TB 3 drawings. Legendary planes

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TB-3. Sky battleship of Stalin's falcons.
ICM 1:72
Nikolai Paus aka N_Pause

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We were born to make a fairy tale come true ...

TB-3, along with the I-16, was the main milestone of our pre-war aircraft industry. A huge, four-engine, all-metal aircraft often appeared on newsreels and in the pages of newspapers of those years. Many interesting pages of our history are connected with it: the first parachute landing, Vakhmistrov's experiments in creating an aircraft uterus, a flight across Europe.
Several TB-3s made a series of flights to Warsaw, Rome and Paris. "Ceremonial Ten" made a proper impression in European capitals. The entire officer and engineering staff treated our aircraft with exceptional interest, seeing in them a successful solution to the problem of a heavy bomber aircraft. Everyone emphasized surprise that such a large aircraft has high flight data.
Opinions expressed in European newspapers were generally close to panic at times. Thus, one of the leading reporters of the British weekly Independent wrote, “while Europe is arguing about the value of Douai’s theory, the Reds have already actually implemented it, demonstrating powerful four-engine bombers that are significantly superior to British machines of a similar purpose,” and the correspondent of the French Petit Parisien is generally hysterical declared that "500 Russian bomb carriers can crush Europe like a rotten egg..."
There was some truth in this, since the biplane fighters with a pair, less often a quartet of rifle-caliber machine guns, which were at that time in service with the Air Force of all European countries without exception, were almost powerless in front of the armadas of Soviet four-engine bombers, which also had quite powerful defensive weapons, the effectiveness of which increased even more in the case of the massive use of TB-3 in dense battle formations, which, in essence, was worked out during the exercises.

And no matter how some of our pseudo-historians tried to denigrate TB-3, it made an immeasurable contribution to the victory over fascism. If you hear from someone that TB-3 bombers died by the hundreds at the hands of the brave German aces, do not believe it! Relatively large losses of these aircraft were only in the initial period (most of them were lost on the ground), and after the transition to night bombing, they were numbered in units.
The enemy was at first filled with disdain for this aircraft. On the fourth day of the war, Halder noted in his diary: the Russians switched to the use of old low-speed four-engine bombers - they say, the Red aviation is doing very badly ...
Time will pass, and the best night-light fighters will be thrown to intercept TB-3s. After each night battle with the TB-3, their Messerschmitts drew marks about another air victory won. But the day passed, the night came, and the "downed" giants flew in again to bomb the enemy.
In combat operation, the Tupolev giant showed true miracles. He could fly from plowed fields, land in snow up to 1 m deep. He carried heavy oversized cargo on an external sling - T-38 tanks, GAZ-AA trucks, artillery ... And he worked, despite his age, extremely actively. By the end of the first year of the war, a significant number of TB-3 crews made 100 sorties, and by the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, some had up to 200 of them.
The work of the aviators who flew the TB-3 was worthy of note - one of the first air regiments to receive the guards rank was the 250th TBAP.

This car also lacked shortcomings, but at the time of its appearance it was the only one in its class. The famous B-17s and Wellingtons appeared later, and they should not be compared with the Tb-3, but with the Pe-8 and Il-4.
If you want to know more about the history of this wonderful bomber, you can refer to the page:

Combat use of the TB-3 heavy bomber.
Sources: Magazine "World of Aviation", No. 2,1994, No. 2,1997
Magazine "Aviation and Time", No. 4,1997
The article contains many details about the combat history of the aircraft and interesting photographs.

A pig in a poke, or how not to buy models.

I became interested in this model after I came across several articles about TB-3 in 72m scale from the Ukrainian ICM on the Internet. Before that, I assembled I-16 of this company, and was very pleased. High quality sprues, rich detailing and precision won my heart.
Having chosen a free day, I went to Minsk. But there was no plastic from ICM, but there was Alanger. This company, being the successor of the Ukrainian ICM, promised to keep all the traditions of quality in the best possible way.
The box itself was sealed with a film, and the store refused to open it without a purchase. But, knowing the quality of ICM, I bought a model from Alanger. The model cost me about $17.
Opening an impressive box at home, I found 10 frames of gray plastic, 1 frame of transparent parts and 1 rather large decal sheet. The quality of the latter is good, there is no color shift. The instructions give three color schemes, but there were no top views of the two-color schemes.
Everything would be fine, but the plastic from which the model was cast turned out to be, to put it mildly, of very poor quality. Not only is it fragile and poorly processed, it also peels off when you try to update the stitching with a scriber. Molding quality is terrible. Everywhere flash and underfilling, in some places there are traces of pushers.
I don’t know how things are with other Alanger models, but judging by this one, I would not recommend their products. After studying the contents of the box, I made a promise to myself - never again, not to buy a sealed model, hoping only for a good name of the manufacturer.

Comparison with drawings.

Oddly enough, but I could not find normal drawings in the vast world wide web. It's good that in my collection there were clippings from Modeler Constructor No. 1 for 1992. I made them digitally in 72 scale.
After printing out all this beauty, I was slightly puzzled - the wingspan turned out to be 54 centimeters, I had never had to collect such a large one.
Well, now about the model itself. If we take the drawings from the MK as a basis, then it is far from ideal:

* The fuselage is the main drawback of the model, the tail section (from the trailing edges of the wings) is too narrow - about 5mm;
* The vertical and horizontal plumage is slightly incorrect in geometry (besides, on the horizontal, the entire surface is covered with small, but noticeable weights);
* The wings are also incorrect in geometry;
* Engines are smaller than necessary. Although against the background of the glider, this is not significant;

But don't be so upset. According to many modellers, there are no exact drawings for TB-3. There are two options, one in MK, and the second in Aviamaster, but there are differences between them. And on the forum I read that the master model for ICM was made according to my own drawings, developed on the basis of photographs. Given that the truth is somewhere nearby, I decided to limit myself to only minor improvements based on photographs and drawings from the MK.

Interior, or our answer to Eduard.

And here Edward and what he did to me bad, you ask? And absolutely nothing. It's a very good company and does a good job. I just really wanted to buy their photo-etched TB-3, but I couldn't get it. For this reason, I decided to modify the interior on my own.
Recently, the Ukrainian company ACE has released its own photo-etch kit for TB-3 m17. In addition to the detailed interior, there are parts for making spoked wheels, which look much better than Eduard's. How important these are, you will read below.

To begin with, I decided to open the front door on the starboard side, the open door will revive the model a little. Having cut a hole for the door, I noticed that opposite walls with cutouts for the wing and a blank bulkhead immediately behind the door were now visible. Everything is clear with the bulkhead, we cut out everything superfluous, drill holes and imitate stiffeners.

And with the walls had to tinker. The question arose, how to imitate corrugation on them? I didn’t want to putty the holes, and then cut it with a scriber, and from mother’s laziness an idea came to my head. It is necessary to take a piece of thin foil, attach it to the wing (where the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe corrugation is larger), and smooth it with a piece of cotton wool. After this procedure, you will have a sheet of corrugated metal in 72 scale in your hands.
Cutting out pieces of the desired size from this sheet, we paste them over the walls of the fuselage in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe front door. After painting, where the plastic is, and where the foil is not possible to distinguish. True, the rigidity of the structure is rather weak, just touched it with a finger, so there is no corrugation. Therefore, it is better to use all this beauty in interior decoration, where the entrance is ordered to the handles of your guests and household members. No matter how I searched, I could not find photographs or diagrams of the equipment that was near the front door. Therefore, I decided not to think about anything, to leave everything as it is.

Further, having examined photographs of aircraft from the initial period of the war, I noticed that the glazing of the forward cockpit of the gunner was absent on some of them. That's why I decided not to do it. Holes under the windows puttied and sanded.
Next, you need to reproduce the internal frame of the fuselage. To do this, I cut several strips of 1-1.5 mm wide from sheet polystyrene. Then, using superglue, I glued these strips, imitating frames and stringers according to the drawing.
I did not modify the navigation cockpit much. I added only the chart table, which will be clearly visible through the hole in the bow gunner. The doors between the navigational and pilot's cockpits were made open. To do this, I sawed a part of a closed door into two wings and, after painting, glued them in the open position. There are no through holes in all partitions, they are only outlined, so they also had to be drilled.
After assembling the fuselage, I was convinced that almost nothing was visible in the navigator's cockpit. Therefore, if you decide to modify the interior, then direct the main efforts to the cockpit, especially since it does not have glazing and all the richness is very clearly visible.
Based on the foregoing, I modified the cockpit better. On the sides, he imitated the engine speed control sectors, and on the starboard side there was a pocket for papers. I assembled it from the remnants of photo-etching. I remade the pedals a bit, and closed the void that formed behind them.

