The Soviet Bomber That Was Utterly Bonkers | Tupolev TB-3 [Historical Deep-Dive]

Ғылым және технология

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Today we’re taking a look at the Tupolev TB-3. This was the world's first all-metal, four-engine, cantilever wing bomber, and it established Soviet bombers as the heavyweights of the 1930s. The TB-3 is famous for not only having a pretty bonkers design history, but also for being the only aircraft designed to carry so-called 'parasite fighters' that actually saw combat.
Sources:
Gunston.B (1995), Tupolev Aircraft Since 1922 - geni.us/EEAn
Duffy.P & Kandalov.A (1996), Tupolev: The Man and His Aircraft - geni.us/jXchSjA
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0:00 Intro
2:37 Design Origins
4:55 Prototype & General Design
9:57 Production & Problems
14:16 Performance Stats
14:49 Seeking Further Improvement
18:40 Experiments & Parasite Fighters!
21:41 Service Life & Legacy
***
Producing these videos is a hobby of mine - and apparently its now a full-time job too! I have a passion for history, and personally own a large collection of books, journals and other texts, and endeavor to do as much research as possible. However if there are any mistakes, please don't hesitate to reach out and correct anything :)

Пікірлер: 779

  • @RexsHangar
    @RexsHangar Жыл бұрын

    Play War Thunder for FREE on PC, PS®5 and Xbox Series X|S: playwt.link/RexsHangar Follow the link to download the game to get a premium tank, aircraft AND ship, along with a seven day account boost just for downloading. F.A.Q Section Q: Do you take aircraft requests? A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:) Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others? A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both. Q: Will you include video footage in your videos, or just photos? A: Video footage is very expensive to licence, if I can find footage in the public domain I will try to use it, but a lot of it is hoarded by licencing studies (British Pathe, Periscope films etc). In the future I may be able to afford clips :) Q: Why do you sometimes feature images/screenshots from flight simulators? A: Sometimes there are not a lot of photos available for certain aircraft, so I substitute this with digital images that are as accurate as possible. Feel free to leave you questions below - I may not be able to answer all of them, but I will keep my eyes open :)

  • @draganjagodic4056

    @draganjagodic4056

    Жыл бұрын

    Stopped playing it, because full of cheaters back then. Uninstalled it and restored the peace of mind.

  • @garypulliam3740

    @garypulliam3740

    Жыл бұрын

    Son of a bitch can you please shorten your fkn commercials?!

  • @gehtdianschasau8372

    @gehtdianschasau8372

    Жыл бұрын

    No!

  • @FlintTD

    @FlintTD

    Жыл бұрын

    Saying Warthunder can be run on a potato laptop is risky business. I tried to run it on my Dell from 2014, and that did not go well.

  • @CODRD

    @CODRD

    Жыл бұрын

    This video was far beyond anything I could've imagined when I (and probably others) first requested it many moons ago.

  • @wilsonj4705
    @wilsonj4705 Жыл бұрын

    Have always had a soft spot for aircraft that looked like they were made out of farm equipment

  • @jp-um2fr

    @jp-um2fr

    Жыл бұрын

    Like the Boing 737 ?

  • @selfdo

    @selfdo

    Жыл бұрын

    More or less most Soviet bombers and transports of that era resemble farm tractors with wings and propellers.

  • @Tomyironmane

    @Tomyironmane

    Жыл бұрын

    Yeah, but there's a difference between an American tractor and the DC-3, and a crappy Soviet tractor and the TB-3

  • @selfdo

    @selfdo

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Tomyironmane Most of the more successful Soviet tractors were indeed based on American designs. Their basic artillery tractor used in the "Great Patriotic War" was an almost direct copy of a Fordson tracked vehicle. But I'd not go so far as to say their farm tractors were "crappy". In most cases, they were very rugged and reliable, as with the generally bad weather in Russia, they have to be! OTOH, they weren't known for comfort, even though in most cases they were driven by women, simply because the tractor driver wasn't perceived as hard labor.

  • @johannesgutsmiedl366

    @johannesgutsmiedl366

    Жыл бұрын

    I mean they did win the war, the Me 262 did not :)

  • @exharkhun5605
    @exharkhun5605 Жыл бұрын

    "Everything possible was done to reduce drag". That's slightly at odds with the design principle of this aircraft which seems to have been: Do everything possible to CREATE drag.

  • @sergeireischel1610

    @sergeireischel1610

    Жыл бұрын

    Well, 1,5 meter thick wing also generated enough lift for this plane to be able to take off with FOUR fighters attached

  • @Itsjustme-Justme

    @Itsjustme-Justme

    Жыл бұрын

    Compared to virtually every other mid 1920's bomber design the early Tupolevs had sigificantly less drag.

  • @wadeperlot671

    @wadeperlot671

    Жыл бұрын

    Intolerable vibration in the 1920's must be epic...😳

  • @sergeireischel1610

    @sergeireischel1610

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Itsjustme-Justme Nope, they had a lot, and not just on account of wing thickness. Their wing and fuselage were built in seven (if I remember correct) big sections in order this plane to be suited for railway transportation - and since quality of fitting was low there were gaps up to half a meter wide (rarely this big though) inbetween It got better through time but still

  • @exharkhun5605

    @exharkhun5605

    Жыл бұрын

    ​@@Itsjustme-Justme That's probably because drag got intimidated and decided to bother those other designs that weren't build on the aerodynamic principle of "COME ON IF YER THINK YER HARD ENOUG!!!

  • @airplayn
    @airplayn Жыл бұрын

    Drilling holes to stop the propagation of cracks is common in aviation. I do it all the time in restoring antiques but even newer planes use this technique.When I was in the USAF T-38 wings were starting to crack and a program of replacement was started. However, in the planes awaiting new wings were still flown and the mechanics would follow the cracks progress by spraying zinc chromate paint on the cracks and drill new holes as the cracks got longer. These planes were flown until a predetermined number of cracks appeared which triggered grounding and wing replacement. BTW if a wing DID fall off the resulting rapid spin rate would have made the ejection seats bind in their tracks making them useless.

