Tupolev Tu-12

乌拉尔 · May 22, 2024, 2:38am

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Tupolev Tu-12

Hello everyone :), what I would like to introduce today is the Tupolev Tu-12.

Introduction

Aircraft powered by jet engines have been favored since World War II, and various countries have been trying to manufacture their own jet planes, including the Soviet Union. Due to the slow progress of other jet aircraft projects, in 1947 Tupolev proposed importing Rolls Royce engines originally from the UK as a supplementary method to accelerate the development of jet aircraft. The project was quickly approved, and the design bureau quickly completed the design work, preparing to begin the production of actual aircraft. The plane was initially named Tu-77 but was renamed Tu-12 in service.

In order to facilitate the design and shorten the construction period, the Tupolev Design Bureau used the mature Tu-2 bomber as the basis, equipped with two Rolls Royce Nene jet engines, replaced with new landing gears, strengthened wing strength, and added additional fuel tanks. The forward firing weapon has been modified from a 20mm machine gun to a 23mm NS-23 machine gun and installed at the nose position. In July 1947, the first prototype was manufactured and ready for experimental work.

Through experiments, it has been shown that the Tu-12 with jet engines has greatly improved its top speed, climb rate, and practical ceiling height. Its performance has exceeded expectations, but there are still some shortcomings, such as insufficient generator power, excessive impact of 23mm guns on onboard equipment during firing, and lack of de icing equipment on the aircraft. Despite these shortcomings, the aircraft was later manufactured with 6 units for use as training planes and testing new engines. This was one of the few jet planes with twin tails in the 1940s, and due to the use of engines imported from the UK instead of those produced by the Soviet Union, its performance was actually quite excellent at that time.

It has a top speed of 783 kilometers per hour, a range of 2200 kilometers, a practical ceiling of 11000 meters, and did not encounter any overly difficult problems during the development process. At that time, this was already a significant improvement, and as one of the early explorations of Soviet jet aircraft, its performance was also acceptable and reasonable. This aircraft later participated in rocket engine testing and was an ideal experimental platform

In game

The Tu-12 was modified from the Tu-2 and equipped with a highly thrust jet engine, resulting in significant improvements in maneuverability, including top speed and practical lift. The original Tu-2 already had excellent performance, including mounting and ground attack capabilities. Therefore, it is recommended to place it at 7.0 as a jet bomber.

Specifications