
okay so the Tupolev TB-3 is an airplane of all time, first entering production in the Soviet Union in 1932 the aircraft was a "sequel" to the TB-1, the USSR's first bomber airplane. the airplane was rather durable, with a complex network of steel tubes inside the wings supporting its nearly 40 meter wingspan, and thick corrugated skin tough enough to be walked on at any point (good for maintenance access). for its time the airplane had remarkable range and carrying capacity, setting an 18 hour endurance record and scoring a few payload-to-altitude records. this set the TB-3 up for a fairly successful career as a transport aircraft, even after it had been retired from combat duty, it could carry a great number of men and munitions a good way, it could even sling a light tank between its landing gear and carry that around.

a modified TB-3 with an enclosed cockpit, Aviaarktika, was also used to make an expedition to the North pole

as a boundary-pushing aircraft, and as a soviet aircraft, it was not without some interesting development issues and ideas. notably, early production aircraft were built to ludicously inconsistent standards. variance in thickness on metal parts and varying amounts of paint and lacquer meant that two aircraft built on the same production line could have a weight difference of several hundred kilograms between them (on top of the USSR's delightfully non-standardised aircraft production lines this meant that performance... varied). this was even after an initial seven year design phase, with the first work beginning in 1925 and production not starting until 1932.
the TB-3 became something of a test-bed for Soviet aviation technology in the 30s, including the use of diesel engines in aircraft, early auto-pilot systems, and even equipment for flying in blizzards. it was also used as a paratrooper aircraft, where Soviet paratroopers simply climbed out onto the wings and rolled off the airplane
observant readers mightve noticed that the TB-3's wings are very thick, nearly as thick as a fellow is tall, perhaps. indeed, the interior of the aircraft's wings was accessible, enabling the flight engineer to directly inspect any engines that might be suffering from issues (suffering from issues is an airplane engine's favourite thing to do). this was also, as it turns out, the only way to inspect the aircraft's fuel levels :)
this leads me to a very bad idea. it is art, perhaps, in its own way. the idea is guns. not defensive armament (there were already a pair of turrets under the wings), we're going offensive. if the wings are thick enough to fit an engineer, they are also thick enough to fit a
fucking

76mm artillery cannon
with crewmen in the wings and nose. yeah they fit three of these things into the fucking airplane as a test and of course it didnt enter production because it was a terrible platform for a worse idea than rockets, but this is up there with their horrible recoilless rifle fighters for me

sami talk about zveno, please
oh, okay. so people who either played 1946 as a child or have been exposed to me long enough will probably know this plane for the Zveno project. Zveno is glorious Crimson Skies bullshit, and best of all it worked and was used to successfully attack the axis several times. Zveno was an attempt to use the TB-3 as a flying aircraft carrier. smaller aircraft (I-16s from Polikarpov, primarily, but I-5s and I-15s were also tested) would be carried into the air by the TB-3, extending their operational range and allowing them to function as escorts or strike aircraft. the Zveno TB-3s were also successfully tested as refuelling platforms, with fighters able to dock, shut down, refuel from the TB-3, before starting up and flying on once more.

Zveno was capable of carrying up to five airplanes at once, though in combat it would only use the two-plane payload. in 1941, Zveno would see war against the axis, with I-16 fighters riding the TB-3 to extend their range before performing dive-bombing attacks against targets in Romania. these targets were well beyond the natural range of the I-16 (they had enough fuel to make their attacks and return home, basically, one way trip) and conventional bombers lacked the precision to hit targets like bridges and pipelines. Zveno was consistently a success, with the I-16s striking their targets accurately and being able to perform fairly well as escorts, too. a few dozen missions were performed with low losses before a lack of spare parts and the rapid retreat of the soviet aviation industry folded the Zveno squadron

anyway i just think its nifty. its like a cheap caravan owned by a mad scientist