  • @RexsHangar

    @RexsHangar

    Жыл бұрын

    This is indeed correct, I should have followed up by stating that for the TB-3 they just drilled the holes with almost no follow up (most of the time, in latter years they did improve this). I just found the idea of a soviet engineer running around with a hand-drill post-flight to be highly comical.

  • @srice8959

    @srice8959

    Жыл бұрын

    As a Union Boilermaker Tubewelder we do it quite often ourselves. In my Craft it’s called Killing the Crack.

  • @jimdavis8391

    @jimdavis8391

    Жыл бұрын

    When I choose to wedge tenons in a sash I'm making I will sometimes drill holes at the ends of the saw kerfs to stop a split developing in the rail. Joiner here...

  • @johannesgutsmiedl366

    @johannesgutsmiedl366

    Жыл бұрын

    @@RexsHangar I mean to be fair the idea of a modern day USAF technician running around with a power drill seemingly randomly drilling holes into a jet fighter is even more hilarious to me :D

  • @ianlowcock6913

    @ianlowcock6913

    Жыл бұрын

    @@RexsHangar So, not an actual criticism, just all too typically a snide dig at a piece of Russian engineering.

  • @landak136
    @landak136 Жыл бұрын

    Ah, good ol' TB-3 from my days of playing Il-2 Sturmovik. Extra large, generous bomb load, very stable and totally sitting duck.

  • @PilotAwe

    @PilotAwe

    Жыл бұрын

    The stableness isnt modeled correctly then :D When you look at them formation-flying it seems like every single one is drunk

  • @davemcravedj

    @davemcravedj

    Жыл бұрын

    It's in war thunder too :)

  • @selfdo

    @selfdo

    Жыл бұрын

    Top Luftwaffe ace Erich Hartmann racked up a good deal of his 352 confirmed kills at the expense of Soviet bombers and transports.

  • @seand.g423

    @seand.g423

    Жыл бұрын

    @@PilotAwe I mean... interwar Russians, so they probably _are..._

  • @michealmcneal2259

    @michealmcneal2259

    Жыл бұрын

    @@seand.g423 just Russians....there thats enough. Doesnt matter what time period

  • @francesconicoletti2547
    @francesconicoletti2547 Жыл бұрын

    How did this not make it into a Ghibli movie ? This is the most Miyazaki airplane to exist in the real world.

  • @hagerty1952

    @hagerty1952

    Жыл бұрын

    The flying home base for air pirates!

  • @ichbinhans7210

    @ichbinhans7210

    8 ай бұрын

    It did! This plane was in “ The Windrise!” and shown in a parade during Jiro visited to Europe!

  • @mattblom3990
    @mattblom3990 Жыл бұрын

    These crew positions are insane. The crew must have been frozen stiff and the lower wing/dustbin turrets are terrifying.

  • @JGCR59

    @JGCR59

    Жыл бұрын

    The gunners probably wouldn't have sat there all the way, only during times when enemy fighter opposition was likely

  • @jaex9617

    @jaex9617

    Жыл бұрын

    Yeah, but as Soviet Russians they were used to this sort of thing.

  • @jmi5969

    @jmi5969

    Жыл бұрын

    It could not reach anywhere near really cold temperatures - service ceiling was only 3800 meters. That's with new engines, fine gas on a nice summer day. The Aviaarktika variants, built for extreme winter operations, had proper enclosed cockpits and none of this dustbin nonsense.

  • @noland65

    @noland65

    Жыл бұрын

    However, provided that they are shielded on all sides but the rear, they may have been even more comfortable than those positions at the back, which were exposed to the elements at all sides. Looks are not evrythring.

  • @johannesgutsmiedl366

    @johannesgutsmiedl366

    Жыл бұрын

    exposed cockpits and gunner positions were still a very common thing in the 20s and early 30s AFAIK?

  • @sergeireischel1610
    @sergeireischel1610 Жыл бұрын

    Thing is: TB-3 did its bombing from horizontal flight using not the best sight in the world, so accuracy wasn't great. But it could carry much and fly far. And tiny I-16 fighter was capable of precision dive bombing, but suffered from short operational range and low payload. So you take a big TB-3 and attach two small I-16s to it - both with a pair of 250-kg (500-lb) bombs to make yourself a one ton of a long-range precision bombing Thing was dubbed a "Vakhmistrov's circus". Not much fun for romanians, though, cuz some clowns eventually burned their oil refinery

  • @blackjed

    @blackjed

    Жыл бұрын

    Russian problems require Russian solutions

  • @gorrugor256

    @gorrugor256

    Жыл бұрын

    What happens next with "precision" dive bombers I-16 ? Do they heroically smash in some target on enemy territories :-))

  • @alexwschan185

    @alexwschan185

    Жыл бұрын

    @@gorrugor256 Not ust that, the clown plane TB-3 will vomit out a hilariously large number of I-16 which in turn will vomit out a hilariously large number of 250ib bombs, and then it will crash. With confetti and gladiatorial entry music of course

  • @sergeireischel1610

    @sergeireischel1610

    Жыл бұрын

    @@gorrugor256 They return back to airfied

  • @basiltaylor8910

    @basiltaylor8910

    Жыл бұрын

    Andrei,s TB-3 was a step in the right direction,so much potential wrapped in that giant corrugated tin shed, but let down by its crap engines fed on equally crap petrol,. In the late 1920,s early 30,s Russian aero engineering had yet to divorce itself from its agricultural beginnings, clearly evident in the cloning of ex WW 1 Airco DH-4,s, Avro 504,s and other aeronautical rubbish, they happened to pick up. Andrei did not want to be a part of that thinking, so he started on something small, a tidy yet ulitarian fighter, just to get used to working with Mr Junker,s corrugated tin, then a tidy looking single engine two seat biplane light bomber to replace those re cycled DH-4,s,and take on Nikolai Polikarpov,s R-5. His big break came when the Russian Brass hats wanted a decent bomber to equip units of the VVS . Impressed at what Andrei had cooking on the stove, they tossed him a spec for a twin engine bomber the size of a Douglas DC-2. After a good deal of boiling stirring several pots then stoking said stove came up with the TB-1 a really cool looking cantilever twin engine monoplane, yes cats&kittens no excess of struts or wires holding it together like bloody budgie cage,all that in 1925-26.The Brass Hats liked what Andrei cooked up , apart from its tail plane braced by chicken wire,the open cockpits, crude divided tail skid undercarriage and tractor like engines twirling fixed pitch wooden propellers Andrei,s TB-1 was like nothing on earth extremely clean.Despite the crap tractor engines burning petrol you have second thoughts when filling the tank of your lawnmower . It showed decent performance bomb load in the trying conditions a good Siberian winter can offer.