Photo of the interior before painting.

I decided to make the dashboard in the form of a paper sandwich with instrument dials and boards with holes. First I reduced the thickness of the dashboard as soon as I could. To do this, I put fine sandpaper on a flat surface, the board itself on top and carefully began to grind its thickness.
Then, using drills of different diameters, I drilled holes for the devices. To imitate the stops of the steering wheels, I glued a piece of a frame from an old photo-etched frame onto a stand made of an extruded sprue. The board was painted black (ModelMaster No. 1749) and tinted dark gray. I applied red and green lamps with a needle, and painted the stops in the color of the skin (Humbrol No. 133).

I did not have a film with devices, and therefore it had to be replaced with a pattern printed on a laser printer. Only the print settings must be set to the maximum so that the instrument scales are clear. After gluing the "sandwich" with PVA glue, I filled the instrument holes with a glossy varnish to imitate glass.

Next, I decided to show the seat belts on the pilots' seats. To begin with, I took a wide iron ruler, wound a thin sewing thread of the desired color on it (in this case, khaki). The step is determined by the width of the belts, I have them in three threads. Then we coat it all with PVA, and after drying we cut off the belts from the ruler. The equipment of the belt was imitated using wire and pieces of foil ...

Alanger suggests painting the interior green. But to my knowledge, the insides of the aircraft were most often painted in aluminum. Therefore, I painted my model with silver (Humbrol No. 11), and to give the silver an aluminum tint, I added matte white paint (ModelMaster No. 1768). Seat upholstery painted in leather color (Humbrol No. 133). The navigator's table and instruments are black.
I tinted with artistic acrylic, and in some places I went over with a dry brush (Humbrol No. 11).

The fuselage of the model was assembled without any problems, but the window glass refused to immediately fall into place. Either one part is larger than the hole, then the second is smaller. So I messed around for two days, where I sawed, where I puttied. I advise you to immediately make them yourself from a thin film ...

The country has given wings of steel.

It's time to start describing the most difficult and tedious in the process of assembling this model - the wings.
The wings are not just large, but very large. Apparently for this reason, the manufacturer divided them into so many parts. There are spars and ribs, wing skin and engine nacelles. And everything would be fine, but this whole giant was corrugated !!
Wing division would be suitable for any other aircraft, but not for this one. The joints of the parts go where there were no joints on a real aircraft, and it is IMPOSSIBLE to assemble all this so that no cracks are visible, and the corrugation converges. But the eyes are afraid, but the hands do. I had to putty all the joints, and then cut the new corrugation with a scriber. You can’t cut a lot at one time, and for this reason this pleasure had to be stretched out over three long weeks of nightly work.
Working as a scriber, at first I scolded the manufacturer as best I could, but then I understood everything - he is trying for us, modellers. Apparently the company decided to follow the path of full compliance with the original:
“Analyzing the situation as a whole, we have to admit that the technological level of our aviation industry that existed at that time clearly did not correspond to the complexity of the TB-3. Thus, the brackets for fastening the wing parts were made “in place”, and the docking bolts were non-standard in length and diameter. poor fit of parts of the aircraft, careless processing of joints, non-interchangeability of units on machines even of the same series, waviness of the wing surface.There were especially many complaints about the assembly and leveling of the bomber.Because of the requirement to be able to be transported by rail, the TB-3 was divided into a very large number of units, even the wing was divided not only across, but also along. So, all this was assembled with great difficulty. For example, the sections of the half-wing turned out to be not lying in the same plane. The gaps in the joints gaped such that they were sealed with a cloth for the winter so that snow would not fill up. There is no need to talk about what happened inside the aircraft.In the very first "Temporary Flight and Operational Instructions" for TB-3, issued by the UVVS in 1932, the list of the most common manufacturing defects takes six pages, typed in small type!

I could not even dream of such a degree of realism!
And now about everything else in order, and without emotions.

* Firstly, since I made TB-3s of the late series, without underwing shooting points, they had to be removed accordingly, and the remaining holes were repaired. I did not find any confirmation that the holes of the removed "pants" were closed with any kind of plugs, but there are photographs where a monolithic sheet of corrugation goes in their place.
* Secondly, all wing panels are glued together, and therefore, inserts had to be glued to each of them from below in order to avoid distortions up or down.
* And thirdly, you need to drill holes for landing lights (on the model they are given only on the left wing), and carve the lights themselves from a transparent sprue.
* The ailerons on the wings are made in separate parts and look good.

And instead of a heart, a fiery engine.

Each modeler wants to create a model that is closest to the original, and stands out among other models of the same type with something of its own. I decided to go down one of the most spectacular paths in modeling - removing the engine hoods.

Historical photo of the engine.

The set includes 4 M-17 engines with blind exhaust pipes, frames and radiators. All this is done very conditionally, but if you make a closed engine, then neither the frame nor the radiator is visible, and I only drilled holes in all eight exhaust pipes.
I assembled three motors according to the instructions, but the fourth had to be finalized.

To do this, I grinded off the thickness of the walls of the engine nacelle with sandpaper and cut off the left hood cover. In the engine, I first squandered the collapse of the cylinders and imitated the cylinders themselves from the inside. For each block of cylinders, I machined camshaft casings with drives from the sprue. I also made a crankshaft drive roller. I made a drive belt from a strip of foil. I cut out the inlet pipes and the carburetor, simulated the wiring of the ignition system with wire. The engine frame is made as a flat part, but in reality it consisted of welded pipes, so the regular part had to be "rounded".
Next, the radiator was finalized: a copper mesh was glued to the back wall, and the hoses of the cooling system were imitated with wire.
Carter painted blue (Acrylic Star #13), engine black (ModelMaster #1749), blued steel (Star #8) and grey. I tinted with art acrylic and finished with a silver dry brush (Humbrol #11).
After painting and installing the engine in the engine nacelle, I pasted a prefabricated oil tank behind it.
The hoods themselves were made from annealed tin (beer cans). I bent blanks with embossed rivets and cut holes on the hood from the set. Then I made stiffeners from this hood, which I glued into blanks. The hood rack was made of wire.

Photo of the engine.

On the wing, to the right of the engine, I decided to make a folded platform for maintenance. I cut a hole in the toe of the wing for the platform. The walls of the cutout were made of sheet polystyrene, and the platform itself was finalized from a piece of the wing left after cutting the hole. The corrugated surface was imitated with foil from a pack of cigarettes. The photographs of the real aircraft show that the platform in the folded state was fastened with a cable to the exhaust pipe.

Chassis, or the need for invention is cunning.

In my opinion, the spoked wheel chassis are one of the main highlights of this aircraft, and it is sacrilege to leave the stock wheels with late-production blank discs. From the very beginning of work on the model, I decided that the wheels would be spoked. Eduard's photo-etched kit added confidence to me, where there were spoked wheels that made it possible to assemble an excellent chassis. But I couldn’t get a set, and I didn’t want to deviate from my plan. I began to figure out and experiment with wire, foil and regular wheels. As a result, I got a rather interesting design.

To begin with, I drilled blind discs, leaving a millimeter rim. I made the central parts of the wheel from the sprue, then I cut the spokes from 0.8 mm wire, which I glued between the rim and the axle with super-glue. After drying, I glued a strip of foil, imitating the inner part of the rim along the inner perimeter. I glued the axle into the center of the wheel, and then glued the second part. After drying and painting, they turned out to be pretty nice wheels.
As for the landing gear, I immediately advise you to make them from thick wire, since the plastic ones are very fragile and are not suitable for a model of this size.
Proven by bitter experience.
The cart, rims and racks were painted green (Model Master #1713). Although the instruction advises to paint with blue, they are green in all the photographs.

Well, here comes the turn of one of the most important processes in modeling. Here you can hide some flaws or spoil a good model.
To begin with, I covered all the transparent parts with masks, and closed the holes with pieces of foam rubber. Then I applied the primer. I primed with a glossy varnish (Model Master No. 1561) with the addition of a small amount of silver. This gives two advantages: firstly, all the bumps and imperfections become visible, and secondly, the base layer of silver color makes it easier to simulate paint chips.

I wanted to assemble an aircraft from the initial period of the Second World War, so a plain color scheme was chosen. Top in green 4BO (Model Master #1713) and bottom in light blue (Acrylic Star #13 + some white art acrylic). After painting with the primary colors, it was necessary to show the fading of the paint. To do this, I spread a slightly lighter shade of the base green and blew out those parts of the model that were most exposed to sunlight on the prototype.

