The Tupolev Tu-4 is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber, used by the Soviet Union from 1949 to the early 1960s. The design was a copy of the American B-29 Superfortress, having been reverse-engineered from several examples that made emergency landings in the Soviet Union during World War II.
Contrary to popular belief, the aircraft is not a rivet-to-rivet copy of the American design, despite the initial order by Joseph Stalin to make it one. Several changes were eventually allowed to accommodate Soviet equipment already in production or sometimes superior to that found on the B-29, such as engines, radios, and defensive armament. However, the aircraft can still be identified as a B-29 with the red star roundel of the Soviet Air Force.