  • @jameswebb4593
    @jameswebb4593 Жыл бұрын

    Another crazy experiment they did was to place positions along the wing for soldiers with a small windscreen and handles . The idea was to drop troops without parachutes into deep snow. Flying low and slow they released their grip and slid off the wing. Apparently it worked fairly well with few casualties . Don't know the colour of their Berets , but can guess the colour of their pants.

  • @jimdavis8391

    @jimdavis8391

    Жыл бұрын

    Did the Ruskies invent bubble wrap too?

  • @svennoren9047

    @svennoren9047

    Жыл бұрын

    If you want to insert special forces but lack parachute silk, what can you do? Finnish ski patrols found quite a few soldiers head down in the snow, weighted down by their backpacks.

  • @donreed

    @donreed

    Жыл бұрын

    !!!!!!!!

  • @jameswebb4593

    @jameswebb4593

    Жыл бұрын

    @@donreed If you have something intelligent to say , say it .

  • @fooler5036

    @fooler5036

    Жыл бұрын

    @@svennoren9047 its because enemy dont see big parachute and guy falling for a pretty long time.

  • @paulrward
    @paulrward Жыл бұрын

    At 14:10, you express disdain for the Soviet method of repairing Aluminum Skin Cracks. The practice of drilling holes at the head of a skin crack, and then fishplating a piece of aluminum over the crack is STILL used today on modern military and commercial aircraft. My father, a Maintenance Instructor for United Air Lines, showed me how it was done. I have personally examined Boeing 747s and 767s where skin cracks have been repaired in this manner. It is, in fact, a form of repair that is approved and certificated by the United States FAA regulations.

  • @danhigbee2283

    @danhigbee2283

    Жыл бұрын

    By radius the end of the crack it reliefs the stress and stops further cracking. Yes it is the approved repair

  • @straybullitt

    @straybullitt

    Жыл бұрын

    Likely, every aircraft that Rex has ever flown in, had a crack repaired by a drill hole somewhere.

  • @selfdo

    @selfdo

    Жыл бұрын

    Or...SPEED TAPE! By "Gawd and Sonny Jesus", I shite you not.

  • @tantedog

    @tantedog

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes, I was structural repair in USAF in 69-73. Stop drilling in certain areas was common and the first repair taught. On top of a B-52 wing there are 2 foot long cracks with several stop drilled spots. If it cracked again, stop drill again. What ever works !

  • @manoman0

    @manoman0

    Жыл бұрын

    @@straybullitt drill holes and cable ties for me.

  • @selfdo
    @selfdo Жыл бұрын

    Supposedly Andrei Tuplolev bragged (or rued, depending on POV) that if the Politburo gave him the directive to build a flying bulldozer, he could fashion a big enough set of wings and empennage, and hang enough engines on the beast to get it airborne. The TB-3 is further evidence he did indeed get that directive!

  • @alexglanowski695

    @alexglanowski695

    Жыл бұрын

    Funny you should mention that, because Tupolev actually did design a flying tank/bulldozer/tractor. Apparently, it had plenty of power, and unsurprisingly was nearly indestructible in and out of the air, but predictably was quite unstable and unmaneuverable.

  • @alm5992
    @alm5992 Жыл бұрын

    Finally, my favourite bomber plane! First saw it back in some of the early Il-2 Sturmovik games (ace expansion pack, I believe) and have loved it ever since! It is easy for beginners: open cockpit, fixed gear, slow take off and landings, ability for the gunners to shoot the plane up- uhh, scratch the last one, but it's good! Edit: Wow, Il-2 forgot to model the tiny windows along the fuselage- their model only has the front square ones.

  • @Eagle-od1im

    @Eagle-od1im

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes!! The SPB missions were some of the coolest missions I’ve played in that game. Shame they didn’t have a stock campaign entirely dedicated to it

  • @xtz9510

    @xtz9510

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Eagle-od1im mistel mission too

  • @tsbrownie
    @tsbrownie Жыл бұрын

    It never fails to amaze me how long designers working with low-power engines, who knew about aerodynamic efficiency, hung stuff willy-nilly out in the wind stream.

  • @DIREWOLFx75

    @DIREWOLFx75

    Жыл бұрын

    The slower the plane, the less bad it actually was. So with something huge like the TB3, things like the underwing turrets adds surprisingly little air resistance, despite looking like they should be huge breaks.

  • @jimdavis8391

    @jimdavis8391

    Жыл бұрын

    Yep, wind resistance and the drag it causes is geometric not arithmetic...

  • @ridhosamudro2199

    @ridhosamudro2199

    Жыл бұрын

    Well, when building war machines I believe making production and operation easier outranks that concern

  • @arthas640

    @arthas640

    Жыл бұрын

    @@ridhosamudro2199 not as true with aircraft as most other things since they're inherently high tech. The Soviets became much more concerned with rapid cheap production after the Germans invaded but in the 20s and 30s Stalin had delusions of competing with other world powers in the aerospace industry and in related combat fields. This wasnt Stalins only giant impractical bomber and he had paratroopers training when he didnt even have the ability to drop them in behind enemy lines or even transport most of them by air.

