid-1960s. It was reverse-engineered from the American Boeing B-29 S ...

and Tupolev's focus on first-generation strategic jet bombers.Gordon, Yefim; Rigamant, Vladimir (2005). OKB Tupolev: A History of the Design Bureau and its Aircraft. Hinckley, England: Midland Publishing. .

References

Tu-0072 1940s Soviet bomber aircraft {{aircraft-stub