The Tupolev Tu-80 (russian: Туполев Ту-80) was a

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, ...

prototype for a longer-ranged version 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 ...

bomber, an unlicensed,

reverse engineered Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...

copy of the

Boeing B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

. It was cancelled in 1949 in favor of the

Tupolev Tu-85 The Tupolev Tu-85 (russian: Туполев Ту-85; USAF/ DoD reporting name: "Type 31", NATO reporting name: Barge) was a Soviet prototype strategic bomber based on the Tu-4, an unlicensed, reverse engineered copy of the Boeing B-29 Superfortr ...

program which offered even more range. The sole prototype was used in various test programs before finally being used as a target.

Development

The Tu-80 was designed as a modernized and enlarged Tu-4 with greater range. This was to be achieved by the use of more fuel-efficient engines, better aerodynamics and added fuel tanks. It was intended to have a range of and carry a maximum bombload of with a top speed of . Work began on the design in February 1948 and this was confirmed by a

Council of Ministers A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

order of 12 June that required the prototype be ready for State acceptance trials in July 1949. The forward portion of the fuselage was redesigned with an airliner-style stepped windscreen and the fuselage was lengthened by almost which allowed the bomb bays and their doors to be lengthened. The radar and its operator were moved into the forward pressurized compartment and the radar itself was located in the "chin" position in a new streamlined fairing. The wings were enlarged to a total of and the rubber

deicing boot A deicing boot is a type of ice protection system installed on aircraft surfaces to permit a mechanical deicing in flight. Such boots are generally installed on the leading edges of wings and control surfaces (e.g. horizontal and vertical sta ...

s were replaced by more efficient and aerodynamic

bleed air Bleed air is compressed air taken from the compressor stage of a gas turbine upstream of its fuel-burning sections. Automatic air supply and cabin pressure controller (ASCPCs) valves bleed air from high or low stage engine compressor sections. Low ...

deicer Deicing is the process of removing snow, ice or frost from a surface. Anti-icing is the application of chemicals that not only deice but also remain on a surface and continue to delay the reformation of ice for a certain period of time, or prev ...

s. The engine nacelles were redesigned with smaller cross-sections with less drag. Originally, Shvetsov ASh-2TK or Dobrynin VD-3TK engines were considered, but neither engine was ready so the

Shvetsov ASh-73 The Shvetsov ASh-73 was an 18-cylinder, air-cooled, radial aircraft engine produced between 1947 and 1957 in the Soviet Union. It was primarily used as the powerplant for the Tupolev Tu-4 heavy bomber, a copy of the American Boeing B-29 Superfortr ...

TKFN was used. Fully feathering propellers were also used. All of these changes increased the

lift/drag ratio In aerodynamics, the lift-to-drag ratio (or L/D ratio) is the lift generated by an aerodynamic body such as an aerofoil or aircraft, divided by the aerodynamic drag caused by moving through air. It describes the aerodynamic efficiency under give ...

to 18 from the 17.0 of the Tu-4. Construction of the Tu-80 began in November 1948, using as many Tu-4 components as possible to speed up construction, but the first flight was not until 1 December 1949, after the Council of Ministers had canceled the program on 16 September 1949 in favor of the Tu-85 which was expected to have much better performance. The Tu-80 became a research aircraft, testing reversible-pitch propellers and structural deformation in heavy aircraft, before eventually became a target on a bombing and gunnery range.Gordon and Rigamant, p. 114

Specifications

References

Bibliography

* * * {{B-29 family Tu-0080 1940s Soviet bomber aircraft Abandoned military aircraft projects of the Soviet Union Soviet Union–United States relations Four-engined tractor aircraft Tu-80 Mid-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1949 Four-engined piston aircraft

Development

Specifications

See also

References

Bibliography