  • @derrickbonsell

    @derrickbonsell

    Жыл бұрын

    @@arthas640 Delusions? He succeeded. Hermann Goering bemoaned the USSR's production capability after visiting one of their aircraft factories that was able to produce a sizeable portion of Germany's entire production. As far as training paratroopers without sufficient airdrop capability goes the USSR was far from the only power that did this.

  • @TallDude73
    @TallDude73 Жыл бұрын

    I find these oddball, inter-war designs fascinating. They're just experimenting, trying things we know, with the benefit of hindsight, were not going to work. The weak engines didn't help any - at the end of the war a fighter engine had more horsepower than all the engines on this plane combined.

  • @GeorgeMonet

    @GeorgeMonet

    Жыл бұрын

    THis one was a stupid idea even with foresight.

  • @johannesgutsmiedl366

    @johannesgutsmiedl366

    Жыл бұрын

    @@GeorgeMonet Why? It did everything it was intended to do, plus a few things it was never designed for, and did its own part to help win World War 2 even though it was hopelessly obsolete by then... what more do you want from a plane?

  • @derrickbonsell

    @derrickbonsell

    Жыл бұрын

    @@GeorgeMonet It was the first all-metal 4-engined bomber in operational service in the world. It seems silly to look back with the advances made during WW2 and the Cold War but in the 1920s designers didn't really know what they were doing and they weren't going to learn it by drawing on a chalkboard.

  • @Tallorian

    @Tallorian

    Жыл бұрын

    Are you saying that full-metal 4-engine bomber was an idea which was not going to work? B-17 and B-29 would strongly disagree with you. For its time this was an innovative and progressive thinking. Don't forget that just 10-15 years before this project began people were flying on what can be described as chairs with paper wings. What did not help was devastation of the country by the revolution and following civil war, otherwise this project would have been completed much earlier and successfully replaced by the end of 1930s with newer designs. But it served its purpose well - moved forward the aircraft engineering school in the USSR, allowed people to get necessary experience and test many ideas. For example, in 1937 another Tupolev's design made non-stop flights from Moscow to Portland and from Moscow to California, and only 25 years after beginning of TB-3 project (i.e. in 1950) both Tupolev and Mikulin (the engine creator) made an extremely successful jet bomber Tu-16.

  • @fredorman2429
    @fredorman2429 Жыл бұрын

    I can’t imagine a more perfect example of “crew be damned” designing. They must have sat up nights to come up with more ways to kill personnel.

  • @kittehgo

    @kittehgo

    Жыл бұрын

    Vodka can do wonderful things when designing planes

  • @miroslavzima8856

    @miroslavzima8856

    Жыл бұрын

    @@kittehgo Vodka can do wonderful things when...well, doing anything, really xD

  • @Icspiders247

    @Icspiders247

    Жыл бұрын

    This is the Soviet Union we're talking about here

  • @Dave-ty2qp

    @Dave-ty2qp

    Жыл бұрын

    We will never have an accurate number of deaths acreddited with the great Society experiment of Lenon, and Stalin. After the first 20 or so million die, counting seems unimportant.

  • @maryclarafjare

    @maryclarafjare

    Жыл бұрын

    Must agree

  • @kommandantgalileo
    @kommandantgalileo Жыл бұрын

    I propose we should build a airworthy full scale replica

  • @wesw9586

    @wesw9586

    Жыл бұрын

    I'll ride in one of the dustbins!!!

  • @customfantasyhotwheels

    @customfantasyhotwheels

    Күн бұрын

    CORRECTION: AN* _"...build _*_AN*_*_ air worthy, full scale replica."_

  • @kadeewtf6200
    @kadeewtf6200 Жыл бұрын

    Not sure if you'll see this, but there's an old documentary series kicking around somewhere on the internet called "wings of russia", I remember that the TB-3 was featured in an episode, with footage to go with it, might be a decent spot to pull footage from for more obscure aircraft. There's even whole episodes dedicated to very early jets and ekranoplans. Great vid as always, amazing to see how y'all have grown :)

  • @kellybreen5526

    @kellybreen5526

    Жыл бұрын

    Wings of the Red Star narrated by Sir Peter Ustanov. 1990's Discovery Channel.

  • @kadeewtf6200

    @kadeewtf6200

    Жыл бұрын

    @@kellybreen5526 kzread.info/dash/bejne/fKFnlrGNoq7TqMY.html Close, but I think is was this, there was definitely a russian narrarator

  • @AngryRussian61

    @AngryRussian61

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes, yes, there is such a documentary series Wings of Russia, and also the armor of Russia, and the third Of all guns, I advise you to watch

  • @Phoenix-ej2sh
    @Phoenix-ej2sh Жыл бұрын

    Drilling cracks is standard repair procedure for many modern aircraft. It' quite common to see a modern cessna or beech with a few drilled out cracks here and there.

  • @zacklewis342

    @zacklewis342

    15 күн бұрын

    It's not a repair and he never said why it was stupid, which is because it doesn't fix the underlying issue, especially on a new airframe.

  • @Mark___Zuckerberg
    @Mark___Zuckerberg Жыл бұрын

    “The only way to check the fuel was to go into the wing and check the gauge.” Bro I’d be so anxious flying that beast.

  • @AgenteSmart

    @AgenteSmart

    Жыл бұрын

    Also: "there were 14 of them", so, maybe once a flight engineer had checked all gauges, already was time to go around and repeat the fuel checks...?

  • @bingosunnoon9341

    @bingosunnoon9341

    Жыл бұрын

    Using a stick to check fuel quantity is the preferred method. A watch will tell you fuel remaining. Hard to use a stick while underway. My first airplane didn't have a fuel quantity indicator. Fill it up and fill it again 2 1/2 hours later

  • @theothertonydutch
    @theothertonydutch Жыл бұрын

    Dogfighting with a TB-3 in IL-2 Forgotten Battles on LAN was the most fun I ever had in a video game.

  • @Itsjustme-Justme
    @Itsjustme-Justme Жыл бұрын

    Everytime I see early Tupolevs I'm amazed by how modern their overall geomentry is. Tupolev was top notch back then. Warthunder did a fantastic job with that rendering. I wish one of these bombers was still existing and flying. It had 30% more wingspan than a B-17. It would be a truely majestic sight on airshows.