To even out the tone and fix the paint before tinting, I painted the model with a semi-matt varnish (Hobby + plus). After the varnish had dried, I took up the identification marks.
In appearance, the decal in the set is good, and lays down well. But it just turned out to be a little transparent, because of which the stars were lost against the background of the glider.

From the numbers given: red 4 for 1937 and red 9 for the 250th TBAP 1942. Both of these options did not suit me, and I did not find other numbers of such a large size. After a long search, I came across the memories of one of the veterans, who was a TB-3 shooter at the beginning of the war. It was about an aircraft with tail number 6 in red. So we take the solution 9, turn it over and get 6. Finally, I blew out the decals with varnish with the addition of one drop (no more) of base green and one drop of white. This gave them a faded hue.
I tinted the model with black acrylic to emphasize the corrugation and, to complete the overall look, applied traces of operation and soot from the exhaust. By the way, I went too far with soot on a real plane, it is much less. The final point was a ladder for climbing the wing, which I made from split matches.

It took me a long eight months to work on this model. During this time, I experienced the whole gamut of human emotions, ranging from delight to the most obscene expressions. The model is clearly ambiguous, next to a good study of the master model there are poor casting quality and hard-to-correct errors in geometry.
But if you collect Soviet aircraft from the period of the Great Patriotic War and are not afraid to sweat a little, then this aircraft should be in your collection.

Thank you for taking some time to read my article.

During the Second World War, 15 oil refineries in Romania provided Germany with more than 7% of the oil products supplied by dependent countries and satellites. Aircraft of long-range and front-line aviation periodically attacked the oil-bearing regions of Romania. However, the transport artery connecting them with the port of Constanta continued to operate. The section of the oil pipeline laid along the lower tier of the Chernavodsky bridge across the Danube was considered the most vulnerable.

All attempts to destroy it with the help of Il-4 and Pe-2 bombers did not give positive results.

Therefore, they decided to use for this purpose a composite dive bomber - SPB, which was put into service shortly before the war.

The SPB, which was a combination of I-16 fighters and a TB-3 bomber, became the apogee of the development of a link aircraft. Its first combat use took place on the night of August 10, 1941, when two TB-3s of the 18th transport squadron of the Black Sea Fleet Air Force with suspended fighters of the 32nd Fighter Aviation Regiment launched from one of the Crimean airfields towards Romania. Not reaching the target, in the area of ​​the Georgievsky girl, they gave the command to cut off the I-16. The calculation was correct - the high speed and small size of the fighters, combined with surprise, determined the success of the operation - all eight 250-kilogram bombs accurately hit the target.

The creation of the SPB, as well as the airborne troops in our country, the conquest of the North Pole and the Pole of Inaccessibility, as well as the development of Siberia and the Far East are inextricably linked with the TB-3 aircraft (ANT-6, TsAGI-6).

The history of the creation of the future TB-3 began in 1925. The aircraft was supposed to deliver a dropped cargo weighing 2000 kg to a distance of 1500 km. It was conceived as a "flying fortress" armed with eight 7.62 mm machine guns.

The idea of ​​​​creating TB-3 belonged to Tupolev, V.M., in particular, participated in the development of the project. Petlyakov, V.M. Mya-sischev, A.A. Arkhangelsky and V.N. Belyaev, who later became the chief designers.

In February 1930, the layout was defended, eight months later the car was built, and on December 22, TsAGI chief pilot M.M. Gromov with flight mechanic Rusakov tested it in the air. Flight tests of the experimental TB-3 with Curtis-Conqueror engines were carried out until February 20, 1931. The next day, a meeting of representatives of TsAGI and the Air Force Research Institute was held, the minutes of which, in particular, noted: “TB-3-4 Curtis-Conqueror” is a modern bomber in its flight data, standing at the level of the best foreign aircraft. Consider it necessary to put the aircraft into serial construction with the replacement of the Curtis-Conqueror engines with the M-17.

After testing, the prototype TB-3 was supplied with M-17 engines (the Soviet designation for licensed BMW-VIs) with wooden propellers, bomber armament, and wing-mounted machine gun turrets. The equipment of the machine was very poor. In addition to engine control devices, there were a magnetic compass, a speed indicator, an altimeter, a watch, air thermometers, a wind gauge, an “aeronavigator”, a Hertz sight for bombing the navigator and, apparently, radiotelegraphy equipment.

In this form, the bomber entered the factory tests in the last days of April 1931. Their results were not encouraging. Suffice it to say that the maximum speed decreased by 19 km / h, and the time to climb 3000 meters increased three times. The characteristics of stability and controllability, and they were evaluated according to the reports of the pilots, remained unchanged, but one interesting detail was noted - on landing, a flight mechanic came to the aid of the pilot, setting the required angle of deflection of the stabilizer with the steering wheel. Despite the presence of chain hoists in the control wiring from the helm to the ailerons, excessive loads were noted. Subsequently, they were reduced by introducing slotted aileron compensation.

In 1931, the TB-3 was launched into mass production with M-17 engines at factories No. 22 and No. 31. Compared to its predecessor TB-1, with almost the same maximum speed of 196 km / h, the bomb load and flight range increased sharply, reached 2300 km. The practical ceiling did not exceed 3800 m. The normal flight weight increased to 17,200 kg. On February 27 of the following year, test pilot of plant No. 22 Lozovsky took off the first serial TB-3.

At the beginning of January 1932, one of the first serial TB-3s with M-17 engines and underwing gun mounts was handed over for testing at the Air Force Research Institute, and upon completion, the aircraft was accepted as a standard. Compared with the experimental machine, the standard had a reduced wing span with its unchanged area and increased flight weight. However, flight characteristics have not changed much.

A year later, the Air Force Research Institute made an attempt to improve the performance of the bomber. First of all, we paid attention to the power plant. We increased the ignition timing and clarified the instructions for using the high-altitude corrector of the M-17 engines. The oil reserve was reduced from 460 to 300 kg and the empty weight by 518 kg, and the flight weight was increased to 20,000 kg. At the same time, the bomb load increased to 3600 kg instead of the calculated 1000 kg. This became possible due to the installation of additional Der-9 holders. In this form, the modified aircraft made a non-stop flight on the route Shchelkovo - Yevpatoria - Shchelkovo on August 6, 1933 in 15.5 hours. 2,500 kg of bombs were dropped at the Evpatoria training ground.

According to the rest of the fuel, they concluded: “the aircraft allows, in calm weather, a bomb load of 3200 kg when flying to a radius of 1200 km and 2000 kg when flying to a radius of 1500 km.”

It was possible to increase the flight data of a bomber only by local improvements in aerodynamics or by replacing engines with more powerful ones. Developing both directions, a month later, TsAGI, together with plant No. 22, presented a bomber with M-34 engines for state tests in October 1933, and nine days later, a modernized TB-3 with M-17.

1 - front shooting point for two machine guns YES; 2 - glazing of the navigator's cabin; 3 - windows near the workplaces of the radio operator and ship commander; 4 – cockpit; 5 – wind power generator (dynamo); 6 - antenna mast of a communication radio station; 7 - places for turrets of defensive machine guns YES; 8 - keel; 9 – rudder with horn aerodynamic compensation; 10 – crutch with shock absorber tail support; 11 - stabilizer braces; 12 – fairing wing gunner; 13 - shock absorber of the main landing gear; 14 - cooling radiator

In November, the Air Force Research Institute completed testing of the modified TB-3-4M-17. On a machine with a wing of increased span, the fairings of the wing and tail were installed at the points of their junction with the fuselage and fairings on the chassis. They removed the wing machine gun mounts. As a result, the maximum speed at the ground increased by 20 km / h, and at an altitude of 3000 m - by 10 km / h, the ceiling rose by 800 m. But for the end of 1933 this was no longer enough.

They hoped to get the best results on a machine with M-34 engines. But, despite their high takeoff power (840 hp), flight characteristics have changed little. So, the maximum speed did not exceed 207.5 km / h, and the practical ceiling - 3900 m. The reason was a significant decrease in the thrust of propellers rotating with more than

M-17F, rpm, and the absence of supercharging led to a decrease in engine power and, as a result, a drop in speed with increasing flight altitude.

Nevertheless, the aircraft was put into mass production at plant number 22. In 1935, 56 aircraft with new engines, after fine-tuning at the Air Force Research Institute, were relocated to Sescha.

