How the Soviets Stole a B-29 and Called it Their Own

On May 19, 1947, the Soviet Tupolev Tu-4 bomber made its first flight. The new plane was an exact copy of the most advanced aircraft of the time, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. Why did the Soviets, instead of creating something original, choose to blatantly copy the American bomber? And most importantly—how did they manage to do it?

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[vsevolodsemouchin]

About Germans who worked in the USSR, there was a good joke:
Russian, German, and American wanted to build a rocket. The German built the rocket. The Russian took the rocket and told, that he had built it. And the American took the German and said he is also an American.

[kevting]

The USA: Hey where's my B-29 that landed on your airfield?

The USSR: You mean OUR B-29 comrade.

[argenthellion]

There's also a legend claiming that Stalin demanded this bomber to be copied so exactly, someone jokingly asked him "SHOULD WE PAINT THE AMERICAN STAR ON IT TOO?" This is often asigned to Beria, since he's believed to be the only one able to utter such words and get a free pass...

[ThatCrazySasquatch]

They copied the B-29 so well that it came with the engine fires😂😂

[katherinek]

Stories about nobody wanting to ask what Stalin meant by "Copy it exactly, " aren't an exaggeration. There is a well known building in Moscow, The Moscow Hotel (original building demolished in 2004, but new building of the Four Seasons Moscow replicates most of the architecture) that is asymmetric. The left and right sides of the hotel were built with the different architectural styles, because the original design included both options for compactness, and it was intended for Stalin to approve one of these. Stalin just put his signature on the whole thing, and nobody dared to ask if Stalin meant the left half or the right half, so they just built it exactly as approved.

[davidrodriguez]

I swear, all this stories start at an airshow in Tushino airfield.

[some-replies]

The audacity of calling them "flying fortresses" too.
"Da, we builded plane"

[Maphisto]

Tupolev was a victim of Stalin’s purges and imprisoned for a time. I wouldn’t be surprised if Tupolev was being darkly sarcastic about that joke.

[FireflyActual]

Me: "You can't make a 44-minute video about the Soviets copying an American bomber!"
Paper Skies: "Hold my kvass."

This is going to be a nice evening.

[nicholaslardas]

I grew up hearing an anecdote about the Soviets painstakingly copying every minute detail of a downed American plane right down to drilling bullet holes in one of the wings in the same position that the original was damaged

[macmac]

Tu-4 Stratofortresky, brand new Russian bomber found in Americans attic

[HoJSimpson]

I had to laugh out loud when he asked:" What was different in 1945?"
Because before he said it, my thought was :" The Germans!"

[maciek_k.cichon]

Ah, another great example of Soviet forward thinking smykalka - copying.
It's strange Muscovites doesn't like the West, they're emulating everything Western they can get their hands on.
Thanks, dude. Your videos are a treat.

[christopherconard]

We couldn't have "accidentally" landed a few Brewster Buffalos, or almost anything else from Brewster, in Russia instead?

[Lustanda]

The myth of the Soviet beating the Nazi alone is very pervasive in the Soviet world as well. In Vietnam people believed that the US only joins the Allies in World War II when things are practically over, after the "great Soviet" beat back the German horde and the American only came in for the glory of "joining the war in the last minutes".

They got thoroughly fact checked when asked: When did the "Great Patriotic war begin"? Mid 1941! they all said as good Z brains do. Then I asked: When did Pearl Harbor happens? They all said November 1941! I then asked them what were the Americans doing prior to joining the war on the Allied side, they said "selling arms to France and Brittan for hard currency like capitalist profiteer". When asked the same about the USSR between 1939 and 1941, they said that the "USSR was liberating the Baltic countries from reactionaries to reclaims territory lost during the Russian Civil war and a punitive offensive to relieved strategic pressure on Lenningrad". They goes silent after that, realizing that prior to joining the Allies the USSR was fighting with goals compatible with the Nazi while the US was rebuilding its armament industry to help the Allies, the USSR included.

[vipondiu]

26:33
Soviet version: "Start the Retro-encabulator; the hydromagnetic fluidity controller with reversable twin-spool electro-programmable thermo-fluxable device"

American version: "Start the Putt-putt with the flooshie thingy"

[prateemmandal]

Couple of trivia I would like to add (and maybe the author can fact check me)

1. TU-95 is also descendant of TU-4 and therefore B-29.
2. One of the three B-29s interred was named "Trampstamp" by its American crew and soviets had a tough time trying to decipher the meaning ending up translating something like "vagabond".

[philtkaswahl]

USSR: "I'm gonna copy your homework."
USA: "At least change things up a little so it's not obvious."
USSR: "Nah."

[hedgeearthridge]

Another example of why "The Death of Stalin" is the most realistic movie ever made to depict the USSR/Russia.

[PeterMuskrat]

I’m curious… how many times did the US actually get their hands on a soviet aircraft and realized “Wow, this thing is better than what we have”?
Usually it’s just “This thing is pretty far below what we thought it would be”