  • @CakePrincessCelestia
    @CakePrincessCelestia Жыл бұрын

    Just seeing the thumbnail gives me hard Il-2: FB flashbacks... either the thing as a "flying aircraft carrier" in the Zveno config with 2 I-16s or just those hilarious TB-3 only "dogfights". And it's been 20 years ago already...

  • @legoeasycompany
    @legoeasycompany Жыл бұрын

    I know that many of us have been waiting for this one, the handy dandy bomber/transport/flying aircraft carrier

  • @sicfaciuntomnes5604
    @sicfaciuntomnes5604 Жыл бұрын

    "The dustin turret could be jettisoned".... Jesus Christ! imagine knowing that as you climbed into it... as if climbing into something like that isn't anxiety inducing enough without knowing that it's literally designed to fall off!

  • @Lord.Kiltridge
    @Lord.Kiltridge Жыл бұрын

    I remember years ago seeing film footage of Soviet paras sliding off the wing of this thing.

  • @Otokichi786
    @Otokichi786 Жыл бұрын

    Tupolev TB-3: A Soviet paratrooper's most interesting way to get to the battlefield.;)

  • @jaex9617

    @jaex9617

    Жыл бұрын

    Just climb out on the wings, comrade!

  • @RexsHangar

    @RexsHangar

    Жыл бұрын

    The extra-fun slippy slide, now with added friction burn!

  • @sergeireischel1610

    @sergeireischel1610

    Жыл бұрын

    Nah, that wasn't it. There were experiments of mounting man-sized boxes under R-5's lower wing with a pilot controlled mechanism that turns this box upside down when it's jumping time) Thing was called "Automatical Red Army soldier Ejector" and I'm NOT joking

  • @merafirewing6591

    @merafirewing6591

    Жыл бұрын

    ​@@sergeireischel1610 they seriously invented drop tubes before Halo was even a thing.

  • @johnbrennan8611
    @johnbrennan8611 Жыл бұрын

    Being a military historian that focuses on mechanized warfare the parasite fighter concept has always intrigued me. From the TB-3 to the Goblin prototypes I always thought it would be a cool idea. In a fictional military story I co-wrote a few years ago we envisioned a very high altitude, very large semi ridged airship that was pretty much a slow flying aircraft carrier.

  • @johannesgutsmiedl366

    @johannesgutsmiedl366

    Жыл бұрын

    I would looove to know more about those deployments in Romania, I never knew the concept ever went into actual combat!

  • @Schottingham

    @Schottingham

    Жыл бұрын

    are you familiar with the US Navy's attempts to do this in the 30s? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_F9C_Sparrowhawk

  • @tristacker

    @tristacker

    Жыл бұрын

    In the 60's there was a proposal to hang two Folland Gnats under an up powered Vulcan. Each Gnat was to be armed with a couple of free falling nuclear bombs. Basically two manned cruise missiles. Wisely it was not proceeded with.

  • @salvagedb2470
    @salvagedb2470 Жыл бұрын

    If it could have retracted its Wheels it might have went a wee bit faster , it reminds me of a Corrugated shed I broke down and removed for someone , great War Thunder graphics and Well done Rex another winner.

  • @lafeelabriel

    @lafeelabriel

    Жыл бұрын

    In this plane's defense it was state of the art in 1930. Not so much, obviously, when it came time for it to see combat in 1941-45 but still shouldn't take anything away for how impressive a achievement this plane is for the time.

  • @salvagedb2470

    @salvagedb2470

    Жыл бұрын

    @@lafeelabriel True, the Russians give them credit are not affraid of going the distance on whatever they set their minds to in Aircraft my ultimate is the Ekranoplan..or the TU series.

  • @Scodiddly
    @Scodiddly Жыл бұрын

    Those “dustbin” gun positions are nuts! How did they get anyone to agree to man them? By giving it to somebody who had an even worse job climbing around inside the wings.

  • @kyle857

    @kyle857

    Жыл бұрын

    In the Soviet Union you man what they tell you to man or you get shot and your family sent to Siberia.

  • @selfdo

    @selfdo

    Жыл бұрын

    Same method of "recruitment" for the rear gunner on an Il-2 Sturmovik: PUNISHMENT BRIGADES. Get a "volunteer", which actually weren't lacking, as the alternative was to clear minefields while under fire from the Germans or be the lead battalions assaulting their trenches. Give him enough training on how to fire and reload the weapon. Take him to the aircraft, and chain him to his position with NO parachute. If the aircraft gets hit, likely he's the first target for German fighters anyway, so why bother giving a perfectly good 'chute to a dead convict? The "incentive"? A complete PARDON after 25 missions, with restoration of rank and a return to his former unit, assuming that's still intact. Of course, not too many actually SURVIVED 25 missions, so either way, for Soviet Army personnel officers, a "winning combination".

  • @johannesgutsmiedl366

    @johannesgutsmiedl366

    Жыл бұрын

    @@selfdo considering these guys were also flight engineers, I'm gonna say probably no... a lot of WW2 bombers had horribly uncomfortable crew positions, and these guys were already obsolete by then. Remember they didn't spend the entire flight in those turrets, they'd only go down there if there was an actual risk of enemy attack.

  • @vatnikforvdv8754

    @vatnikforvdv8754

    Жыл бұрын

    Do you have any credible source for these claims?

  • @Temp0raryName
    @Temp0raryName Жыл бұрын

    Ok the thumbnail convinced me!

  • @ididyermom3273
    @ididyermom3273 Жыл бұрын

    What a monstrosity! Speaking of which, you should cover some of the terrible French designs. Their Bombers were incredibly bizarre!

  • @lucas82

    @lucas82

    Жыл бұрын

    The SAB AB-20 would be my favourite batshit crazy French design, it makes the TB-3 look like a proper aircraft.