A significant improvement in flight data was achieved only after the installation of M-34R geared engines, but not immediately. On an experimental aircraft in 1933, it was possible to achieve only a speed of 229 km / h, to increase the rate of climb by almost one and a half times and to slightly increase the ceiling. And only after improving the aerodynamics of the aircraft during tests in July 1934 did they receive characteristics that satisfied the designers and the customer - the Air Force.

On serial vehicles, the wing machine gun mounts were finally removed, and in return they introduced a stern rifle mount. In addition, the tail unit was increased, the rudder with a modified geometry was raised up and equipped with a flatner, the keel column was strengthened and the fairings of the wing, empennage and engine nacelles were installed. A tail wheel appeared, the rear wheels on the bogies of the main supports were replaced with brake ones, and rubber shock absorbers were replaced with oil-air ones. As a result, the maximum speed increased to 242.5 km / h, and the practical ceiling - up to 5100 m.

In the summer of 1934, Air Force exercises were held in the Far East with the widespread involvement of TB-3s. The effect of their application exceeded all expectations. In the July resolution of the USSR Defense Committee, in particular, it was noted: “Given the great combat value of the TB-3 ships with the M-34 engine with a gearbox and especially with a gearbox and a supercharger, oblige the NKTP to speed up the production of these aircraft in every possible way ... Oblige the Red Army UVVS immediately upon receipt from industry to install on these aircraft<…>ShKAS machine guns, primarily in air units in the Far East.

Subsequently, on the TB-3, all twins of DA machine guns were replaced with single ShKASs, which were distinguished by a high rate of fire. Such protection for airships designed to solve strategic tasks was still considered insufficient in the mid-1930s, but large-caliber weapons for aircraft did not yet exist in the country.

Already during the war years, part of the TB-3 was equipped with shielded turrets with UBT heavy machine guns.

The highest flight characteristics were obtained after the installation of supercharged M-34RN engines. In addition to them, an aft rifle installation appeared on the plane. In this regard, reduced the area of ​​the vertical and increased the area of ​​the horizontal plumage. They changed the shape of the rudder, which was equipped with a flatner to reduce the effort on the pedals.

If the TB-3-4M-17 had two-blade propellers with a diameter of 3.5 m, then on the machine with the M-34RN, four-blade propellers with a diameter of 4.4 m were used on the internal engines, and on the extreme ones, where the wing was thinner, four-meter two-blade . It was also positive that the capacity of the engine cooling system was reduced to 130 liters per engine. The total gain only on the coolant amounted to 120 kg, compared with machines equipped with M-34 engines.

A wheel was placed on a crutch.

The instrumentation of the aircraft has also become richer.

With a take-off weight of 23,050 kg, the flight range reached 3,000 km, the maximum speed at an altitude of 4,200 m was 288 km / h, and the ceiling was 7,740 m. But in 1935, these data no longer satisfied the military. Despite the efforts of the industry, the aircraft was morally aging right before our eyes.

The report on state tests of a bomber with M-34RN engines noted: “The aircraft according to<…>maximum speed, ceiling, rate of climb has an undeniable advantage over the T5-3M-34P, at the same time it is significantly inferior in maximum speed<…>Boeing 229.

In the biography of TB-3, everything happened - both ups and downs. It is impossible to list all emergency situations, but one of them will interest the reader. In October 1938, a bomber with M-34RN engines, piloted by pilot M.A. Gurov, at an altitude of 4200 m approached a thundercloud. The airship was abruptly thrown into a dive with a left turn. All attempts by the crew to withdraw the aircraft, which had accelerated to exorbitant speed, were in vain. As a result, TB-3 began to collapse. First, the tail plumage fell off, then the navigation cabin. The rest of the fuselage, as shown by the investigation, broke between the 12th and 13th frames. Almost simultaneously, the skin was torn off from both planes of the bearing surface. Of the eleven crew members, only eight managed to escape by parachute.

On the latest T5-3M-34PH series, the undercarriage bogies were replaced with two-meter wheels and the shape of the forward fuselage was changed in connection with the installation of a shielded turret. In a similar configuration, four Aviaarktika aircraft were also produced, which were originally intended for the landing of the expedition to the North Pole.

At the Experimental Institute of the NKTP, headed by P.I. Grokhovsky, and then in KB-29 under the leadership of Privalov developed suspension devices for military equipment and vehicles under the fuselage of a bomber. TB-3 had to carry artillery guns, motorcycles, and in August 1935, military tests of the suspension of the T-27 light tank passed.

In the same year, the R-52-TB-3 object was tested with two 76 mm caliber guns mounted on it.

In 1933, experiments were carried out on refueling a bomber in flight from R-5 and TB-3 aircraft, and a gas and oil tanker for ground equipment (TB-3 No. 22453, modified in the UVVS Design Bureau) was also tested. Three years later, another device was tested for pouring fuel from a flying tanker into a bomber.

In the summer of 1939, another attempt was made to improve the aircraft's flight data. The AM-34RN engines were equipped with TK-1 turbochargers and VRSh-34 variable-pitch propellers. Tests showed that the practical ceiling reached 8000 m (they did not rise to the calculated 8900 m due to the low efficiency of the propellers). The maximum speed in comparison with the serial TB-3 has not changed -284 km/h. As a result, they decided that it was not expedient to modernize the bomber.

In 1936, several TB-3s were equipped with boosted AM-34FRN engines, which made it possible to increase its speed to 300 km / h, the ceiling to 8000 m. However, these engines had a low resource, did not pass state tests and could not be used on serial machines. However, in October of the same year, the crew of A.B. Yumasheva set six world records. A control load weighing 5000 kg was lifted first to a height of 8116 m, and then to a height of 8960 m, a load weighing 10,000 kg was raised to 6605 m, and 12,000 kg to 2700 m.

As they were withdrawn from service, the aircraft were transferred to the Civil Air Fleet, where they were operated under the designation G-2. The commercial load on aircraft with M-17 engines reached 4500 kg, although the volume of the fuselage could not always accommodate the cargo planned for transportation. The machines were used mainly for transporting goods to hard-to-reach and remote areas of the country.

The last expedition, carried out on a former bomber under the designation ANT-6, was the study of areas adjacent to the Pole of Inaccessibility in the Arctic Ocean in 1941.

In 1932, Japan occupied Manchuria, and its troops were located along the border with the Soviet Union with clearly unfriendly goals, and the fleet of the Land of the Rising Sun dominated the Far Eastern seas. In this situation, the Soviet government sent a formation of 150 TB-3s to the Far East, the range of which made it possible to reach any point in Japan. This immediately sobered up the samurai and pushed back the armed conflict.

However, in the summer of 1938, an armed conflict broke out between Japan and the USSR in the area of ​​​​Lake Khasan. Rifle units from the air supported 250 aircraft, including 60 TB-3s. This was the first time a heavy bomber was used in combat. But the lesson received by the samurai did not work for them.

In the spring of the following year, they unleashed another armed conflict on the Khaphin-Gol River. And again, TB-3s joined the combat work, having made 166 sorties. In addition to delivering bombing strikes, TB-3s (mainly at night) delivered ammunition and food to the battlefields and took out the sick and wounded.

By that time, our country had three special-purpose aviation armies (GAS), which were based on heavy bombers, intended both to independently solve strategic tasks - delivering bombing strikes, and to ensure the landing of airborne troops (Airborne Forces).

For the first time, the capabilities of the Airborne Forces were demonstrated in 1934 at the maneuvers of the Belarusian Military District, and a year later, 1,800 parachutes “decorated” the sky during exercises near Minsk. Observers, including foreign ones, were even more surprised by the landing force consisting of 5,700 people with heavy weapons, vehicles with guns, light tanks and armored vehicles.

Paratroopers in the amount of thirty people were placed in the center section and on the boards laid over the doors of the bombs. People were sitting in the dark and cramped, and it blew heavily through numerous cracks. They jumped from the turret cutouts in the fuselage, from both wing planes. It was difficult for the paratroopers, but there were no other aircraft capable of solving such tasks.

The assets of TB-3 included participation in the war with Finland, in the Polish campaign and the "campaigns" of the Red Army in the Baltic states and Bessarabia.

In 1941, the 81st long-range air division, commanded by M.V. Vodopyanov, a special air group of remote-controlled aircraft entered, headed by A.G. Fedorov. It included three TB-3s and one SB and one DB-3 each. At the end of August, preparations began in the Moscow region for aiming unmanned aircraft at a target. To solve this problem, in particular, polar pilots E.K. Pusep, A.N. Tyagunin and N.N. Ponomarenko, as well as other specialists.

