In 1944 Russia captured an American B-29 bomber and Stalin demanded exact clones to be made for the Russian air force. The result?
The Tupolev-TU-4 Russian bomber and a hilarious story.
When the team that was in charge of replicating the plane started working, they found a little hole on the left wing of the aircraft. No aerodynamics or durability expert had the slightest idea why it was there for. There was no tube or wire attached to it, and there was no equivalent hole on the right wing. The opinion of a commission of experts was that the hole had been bored by a factory drill at the same time as the other holes for the rivets and it didn’t serve any purpose. (the article continues after the ad)
And that was the truth. The hole was there as a result of a manufacturing mistake and it indeed, didn’t serve any purpose. The chief designer was aked his opinion on what to do. ‘Do the Americans have it?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘So why the hell are you asking me?’.
And this is the why a very small hole was added on the left wing of all Tupolev TU-4 strategic bombers. Because the Americans had it and without serving any purpose whatsoever.
The same bizarre thing happened on the interior of the aircraft.
The scroll tunnel connecting cockpit and rear parts of the bomber was half green and half white, because Boeing run out of one of the color when painting this particular specimen. On the copied aircraft, two thirds was painted chromate green, the aft portion left in white primer. Later, this ratio was included in all the instruction books on how to paint the interior of the bomber.
If you like what you read, then you will definitely love this one: This Gift From The Russians To The US Ambassador In Moscow Had A Hidden Surprise
Photo: USA Patriotism!, airliners.net
Photoshop: I’m A Useless Info Junkie
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