  • @thomasdonovan3580

    @thomasdonovan3580

    Жыл бұрын

    Baguettes with wings

  • @rogerb5615
    @rogerb5615 Жыл бұрын

    Open cockpits on aircraft based in Siberia ... Russian aviators were some tough characters back in the day.

  • @williamscoggin1509
    @williamscoggin1509 Жыл бұрын

    I have always loved the look of these old aircraft made with the corrugated metal. Maybe you should do a video on how much lift and control suffers or if it's not affected that much at all as far as smooth skin for this Ford facing core gauge skin.

  • @themainman2827
    @themainman2827 Жыл бұрын

    - I want a plane to drop planes, Mikhail. - You mean a plane that drop bombs, that's a bomber, Pietro. - I know what a bomber is. I want a PLANE that DROP smaller PLANES, with BOMBS inside - Wait, bombs in the bomber, or bombs in the planes that the bomber carries? - Both. - Fair enough

  • @linkfreeman1998
    @linkfreeman1998 Жыл бұрын

    Yes, my favourite slow Russian bomber in IL-2 Sturmovik 1946.

  • @teaandmedals

    @teaandmedals

    Жыл бұрын

    The nostalgia. ^^

  • @cristitanase6130

    @cristitanase6130

    Жыл бұрын

    Still remeber the Finish winter map on te onpine servers. Good times indeed.

  • @obamatraore2339

    @obamatraore2339

    Жыл бұрын

    Il2 1946 is still great, modders keeping it relatively modern to this day

  • @cristitanase6130

    @cristitanase6130

    Жыл бұрын

    @@obamatraore2339 Swithced to WoT and never looked back. I miss the force feedback joystick, but K got to play with tanks instead...

  • @1joshjosh1
    @1joshjosh1 Жыл бұрын

    Yes!!!! Brand new Rex's hanger.!!! I have a feeling this is going to kick ass! 👍👍👍👍 EDIT: That did kick ass!!

  • @Isylon
    @Isylon Жыл бұрын

    Oh yes, my love, my darling! Beauty and power had been given form in duraluminium and bicycle wheels! I love the TB-3, such an iconic plane!

  • @silkyz68
    @silkyz68 Жыл бұрын

    War Thunder should definitely have a bunch of pre-war vehicles in game

  • @Brbuddy

    @Brbuddy

    Жыл бұрын

    they should do a ww1 event with some pre wars

  • @TetravaultActual
    @TetravaultActual Жыл бұрын

    God I wish Gaijin brought this back into the game, I got gyped back when it was up for an event reward. RNGesus "blessed" me with the hydroplane version of the He. 51B instead

  • @HawkerBlue
    @HawkerBlue Жыл бұрын

    Although sponsor adverts annoy me, I'm glad your getting them. You deserve it for the work you put in

  • @adrianrutterford762
    @adrianrutterford762 Жыл бұрын

    Wonderful Video. Thanks Rex.

  • @theteadrinkingowl.2295
    @theteadrinkingowl.2295 Жыл бұрын

    1. Fanstastic video about a unquie and amazing aircraft. Very good camera work and nice pictures too. 2. Best and cleares Advert for War Thunder I've even seen. Wekk done.

  • @sergeipohkerova7211
    @sergeipohkerova7211 Жыл бұрын

    I mean the Finns shot these down like clay pigeons, but still that's an absolute UNIT of a steampunk plane.

  • @klausschwabshubris

    @klausschwabshubris

    Жыл бұрын

    I was thinking steampunk, good description.

  • @chriscarbaugh3936

    @chriscarbaugh3936

    Жыл бұрын

    Hardly; yet another gross exaggeration

  • @JGCR59

    @JGCR59

    Жыл бұрын

    They weren't used in the Winter War, those were DB-3s and SBs

  • @chriscarbaugh3936

    @chriscarbaugh3936

    Жыл бұрын

    @@JGCR59 looks like the Swede volunteer squadron shot one down 😊

  • @jmi5969

    @jmi5969

    Жыл бұрын

    I suspect that there is some confusion between TB-3 and DB-3. The latter were more numerous, they flew daytime missions, and took the most hits. The far less common TB-3 flew mostly by night, and their losses were accordingly smaller. One TB-3 was shot by flak, another by fighters. All other losses were non-combat accidents.

  • @danmcdonald9117
    @danmcdonald9117 Жыл бұрын

    Fan-fkn-tastic video! I don't believe there are any other videos about the plane this detailed on KZread 😍

  • @sirtommenom2949
    @sirtommenom2949 Жыл бұрын

    I want the Tb-3 soooooooo badly...

  • @harryzero1566
    @harryzero1566 Жыл бұрын

    I've 'flown' this on IL2, a little tricky picking up under wing fighters. but quite fun if you can get two others to join in the action.

  • @slacker2101
    @slacker2101 Жыл бұрын

    Drilling holes at the end of cracks is the standard way to prevent crack propagation.

  • @Alexandros11
    @Alexandros11 Жыл бұрын

    Fantastic! Love the war thunder graphics to show us the TB-3 in full colour and resolution, as it looked in real life. Definitely adds a cool angle to the videos

  • @drmrmcmister
    @drmrmcmister4 ай бұрын

    I discovered this channel recently and it's so strange to me that a high-quality, documentary-grade channel like this isn't any more popular...

  • @anttitheinternetguy3213
    @anttitheinternetguy3213 Жыл бұрын

    My grandmother witnessed these things bombing joensuu Back in winter war. She told that their engine sound was like someone was pouring thousands upon thousands of potatoes into a big tin bucket

  • @emuthestreamerbtw9393

    @emuthestreamerbtw9393

    Жыл бұрын

    soviets like their potatoes lol

  • @anttitheinternetguy3213

    @anttitheinternetguy3213

    Жыл бұрын

    @@emuthestreamerbtw9393 yeah, well. Her words May sound odd to a modern people bu she grew up in 1930's Finnish countryside. Potatoes drumming a tin vessel is The closest sounds she could Link it to, And tbh at least to me its a very good way of describing it.