Within a week, the pilot's cabins were converted to TB-3 by installing radio control equipment. The cargo compartments were filled with explosives. The SB and DB-3 bombers were equipped with radio transmitters with remote controls for radio commands. The crews trained in leaving aircraft by parachute. During training, the TB-3 flew ahead, behind it with a slight excess and at a distance of 150 - 200 meters - guidance aircraft: SB or DB-3.

The only unsuccessful attempt was made to use the radio-controlled TB-3 in combat to destroy the bridge across the Volga near the city of Kalinin (Tver).

The limited volume of the article does not allow to talk about the numerous night bomb attacks, flights to the partisans and landings. TB-3 quietly solved the tasks assigned to it by the military. The flights of the crews of military vehicles rarely did without casualties, sometimes they returned with broken engines and the last drops of fuel, but a few days later they were back in service - and so for almost three years of the war.

The TB-3 was stable, easy to control and reliable in flight in all modes, accessible to pilots of average qualification, which contributed to its rapid development.

According to the statistics of the former Ministry of Aviation Industry of the USSR, three aircraft factories built 873 TB-3s.

The life cycle of the TB-3 ended in 1946 after a government decree was issued to decommission the remaining vehicles. Not a single car has survived to this day that once surprised Europe. True, there is hope to rescue one of the vehicles of the Polar Aviation, which made an emergency landing in the Arctic, from the snow captivity, but for this one initiative is not enough. Money is also required, but there are no patrons who want to correct the mistakes of the Soviet past.

N. YAKUBOVICH

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IN THE USSR. Air parades, films about heroes-pilots, opening of aviation schools throughout the country, setting new records for altitude, speed and flight range - aviation has become a real cult for the young Land of the Soviets. The heavy bomber TB-3 (or as it was also called ANT-6) is a real symbol of that era. Not a single air parade could do without this giant, the TB-3 has many records, this aircraft landed on drifting ice floes and participated in the war in Spain.

In 1939, the TB-3 was decommissioned by the Soviet bomber units, but after the start of the war, it was put back into service. ANT-6 was used throughout the war as a bomber and transport aircraft. The history of the use of TB-3 in the first months of the war is one of the most dramatic pages of Soviet aviation.

In recognition of the merits of the air veteran, the TB-3 was included in the air column of the Victory Parade, but due to bad weather, the aviation overflight was canceled.

At the time of its creation, the TB-3 was considered the pinnacle of design thought; many of the technical solutions used to create this aircraft determined the development of heavy aviation for decades to come. This was the merit of the ingenious designer A.N. Tupolev and the team of the TsAGI AGOS, where the TB-3 was developed.

A total of 816 bomber units were built. During the years of serial production, about ten modifications of the aircraft were developed. TB-3 was produced in the period from 1932 to 1937.

The history of the creation of the legendary TB-3

The history of the TB-3 began in 1925 after the leadership of the Soviet Air Force turned to TsAGI with a demand to create a heavy multi-engine bomber with a wheeled or ski chassis and a total engine power of at least 2000 hp. With.

The design of the new car began the following year, with Tupolev as the head of the design team. The military changed and refined the characteristics of the new aircraft several times, the final technical task appeared only in 1929.

The TB-1 aircraft was taken as the basis. Initially, it was planned to install Curtiss V-1570 engines (590 hp) on it, and then replace them with Soviet Mikulin-17 engines. After completing all the miscalculations and carrying out purges in 1930, the layout of the new bomber was finally approved. In the shortest possible time it was built, and in December 1930 the first aircraft took off. The flight went well. It was decided to put the car into mass production.

The prototype aircraft was upgraded. BMW-VIz 500 engines (720 hp) were installed on it, and the area of ​​the horizontal tail was increased. The one-wheeled chassis of the English company Palmer were found to be weak and were replaced by wheeled bogies of domestic production.

After the start of production, it turned out that production aircraft were 10-15% heavier than the prototype.

This problem was solved not only by the designers, but also by the workers of the plant, each of whom was offered one hundred rubles per kilogram dropped. In the end, the weight of the bomber was reduced by 800 kg. Subsequently, serial TB-3s had a difference in mass, sometimes it reached several hundred kilograms.

I must say that such problems often haunted Soviet aircraft manufacturers. The reason for this was the low technological culture of production, the unsatisfactory quality of components and materials. All this led to the fact that production aircraft differed significantly (for the worse, of course) from prototypes. This phenomenon became especially massive during the war.

In the future, Tupolev continued to work on reducing the mass of the TB-3 and improving its aerodynamic shape. He further concluded that better streamlining in large and low-speed aircraft does not lead to a significant improvement in basic performance. Although, he still managed to reduce the mass of TB-3.

TB-3 modifications

During the years of serial production of the aircraft, several of its modifications were created:

• TB-3-4M-17F. First, it is the most massive modification of the aircraft. It accounts for more than half of the cars produced.
• TB-3-4M-34R. Modification TB-3, equipped with an AM-34R motor with a gearbox. He reduced the speed of the propeller, which increased the efficiency and improved the basic flight performance.
• TB-3-4M-34. Variant of the aircraft with the AM-34 engine. Released in a small series.
• TB-3-4AM-34RD. Aircraft of improved aerodynamic shape, made for long-haul flights. It was these machines that flew to Paris, Rome, Warsaw. Some TB-3s of this modification had three-bladed metal propellers.
• TB-3-4AM-34RN. These aircraft were equipped with AM-34RN engines, had four-blade propellers on the internal engines and two-blade propellers on the external ones. The diameter of the wheels of the chassis reached two meters. The practical ceiling of the bombers of this modification was 7740 meters. In the series, the car was so launched and was not.
• TB-3-4AM-34FRN/FRNV. This model had improved aerodynamics, engines with more power, four-bladed propellers, a maximum speed of up to 300 km / h.
• TB-3D. The modification of the aircraft with a diesel engine never went into production.
• ANT-6-4M-34R "Aviaarktika". A machine designed to fly in the Arctic. The aircraft had a closed cockpit and four-bladed propellers.
• G-2. Aircraft transport model designed for the needs of Aeroflot.

Description of the design of the TB-3 bomber

The TB-3 aircraft had a duralumin all-metal body. The frame of the aircraft was assembled from V-shaped profiles, on top they were covered with corrugated skin, of different thicknesses. It was possible to walk on almost the entire surface of the aircraft in soft shoes, and on some parts of it even in boots.

The crew of the aircraft consisted of 6-8 people, depending on the modification.

The trapezoidal fuselage was structurally divided into three parts. The central part of the fuselage was integral with the center section of the wing. The design of the fuselage of the TB-3 repeated the design of the fuselage of the TB-1 bomber, the difference was only in size.

Wing TB-3 consisted of two consoles and a center section. It was supported by four beams, the mechanization of the wing was carried out by a system of cables.

In 1934, the span and area of ​​the wing was increased by the use of higher strength duralumin.

The nose of the aircraft under the machine-gun turret was glazed, the cockpits were open, which was quite natural for that time. Closed cockpits were installed only for aircraft flying in the Arctic.

The TB-3 was equipped with a non-retractable landing gear without brakes. On each of the racks, two wheels were installed in tandem. According to later modifications of the aircraft, the rear wheels were made brake. In winter, the aircraft was mounted on skis: two main and one rear.

Most of the produced aircraft were equipped with four M-17 engines, fuel was supplied to them from four gas tanks, with a total capacity of 1950 liters. Each of them had three compartments, but was not equipped with protection against leaks or holes.

Armament TB-3 consisted of five light machine guns. One of them was mounted on the nose of the aircraft, two - on the roof of the fuselage, two more machine-gun points could be placed under the wings. The maximum combat load of the TB-3 was 5 thousand kg. Bombs were placed both inside the fuselage (in the bomb bay) and hung under the wings of the aircraft. The maximum caliber is 1000 kg.

Combat use of TB-3

At the beginning of the 30s, the TB-3 was considered a fairly modern and “advanced” machine, but aviation developed so rapidly in those years that by the middle of the decade it was seriously outdated. In 1939, the TB-3 bomber was officially withdrawn from service.

Despite this, the TB-3 was actively used by the military in numerous local military conflicts in the late 1930s and during the war with Germany.

During the fighting in the area of ​​​​Lake Khasan, TB-3 bombed Japanese troops. At Khalkhin Gol, the TB-3 was used as a night bomber; several hundred sorties were made. Also, this TB-3 was actively used as a transport aircraft.

