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Here’s a sample of the comments on this post.
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…Good copy. Never heard before what became of that program.
…During WW2, some American bombers, after hitting targets in Japan wound up making emergency landings in Vladivostok in the Soviet Union. As befitted a “neutral” the Soviets interned the aircraft and crews. Of most interest to the Soviets… three B-29s. The Soviets eventually went to war against Japan (in the last days of the war) and the crews were soon released… (far luckier than many crews who landed in the Soviet Union in the ETO…) But the Soviets kept the aircraft.
…Stalin’s spies on the Manhattan Program got him what the Soviets needed to build their own nuke (in about four years as it turned out…) but the Soviets had nothing in the way of a delivery system. Naturally, the decision was made to “reverse engineer” the B-29.
…Reverse engineering such an advanced “weapons platform” was a tall order that would require their best scientists. One problem that they could not solve in a reasonable period of time was the tires… The Soviets wouldn’t have quality tires of that size available when the first “B-29skis” were scheduled to be in production. After the war they simply had “cut-outs” in the U.S. buy them as military scrap.
…Stalin had been burned before by some of his scientists on reverse engineering projects… German systems… Scientists “improved” some items. Sometimes fine… sometimes screwed up the whole project. On this project, Stalin had a solution. ANY scientist making ANY change to ANY part of this aircraft without Stalin’s written permission… would be… shot… They seemed to get the point.
…Of the three aircraft being held… one would be stripped to smallest possible components… one would be used for flight tests, and one would be held in reserve. But on the latest model there was a feature that seemed to have no purpose. Longitudinal metal running from top to bottom they understood… but on the latest model it was as if two half-moon “scoops” had been cut out. No clue. But remembering Stalin’s orders… and seeing no compelling reason to change… all Soviet AT-4 copies of the B-29 (see below) would come equipped with the “scoops…”
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/62a1643f8d29a8860b6d0769e44861311d78ca85f57e0e376fc83593b7f795d6.jpg
…Fast forward many years later… couple years after the fall of the “Evil Empire…” Old American retiree and his wife visiting Vladivostok… where (as a young lieutenant) he had been interned decades ago. Word went around and he was introduced to one of the scientists (also retired) who had reverse engineered the aircraft.
…The scientist became excited when he found out that not only was the American a crew-member from the latest model aircraft… but was a navigator whose work station was right by the “latest modification…” The scientist described the “scoops…” The old American said… “Well, I had the ground crew cut those for me… Gave me the perfect place to put my coffee thermos…”
-YP-
“The Buran was considered a closely held state secret until Australian reconnaissance aircraft spotted one of the shuttles in 1982.”
An Australian recce aircraft? Now that in itself looks like a story. Great read, Alex. I recall seeing artist impressions of their shuttle in Airforce magazine back in the 80s. Thank you for piecing together what became of that program.
Interesting Alex, thank you.