  • @LastGoatKnight
    @LastGoatKnight Жыл бұрын

    A very interesting bomber for my birthday. I thank you not just this video but all of your contents which made me subscribe to you months ago😀

  • @chickenmann9934
    @chickenmann9934 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for making a video on this. 🧡

  • @chickenmann9934

    @chickenmann9934

    Жыл бұрын

    Per chance, did you see my comment about this no the TB-1 video?

  • @Olleetheowl
    @Olleetheowl Жыл бұрын

    An excellent video. Very interesting and well put together.

  • @flukedogwalker3016
    @flukedogwalker3016 Жыл бұрын

    Now I know where they got the term "parasitic aircraft" from. Some Navy dirigibles had scout biplanes (wheel less) hanging from a trapeze upper wing mount and who can ever forget the Goblin.

  • @jerrybailey5797
    @jerrybailey5797 Жыл бұрын

    Excellent informative style documentary 👍

  • @clarencehopkins7832
    @clarencehopkins7832 Жыл бұрын

    Excellent stuff bro

  • @billbye2427
    @billbye2427 Жыл бұрын

    Very informative; thank you!

  • @jansupronowicz1300
    @jansupronowicz1300 Жыл бұрын

    19:18 - 76-mm gun on a plane? That's quite large. I mean, 76 mm was the caliber of the T-34 tank gun, if I remember correctly.

  • @rumpstatefiasco
    @rumpstatefiasco10 ай бұрын

    A stellar presentation! ❤

  • @iamarobotninja
    @iamarobotninja Жыл бұрын

    I love this channel, thanks dude

  • @neiloflongbeck5705
    @neiloflongbeck5705 Жыл бұрын

    Many years ago I heard the story of a man who had just completed rebuilding his glider after major repairs when he noticed a small crack on his canopy. So he got his drill out and carefully drilled each end of the crack. Finished he stood up and his thigh bumped his glider and the crack moved. Moral of the story, make sure it is a crack and not a hair on the surface

  • @sergeireischel1610
    @sergeireischel1610 Жыл бұрын

    Fun fact: appearance of TB-3 squadrons in Russian Far East in late 30-s was one of main reasons for Japan to abandon it's plans for attacking USSR

  • @luichinplaystation610

    @luichinplaystation610

    Жыл бұрын

    Fucoro thisudesu

  • @jayg1438

    @jayg1438

    Жыл бұрын

    That and Khalkin Gol

  • @AnthonyEvelyn

    @AnthonyEvelyn

    Жыл бұрын

    Ya know, I believe it!

  • @Rincypoopoo
    @Rincypoopoo Жыл бұрын

    Great video ! Thanks man.

  • @MrCateagle
    @MrCateagle9 ай бұрын

    The 76mm cannon armed aircraft was the Grohovskiy G-52. According to published sources, the prototype had the front gun position removed and a 76mm cannon installed. That worked well enough that a more advanced version was trialed with the wing-mounted cannons outboard of the outboard engines; this was not successful. If anyone is interested, I can provide references.

  • @K-Effect
    @K-Effect Жыл бұрын

    I am impressed how much weight and abuse those wire wheels can take

  • @jasonz7788
    @jasonz7788 Жыл бұрын

    Awesome aircraft thanks Rex

  • @sergeyzhigalev
    @sergeyzhigalev Жыл бұрын

    According to Russian sources, it was used as a day bomber on early stages due to the lack of alternatives and obviously suffered severe losses. As war went on, it switched to a night bombing, at which proved to be quite effective, and here's why: first, crews got long training well before the conflict and where some sort of airforce elite; second, slow speed meant enough time to spot the target in dark and to aim precisely; third it could cruise at speed even lower than stall speed of German fighters, making the interception quite tricky for latter; finally, construction itself proved to be robust and could survive significant damage. It can somehow be compared to Po-2 or Fairey Swordfish, when outdated design was turned to own good. But it couldn't last forever (even Swordfish was finally replaced), and in late 1942 TB-3 switched from combat missions to military and civil air transportation. Thanks for video, great as always!

  • @jacobrobinson175
    @jacobrobinson175 Жыл бұрын

    Just found your channel I really like it thank you.

  • @kennethpryde966
    @kennethpryde966 Жыл бұрын

    Awesome video. Thanks.

  • @FlyingBuzzard
    @FlyingBuzzard Жыл бұрын

    awesome video

  • @spitfire1358
    @spitfire1358 Жыл бұрын

    Great video! You should cover the supermarine walrus

  • @jamesretta5690
    @jamesretta5690 Жыл бұрын

    Accurate precise special effects helped me appreciate this super efficient clean lined masterpiece of engineering. Only ~90 years ago.

  • @pandamator
    @pandamator Жыл бұрын

    Finally. I was waiting for that one

  • @hungryhedgehog4201
    @hungryhedgehog4201 Жыл бұрын

    For anyone wanting to fly the TB3 in WarThunder it was a one off event vehicle that is almost not obtainable anymore.

  • @merafirewing6591

    @merafirewing6591

    Жыл бұрын

    Big Sadge.

  • @person6171
    @person6171 Жыл бұрын

    great vid rex

  • @person6171

    @person6171

    Жыл бұрын

    missing those war thunder videos!

  • @maryclarafjare
    @maryclarafjare Жыл бұрын

    ".... I wish I could say I was making that up..." 😆😆😆😆 Once again, an excellent and informative video!! Thank you!!

  • @MXB2001
    @MXB2001 Жыл бұрын

    I know this thing from SSI's War in Russia. It is mainly used as a Air Transport to drop supplies like the Ju52 was on the other side. Unlike the 52 though it was still available for bombing missions and it had a fearsome range. Thanks to it the Axis needs to provide air defence as far as Vienna and Ploesti. It was suicide to actually try to hit those targets but the threat was all it took to siphon off valuable 109's. All I'd ever seen of this was a tiny top silhouette (a few pixels across really) and imagined it to be a handsome sleek plane what with that range and bombload. You can imagine my surprise to see it here and behold one of the ugliest planes I've ever seen.