After the events in the Far East, TB-3 took part in the Polish campaign, but this time the aircraft performed exclusively transport functions. Polish aviation had been destroyed by the German Air Force even earlier.

Also, this bomber was actively used during the Finnish War. At first, these aircraft were used during the day or on secondary sectors of the front, but with the increase in the skill of the Finnish TB-3 fighters, they had to switch to a “night lifestyle”. TB-3 was used until the very end of the war, these aircraft dropped heavy bombs (up to 1 thousand kg) on ​​the objects of the Mannerheim Line.

At the time of the start of the war with Germany, the USSR Air Force had 516 serviceable TB-3 aircraft. Another 25 vehicles were in service with the Soviet Navy. It should be noted that these bombers practically did not suffer during the first, most difficult for Soviet aviation, days of the war, as they were located at airfields located far from the state border.

It turned out that by August TB-3s accounted for 25% of the entire bomber aviation of the USSR. The military leadership of the country could not but use this resource.

The first attempts to use TB-3 during the day ended in complete failure. The bomber had good survivability, but low speed turned it into an easy target for anti-aircraft artillery, and very weak defensive weapons made it practically defenseless against modern German fighters. The dramatic episode with the destruction of a group of TB-3 bombers sent in the daytime to bomb an enemy object is described by the Soviet writer Simonov in the novel The Living and the Dead.

However, this aircraft was perfectly suited for the role of a night bomber: it could carry a good bomb load, and the low speed of the aircraft became not a minus, but an advantage - it seriously increased the accuracy of bombing.

It should be noted that experienced crews were selected on the TB-3, so that in one night the aircraft could make up to three sorties. These bombers made an important contribution to the victory over the Nazis, their role was especially great at the initial stage of the war. Then the Soviet industry began to produce in large quantities the Pe-2 night bomber and TB-3 began to be used as transport aircraft.

TB-3 aircraft took part in the most important battles of the war: in the battle of Smolensk, in the battle for Moscow, in the defense of Stalingrad, in the battles on the Kursk Bulge, in breaking the blockade of Leningrad.

This bomber on board could carry 35 people, it was able to transport even light tanks: T-37, T-27 and T-38. Moreover, the bomber could become a kind of aircraft carrier: two I-16 fighters could be fixed under the wings of the bomber. In 1941, two TB-3 fighter carriers made several raids on the oil fields of Romania. They not only destroyed the oil pipeline, but also hit a strategically important bridge.

During the war, the TB-3 was used during most major landing operations, it was used to deliver cargo to Soviet units that were surrounded, to deliver aid to partisans, and to evacuate the wounded to the rear.

For the first time, TB-3s were used for a mass landing during the Battle of Moscow. With the help of these aircraft, one regiment and two battalions were landed near Vyazma.

In September 1943, TB-3s took part in a large landing at the Bukrinsky bridgehead during the battle for Kyiv.

In 1943, TB-3s began to be gradually withdrawn from the front and sent to perform various tasks in the rear. However, several dozen vehicles were in combat formation until the very victory. In the rear, their number also quickly decreased: due to a lack of equipment, the operation of the TB-3 was very intensive.

As of July 1945, the Soviet Air Force still had ten usable TB-3s, they were part of the 18th Air Division.

Civilian application

TB-3 was also actively used for civilian needs. It is especially worth noting the most important role played by these aircraft in the development of the Arctic and the Far North. For flights in the conditions of the north, a special modification of the bomber was created - ANT-6-4M-34R "Aviarktika".

This aircraft had a redesigned nose, a closed cockpit, large-diameter wheels and a tail wheel instead of bogies. The streamlining of the aircraft was also improved and three-bladed metal propellers were installed.

May 21, 1937 ANT-6 landed on the northernmost point of our planet. In the future, aircraft of the "Arctic" modification made hundreds of flights in the Far North, which once again proves the reliability of this aircraft.

Also, TB-3 was actively used as a passenger and cargo aircraft.

Specifications TTX TB-3

Below are the flight performance characteristics of the TB-3.

If you have any questions - leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them.

TB-3 is an all-metal four-engine cantilever monoplane with fixed landing gear and open cockpits.

Fuselage: the fuselage frame consisted of four spars, 19 frames and intermediate braces. All elements of the frame were made of duralumin pipes and profiles connected with riveting. Sheathing - corrugated duralumin sheets. The fuselage had a variable section - from almost square in the nose and central parts to trapezoidal with a narrow lower edge in the tail.

In the very nose was the forward firing point, under it was the glazed cockpit of the navigator-scorer and navigator-navigator, and behind it was an open cockpit with dual controls. Between the pilots' seats there was a passage forward - into the navigational cockpit, and back - into the cockpit of the senior flight engineer with the engine control panel. Further, the spars of the center section passed through the fuselage, between which there was a bomb bay, closed from below by flaps. Above the bomb bay was a narrow hole in the rear fuselage.

Behind the bomb bay was the so-called "common cabin", in which sat a radio operator with a walkie-talkie and two shooters.

Wing: trapezoidal shape and a very thick profile, at the fuselage its thickness reached one and a half meters, which made it possible, if necessary, to place people and cargo inside the wing. There was also a corridor for in-flight access to the gun turrets and engines.

The basis of the power set was four truss spars made of duralumin pipes, as well as ribs made of pipes of smaller diameter and channels. Sheathing - corrugated duralumin. All elements of the frame and skin were fastened together with aluminum rivets.

On the trailing edge of the wing there were four-section slot-type ailerons, with internal weight balancers. The ailerons were suspended from the rear spar on ball bearings.

Power point: early series aircraft (later ones are described in the next section) were equipped with four M-17 12-cylinder twin-row M-17 water-cooled engines with two-bladed fixed-pitch wooden propellers with a diameter of 3.5 m.

The motors were placed in common nacelles with honeycomb radiators. The engine nacelles are the only fragments of the aircraft that did not have corrugated, but smooth skin. The cooling of the engines was regulated by turning the front shutters of the radiator shutters, which were controlled by the flight engineer.

The motors were started by pneumatic starters operating from compressed air cylinders, or manually, using a rubber loop on a stick, which was used to hook and turn the propeller blades.

Fuel (a mixture of gasoline and benzene or leaded gasoline) was placed in four large wing tanks with a capacity of 1990 liters, riveted from duralumin. Four oil tanks of 120 liters each were installed in the engine nacelles behind the engines.

Plumage: the keel and stabilizer are similar in design to the wing and ailerons. The stabilizer mount was strengthened by paired steel braces that went to the keel and fuselage. The rudders had horn aerodynamic compensation.

Chassis: conventional type with a tail crutch. The main supports are pyramidal, with duralumin struts and steel axle shafts. Rubber plate shock absorbers are built into the racks. Two-wheeled tandem bogies were attached to the axle shafts, the wheels of which stood with a slight shift, so that each went along its own track. The axles of the wheels are sprung, and the wheels themselves are spoked, with a diameter of 1.35 m. In winter, skis were mounted instead of wheels. The tail crutch is orientable, welded from pipes, with a removable steel shoe, on which a ski was put on in winter. Shock absorber - rubber lamellar on the rear strut.

Armament: included the Tur-6 front turret, two Tur-5 turrets rolling from side to side behind the trailing edge of the wing (usually they stood diagonally) and two retractable B-2 rifle turrets under the wing. On the aircraft of early releases, single machine guns DA (“Degtyarev aviation”) of 7.62 mm caliber with disk power were everywhere, later twins of machine guns of the same type began to be installed on the turrets. All paired installations had a stock of 24 disks, underwing - seven each. The B-2 towers were extended and retracted manually by the shooters themselves with the help of winches.

The standard stock of bombs was 2000 kg, but in overload (due to a decrease in the fuel supply), the aircraft could lift up to five tons of combat load.

This aircraft designed by A. N. Tupolev is one of the most outstanding not only for its time. It was the world's first four-engine cantilever monoplane bomber with engines installed in a row in span at the wing tip. His scheme - the development of the TB-1 scheme - became dominant for all aircraft of this type and for various purposes. For 1930-1932 the TB-3 aircraft was a big step forward and stood at the height of technical excellence. This is the merit of A. N. Tupolev and the AGOS team, this is our priority. The creation of this classic aircraft is all the more valuable because the design and technology of such machines was mastered along with it, and a large serial production of them was established.

