The Boeing B-29 Superfortress was every nations envy.
It could carry up to 20,000 pounds of bomb and drop them on targets 3,000 miles away.
The only item they refused was heavy bombers.
Soviet Union was not exactly a friend.
Both America and Britain sent the Soviet Union massive amounts of military aid to shore them up.
But heavy bombers capable of flying over a continent and across an ocean, were a different matter.
The US did not trust Stalin enough to equip him with a technology that might be used against them.
The B-29 Flight Deck.
The three aircraftsGeneral H.H.
The crews were sent back home, but not after desperate pleas from the US.
Demands for the return of the planes were ignored.
With these three aircrafts, Soviet engineers began one of the most complex and audacious reverse-engineering projects ever.
Of the three, one was dismantled.
To keep track of the growing mountain of parts, the second one was use as reference.
The third was used for test flight.
Stalin ordered that the B-29 be copied exactly, down to the smallest detail.
But that was easier said than done.
The Soviet Union did not have the manufacturing ability to reproduce many parts.
The Soviet ended up using aluminium of a different thickness.
Many alloys and other materials new to the Soviet Union had to be brought into production.
Compromise had to be made.
For tires, agents scoured the western war surplus market.
The biggest challenge was duplicating the complicated central fire-control system.
These interconnected controls allowed a single gunner to remotely operate the B-29s guns simultaneously.
A surviving Tupolev Tu-4 at the Monino Central Air Force Museum, Moscow.
Photo:Andrey Korchagin/Flickr
In less than two years, the Soviet Superfortress Tupolev Tu-4, was ready.
It looked virtually identical to the B-29.
It had the same wingspan and same fuselage length.
It had the same speed, the same range, the same payload and a slightly higher service ceiling.
While some of these stories were certainly exaggerated, there was an element of truth behind them.
The first batch of Tu-4s rolled off the assembly line on schedule in 1947.
It flew for the first time on 19 May 1947.
Representatives from all major air forces were present.
As the American diplomats stood watching, they heard a familiar drone.
Only when a fourth aircraft appeared, that the world new that the Soviets had successfully copied the Superfortress.