  • @lairdcummings9092
    @lairdcummings9092 Жыл бұрын

    The method of using the TB-3 to deploy paratroopers looks both insane, and a lot of fun. Can't have been efficient.

  • @phunkracy

    @phunkracy

    Жыл бұрын

    Not like paratroopers are efficient

  • @lairdcummings9092

    @lairdcummings9092

    Жыл бұрын

    @@phunkracy There's inefficient, and then there's OMG, WTF are you DOING?!

  • @phunkracy

    @phunkracy

    Жыл бұрын

    @@lairdcummings9092 that's every failed paratrooper operation. it's either total disaster or a total victory

  • @mcuddy799

    @mcuddy799

    Жыл бұрын

    Kind of like the grab bars on the sides of T-34s for infantry to hitch a ride

  • @phunkracy

    @phunkracy

    Жыл бұрын

    @@mcuddy799 it's actually perfectly logical. Would you like to be on a tank that gets pounded by the enemy?

  • @HoshimachiNova
    @HoshimachiNova Жыл бұрын

    This plane was loads of fun in IL-2 Sturmovik.

  • @gustavolara4487
    @gustavolara4487 Жыл бұрын

    Excelente video e información 👏👏👏

  • @SkepticalTraveler
    @SkepticalTraveler Жыл бұрын

    Why did so many large planes of this era put the pilots in open cockpits? It's not as if it's lacking an enclosed cabin for other crew members.

  • @matthewschreck6418

    @matthewschreck6418

    Жыл бұрын

    Most pilots back then didn't like enclosed cockpits. They felt they restricted visibility too much and made it too difficult to abandon the plane in an emergency. Also, the quality of early transparencies was pretty bad.

  • @SkepticalTraveler

    @SkepticalTraveler

    Жыл бұрын

    @@matthewschreck6418 That must have been cause for some interesting conversations when passengers were boarding one of those old transports with an open cockpit. "Dear, why is our cabin enclosed while the cockpit isn't? Well Sweetie, it's so the pilots can easily bail out if something goes wrong."

  • @miguelods
    @miguelods Жыл бұрын

    A beautiful bomber animation! Breathtaking...

  • @herzogsbuick
    @herzogsbuick Жыл бұрын

    The 3D model was awesome. The constantly spinning camera was not. Super interesting plane though

  • @mikep490
    @mikep490 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you, a very interesting vid. I always saw them as the next generation following the Sikorsky Ilya Muromet, which I understand is still on display in Russia. That was another interesting "super bomber". Its build depended on whatever engines could be imported from France and later dropped whatever bombs could be scraped together. It mostly survived because it was too valuable to actually be used.

  • @moss8448
    @moss8448 Жыл бұрын

    that was fun...informative too....thanks

  • @TheCatBilbo
    @TheCatBilbo Жыл бұрын

    That's a pleasingly insane aircraft - what a great Airfix kit it would make! (especially with the 'little birds' attached).

  • @obamatraore2339

    @obamatraore2339

    Жыл бұрын

    Might want to look into some limited run stuff It actually exists in a Ukrainian box but it's old and expensive

  • @Anirossa
    @Anirossa Жыл бұрын

    Remember playing with this and shooting down a stupid amout of early 109s in RB, very interesting aircraft

  • @hicknopunk
    @hicknopunk Жыл бұрын

    Honestly, I think thick electrical cables were a good thing. The last thing you want is a failure because something is grounding and the cable needs to be thick to take combat damage. I am no expert, but I always use wire of 2 gauges larger than I need.

  • @henrikgiese6316

    @henrikgiese6316

    Жыл бұрын

    Problem is that all weight has to come out of the payload, and 1920s aircraft didn't exactly have great weight margins...

  • @hicknopunk

    @hicknopunk

    Жыл бұрын

    @@henrikgiese6316 ah

  • @robertspence831
    @robertspence831 Жыл бұрын

    Amazing. What a neat machine!

  • @angelarch5352
    @angelarch5352 Жыл бұрын

    11:00 mid-wing, UNDER wing, OPEN seat, machine gun turrets?... ok now I have seen everything... that's bonkies!

  • @aaaht3810
    @aaaht3810 Жыл бұрын

    Always loved the film of the paratroopers sliding off the wing.

  • @terrified057t4
    @terrified057t4 Жыл бұрын

    So Rex's Hangar's Gaming Channel when?

  • @dr.frankenphoon6254
    @dr.frankenphoon6254 Жыл бұрын

    Exceptional graphics! Great episode! Thanks!!!

  • @Mauscmkwk
    @Mauscmkwk Жыл бұрын

    That thing had no brakes

  • @AmadarianArkwing
    @AmadarianArkwing Жыл бұрын

    20:32 Idk bout you guys, but the suggestion plane attachments on the bomber itself kinda funny as i kinda see it as a meme.

  • @heikkiremes5661
    @heikkiremes5661 Жыл бұрын

    I knew they were big, but when you said the wheel diameter was 2 meters, its size really came into perspective.

  • @barnbersonol
    @barnbersonol9 ай бұрын

    Ive shot down dozens of these (on Il2) and in fairness the gunners are totally fearless, still firing back all the way down.

  • @MarkkuKoljonenwTinja
    @MarkkuKoljonenwTinja Жыл бұрын

    Thanks! 👍

  • @Paladin1873
    @Paladin1873 Жыл бұрын

    Drilling holes is standard procedure for stopping cracks from spreading. I remember watching my Dad (a certified A&E mechanic) drill holes in the plexiglass window of our Luscombe to stop a crack.

  • @bjw4859
    @bjw4859 Жыл бұрын

    That was a very interesting looking aircraft, I can't believe it took so long to put enclosed canopy's & gun turrets on these beasts, what, did they run out of metal & plexiglass at the top ?. Those drop down porta loos machine gun positions on the wings makes me think some designers had been getting stuck into the camps vodka stash. But bringing you're own air cover with you, that was cool, but I would have to see that happen before I fully believed it, what a shame they were all destroyed so none of this could be proven, still an interesting video.

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