The creation of the TB-3 began back in 1925 with negotiations between the Ostekhbyuro and TsAGI on the construction of a heavy bomber with a capacity of 2000 hp. With. in land and float options. The design of such an aircraft began under the leadership of A. N. Tupolev in May 1926. The requirements from the Air Force control were specified several times and took their final form in December 1929.

Experienced copy. Four 600 hp Curtis Conqueror engines were selected. With. with their replacement later on M-17. Models were calculated and blown. On March 21, 1930, the layout was approved. The construction was completed in a short time, and on October 31, 1930, the aircraft was already assembled at the airfield. The first flight of M. M. Gromov on December 22, 1930 showed that the aircraft was successful. This assessment remained with him in the future in all his modifications.

The aircraft was tested on specially made skis. Turrets were placed, but without machine guns, there were no bomb weapons. By February 20, 1931, the Air Force assessed “The ANT-6 aircraft with the Curtis engine, according to its flight data, is a completely modern bomber at the level of the best foreign aircraft. Flight performance allows us to recommend for serial construction with M-17 engines.

The aircraft was returned to AGOS for replacement of engines and elimination of defects. The following changes were made: BMW-VIz 500/730 hp engines were installed. c and, accordingly, the radiators suspended obliquely according to the R-6 type are enlarged, the TsAGI propellers are wooden, with a diameter of 3.5 m; aileron horn compensators have been abolished (the span has decreased by 1 m), slotted compensation has been made in the ailerons and rudders; the area of ​​the horizontal plumage is increased; the crutch was redesigned according to the model of TB-1; the aircraft was put on wheels of the English company Palmer - with pneumatics 2000 X 450 mm. However, these wheels turned out to be weak and were replaced by tandem bogies with domestic wheels 1350 X 300 mm. Introduction to the series was carried out from the second half of 1931.

Head instance. TB-3 (ANT-6) - 4 M-17 was brought to the airfield on January 4, 1932, test pilot Andrey Borisovich Yumashev, lead engineer-pilot Ivan Fedorovich Petrov flew. It was recognized that the aircraft was combat-ready and could be accepted as a standard for serial construction in 1932.

This aircraft had retractable machine-gun rotating turrets (of the R-6 type) in the center section, between the second and third spars, closer to the extreme engines. Beam-type bomb racks and radio equipment were installed. Chassis wheels - in tandem bogies. Small arms - Tour-6 turret with a single or twin DA machine gun in the nose of the fuselage, towers with one DA, Tur-5 (rolling) turrets behind the wing with one or two DAs. Ammunition - a total of 100 disks of 63 rounds. The total mass of small arms - 439 kg. Bomb weapons - holders for 2000 kg of various bombs weighing up to 1000 kg (Der-9, Der-13, Der-15 and Der-16), Sbr 9 bomb release with a total weight of 437 kg Equipment weight (then fully included in the load) - 349 kg .

Tests of the lead specimen were carried out on skis and on wheels with full small arms and bomber weapons in various combinations. The balance of an empty aircraft is 30.2% MAH, loaded - 30.8% MAH. Flying qualities on wheels and on skis were the same.

The launch of the TB-3 (ANT-6) aircraft into a series took place in conditions where its success as a type was not in doubt. Six months before the first flight, the plant them. On the 10th anniversary of October, he began to get acquainted with the drawings. During the tests, the drawings were finalized. In September 1931, it was decided to replace imported chrome-molybdenum steel XMA in all aircraft components with domestic steel chromansil HNZA, except for the chassis axle shafts, which were still imported.

After testing the lead aircraft, serial construction was started at two factories. The first circumstance that had to be faced was a significant overweight of production aircraft compared to the lead aircraft, which reached 10-12% of the airframe mass. The reasons were mainly in the greater thickness of the sheets and pipes due to the inevitable positive tolerances, in the addition of equipment and weapons with their fasteners, in the addition of structural units related to the needs of operation (brackets, partitions, seats, steps, etc.). It was found that many electrical wires have a section that is much larger than required by the current strength, that the welds are rough, and the chassis carts are unreasonably heavy. Experimental aircraft entered the airfield, being covered with a thin layer of varnish, and in the series their protective coloring was done very roughly with a spray gun: the layer of varnish and paint was thick. On experimental aircraft, everything was made cleaner. In cases of replacing KhMA steel with mild steel grade M, the section of parts increased accordingly. There were a number of other reasons as well.

Several unusual measures were taken against this. Regardless of the work of TsAGI designers and calculators, a collection of proposals was announced at the factories for lightening aircraft parts with payment of 100 rubles per kilogram of mass removed in the series. Later, the turrets were abolished, a number of partitions in the fuselage were thrown out, landing gear bogies, tanks, bomb armament suspension, and much more were lightened.

As a result, it was possible to remove more than 800 kg of the mass of an empty aircraft, but still, the discrepancies in mass between individual aircraft reached tens and even hundreds of kilograms, denunciations did not always go well, sometimes vibrations occurred and there were minor breakdowns due to weakening of the structure. However, the goal was basically achieved and the mass of the empty aircraft with the M-17 was set at about 10,970 kg without removable equipment and weapons. The flight weight was set at 17,200 kg, and with overload - up to 19,300 kg.

TB-3-4M-17f serial (Fig. 246, a) 1. This was the most numerous chip of the TB-3 aircraft (about half of the total). The design of this aircraft was typical for all subsequent variants, which differed mainly in the power plant, fuselage, landing gear and trim.

The fuselage in its contours was formed by straight lines above and below, in cross section it was trapezoidal with a slightly convex deck, above the wing the sides were vertical. Structurally, it was divided into three parts, and the middle part (F-2) was one integral whole with the center section between its first and last spars. The design repeated the enlarged TB-1 fuselage. The frames were made of A-profiles with braces of pipes, some were equipped with bulkheads with doors almost the height of a person, which formed separate cabins for pilots, navigator and radio operator. The nose of the fuselage under the turret is glazed, the cockpit is open, which was in the spirit of that time. The lantern was installed only in the arctic version. The closed front turret appeared much later, while the rear ones remained open.

The wing consisted of a center section with a span of about 7 m and two consoles. The chord length at the sides of the fuselage is 8.0 m, in front of the tips - 2.95 m, the relative thicknesses of the A0 (Tupolev) profiles are 20% in the center section and 10% at the tips. The profile is biconvex, the ordinates of the upper side of the shackle accounted for 60% of its total thickness. Wing - four-spar with several operational connectors. In the center section, the socks and tail sections were detachable, in the consoles - the tail sections and the initial section of the toe. Thus, the entire main part of the center section, together with the F-2, as well as the disassembled wing consoles, had a width of no more than 4 m and could be transported by rail. All spars were shaped from pipes with the largest section of 100 X 90 mm. The ribs consisted of external A-profiles and tubular braces with knees. The consoles had nine ribs at a distance of 1.8 m. The corrugated skin was supported by wing spars and several stringers in the form of trihedral light beams made of sheets with lightening holes.

The corrugated skin of the wing and fuselage had a thickness of mainly 0.3 mm, in the F-2 and F-3 (partially) and on top in the center section - 0.5 mm, and in some places where they often stood with their feet - 0.8 mm. The height of the corrugation waves was 13 mm, the pitch was 50 mm. On all surfaces it was possible to walk in soft shoes, and in designated places and in boots. In the center section, part of the detachable socks was made in the form of very convenient folding ladders for engine maintenance

Since 1934, the wingspan has been increased from 39.5 to 41.85 m by lengthening the tips. This was made possible due to the increase in the lasting limit! and duralumin new brands. Wing area increased from 230 to 234.5 m2

Stabilizer - with a variable installation angle in flight. The control of the rudders and ailerons is almost entirely cable, and to reduce the efforts of the pilot when controlling the ailerons, two chain hoists were introduced. To deflect the rudder in the event of a stop of the engines of one side, a special tensioning mechanism with rubber cords was arranged, since 1934 it was replaced by a servo rudder installation.

Pyramid-type chassis with semi-axle, strut and suspension strut with 12 rubber plates, since 1934 replaced by oil-air shock absorption. There were two pairs of wheels mounted in tandem on a trolley welded from pipes. The wheels were spoked, usually without spoke fairings. Then the rear wheels were made brake. Since 1935, the bogies have been replaced by brake wheels with pneumatics measuring 2000 x 450 mm.

In winter, the aircraft was mounted on skis of a wooden standard design with dimensions of 5540 X 1460 mm. Tail ski - dimensions 1000 x 450 mm. The specific load of the skis was about 1100 kg/m2. The skis were fitted with ten 16mm rubber cords at the front and four at the back.

The engine frames for the M-17 engine were welded from soft pipes and were attached at three points (two from the top) to the nodes of the front center section spar. Beveled back radiators were suspended from the frames, surrounded by a common hood with engines. The plane had four gas tanks of 1950 liters. Each gas tank was divided into three compartments. Fittings - type AM. Gas tanks - riveted from sheet duralumin on Whatman paper with shellac gaskets using 4 mm duralumin rivets with a barrel-shaped head and 1.5 mm duralumin washers under both heads. This type of tanks lasted about 15 years, since they well ensured the tightness of the seams.

On the TB-3-4M-17 aircraft, the technical flight range was increased to 3120 km by a series of measures for special adjustment of carburetors and ignition with an overload weight of 19.5 tons.

TB-3 “battened down”. In 1933, on one TB-3-4M-17 aircraft, bomb racks, turrets, turrets were sequentially removed, all holes were sealed, fairings were put on the carts, everything that protruded from the skin was removed. The speed increased by only 4.5% and the same range of this “battened down” aircraft.

The conclusion was clear. For large and relatively slow-moving aircraft, the gain from smooth skin compared to corrugation was small in terms of speed, and smooth skin on the toe and upper part of the wing to the rear spar was of primary importance.

Aircraft TB-3-4M-17 were in service from 1932 to 1939. In the process of their gradual replacement, they were transferred to Aeroflot, where under the G-2 brand (cargo second) they were used for cargo transportation for a number of years.

TB-3-4M-34. The design remained generally the same. Honeycomb vertical radiators were supplied, set far back and enclosed in separate hoods under the wing (“beard”). Added water-oil radiators. The issue of installing M-34 engines arose in the autumn of 1931. In February 1933 they were installed on the aircraft, in October state tests of two already serial aircraft were completed. The data was slightly higher than that of aircraft with the M-17. There were several dozen aircraft with M-34s.

TB-3-4M-34R. Together with the installation of the engine with the M-34R gearbox, some changes were made in the aircraft: the tail firing point was initially installed without changing the shape of the fuselage behind the crutch, without communicating with the fuselage. The design was temporary (before the alteration of the fuselage). The towers under the wing still remained. Small changes were also made to the tail unit. The rear wheels in the bogies are hydraulically controlled. Rubber cushioning has been replaced by oil-air cushioning. State tests of the aircraft were completed on October 16, 1933. Thanks to the engine gearbox, flight performance improved significantly. The aircraft was approved as a standard in 1934. After testing, the tail section of the fuselage was redesigned in it, the tail point was organically molded into its contours, the crutch was replaced by a tail wheel

In aircraft manufactured in 1934, a number of measures were taken to improve aerodynamics, fairings of the wing, stabilizer and air keel, engine cowlings with a wing were installed. Fairings were installed on the axle shafts and wheel bogies, but this design turned out to be inconvenient and could not be kept in operation. Radiator hoods were redone, and dynamos with windmills were made retractable into the fuselage.

On TB-3-4M-34R, the longest flight duration was achieved - 18 hours 30 minutes.

ANT-6 (TB-3)-4 AM-34RD (see Table 31). In 1933-1934. for three foreign flights - to Warsaw, Paris and Rome - nine specially finished aircraft with a new fuselage, with closed turrets and brake wheels in bogies were produced. In addition, several more aircraft were made with large two-meter wheels and three-bladed metal propellers. Their data was significantly higher than serial.

All three flights, each of which involved three aircraft, were excellently executed. Our huge machines produced a great effect abroad, once again demonstrating the successes of Soviet aircraft construction.

TB-3-AM-34RN. Until 1935, all previous engines lacked altitude, and therefore the ceiling of the TB-3 in all variants was small. With the installation of the new AM-34RN engine with an altitude of 4200 m, the situation improved dramatically. The aircraft was tested in August-October 1935. Four-blade wooden propellers were installed on the middle engines, and two-blade propellers on the outer ones. The fuselage was with a stern turret and a tail wheel, the chassis wheels were originally replaced with bogies by two meters, small arms-Tour-8 with ShKAS machine guns-bow, middle, hatch (down back) and aft installations, 2000 kg bombs on KD-2 holders, Der-19 and Der-20, Sbr-9 and Esbr-2 bombers, sights SPB-2, OPB-1 and KV-5.

The speed at an altitude of 4200 m reached 288 km / h, the ceiling - 7740 m. The success was great, but the test report indicated that the TB-3 aircraft was inferior to foreign ones. It was evident that the dimensions, shapes and design of the TB-3 were already outdated. Another aircraft was needed and it was already being developed in the TB-7 type.

TB-3-4 AM-34FRN and AM-34FRNV. With the installation on the TB-3 aircraft of new engine modifications in the form of the M-34FRN and M-34FRNV, it became possible to somewhat improve the aircraft's flight tactical data and set several new records. So, the pilot A. B. Yumashev September 11, 1936. reached a height of 8116m with a test load of 5000 kg, on October 28 - a height of 8980 m with the same load, on September 16 - a height of 6605 m with a load of 10,000 kg and on September 20, 1936 - a height of 2700 m with a load of 12,000 kg (not limit). The design of the production aircraft was not subjected to any reinforcements. Two more gas tanks were installed in the wing consoles, a flatner was installed on the rudder, two-meter brake wheels, the fuselage nose was redesigned, the front turret was shielded, the wing fairings were improved, the radiator forehead was reduced.

Aircraft with the M-34FRN were produced in 1936 and 1937. (the last period of their serial construction). The plane was brought to the possible degree of Perfection. The speed at altitude exceeded 300 km / h. However, the TB-3 aircraft gradually lost its significance as a heavy bomber and became a military transport one. In order to increase the flight range, the installation of diesel engines AN-1 A. D. Charomsky in 750 liters was designed. With. The estimated range was 4280 km. This version of the TB-ZD (diesel) was tested in 1935, but without success, since other flight qualities turned out to be lower than with the M-34RN.

The TB-3 aircraft in various modifications was mass-produced during 1932-1937. with a break from autumn 1934 to spring 1935. It was taken out of production in connection with the start of preparations for the introduction of the SB aircraft, but then it was produced again, partly in order to use the existing backlog.

TB-3 aircraft of all types were used as bombers in 1939 at Khalkhin Gol, a little - in the war with the White Finns, and to a very small extent - in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War, for example, in the Smolensk defensive operation, on the Northern Front, near Murmansk in winter 1941-1942 and in other places.

On the other hand, the TB-3 was used a lot and successfully as a military transport aircraft for landing operations and for all kinds of transportation of people and goods. At the same time, the aircraft were armed with ShKAS machine guns in various combinations, including for firing through windows in the sides (except for turrets), through hatches in the floor. For landings, the average load was 30-35 paratroopers. Under the TB-3, tankettes, guns, cars, and ammunition were suspended and dropped by parachute.

In World War II, TB-3 aircraft were also used to provide communications with various headquarters, to deliver ammunition and food to blockaded garrisons and partisans behind enemy lines, to transport flight personnel during relocation, to evacuate the wounded and for other purposes. In addition, the TB-3 aircraft was used as a carrier for other aircraft in the "Link" combination.

In all cases of its most diverse use, the aircraft fully justified itself.

Civilian application

ANT-6-4M-34R - the Arctic version of the TB-3 for flights in the Arctic and for the planned expedition to the North Pole in 1937 wheels instead of bogies and a tail wheel, fairings were improved and some changes were made to the power plant, in particular, three-bladed metal propellers were installed.

The conquest of the North Pole on May 21, 1937, numerous over the course of several years flights over the Arctic are the best evidence that the ANT-6-4M-34R aircraft successfully justified their purpose. The load in these aircraft reached 12 tons, i.e., almost 50% of the flight weight (24.5 tons). The strength of the aircraft, subject to minor flight restrictions, allowed this. The speed at the ground reached 240 km / h.

From January 1 to February 11, 1935, interesting experiments were carried out on one of the production aircraft with the M-34R engine to determine the effect of corrugated skin on the aircraft's flight performance. The original aircraft was sheathed with canvas along the corrugation: first, only the wing toe, then the toe and upper side of the wing to the rear spar, then both sides of the wing to the rear spar, and finally, along the entire wing and the lower surface of the fuselage, and finally, over all surfaces of the aircraft. It turned out that the gain in speed did not exceed 5.5%, and in the ceiling it reached 27.5%.

With four-blade wooden propellers on the same aircraft, the rate of climb increased significantly.

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