TB-3 Bombers in China

[Japan]

Hey

I understand that some TB-3 Strategic Bombers served in China with Soviet voulentere Crews and was later included into the Chinese Airforce.

Any who knows how they preformed ?



Six TB-3 AM-34RN were flown by Soviet volunteers in China and were transferred to the Chinese Nationalist Air force

http://www.shift.sk/military/linked/tb3/tb3.html

[Howard Mitchell]

Not very well apparently. They were never used as bombers and instead flew personnel and supply transport missions. There is a good article on Soviet bombers in Chinese service at http://www.j-aircraft.com/research/George_Mellinger/soviet_bombers_in_china.htm
 
Here areits final comments on the Chinese TB-3s: 
 
Although clearly designated as heavy bombers, the Chinese never used the TB-3 as such. Together with the surviving S.72s they transported people and cargo. On 16 March 1938 a motor failed on a TB-3 flown by Guo Jiayang and Zhang Jiongyi. the pilots decided to turn back but crashed in the mountain gorge at Yingpan. Of the 25 Soviet volunteers on board, only two survived. The entire crew perished. The fighter pilot D. A. Kudymov remembers that earlier he flew on this aircraft from Hankou to Lanzhou. The commander took off without even checking to assure he had sufficient fuel. The fuel ran out in the air. With difficulty the aircraft crossed the mountain ridge and landed at the foot of the mountain amongst the boulders, not getting more than about a kilometer from the landing strip. "We got out of the aircraft, wild with anger. The pilot of the TB laughed..."
 
Still another TB-3 was stood on its nose in 1938 in Chengdu, the pilot missing his mark while landing and overflying the borders of the landing field and coming to rest in a bog. A Soviet mechanic then recorded that "The navigator’s cabin was pushed up like a Rhinoceros’ horn." The cabin was repaired, and the propellers replaced, after which the aircraft was sent back to Lanzhou. With such an example the career of the TB-3 in China seems entirely short and completely inglorious.

[Japan]

ORIGINAL: Howard Mitchell

Not very well apparently. They were never used as bombers and instead flew personnel and supply transport missions. There is a good article on Soviet bombers in Chinese service at http://www.j-aircraft.com/research/George_Mellinger/soviet_bombers_in_china.htm

Here areits final comments on the Chinese TB-3s: 

Although clearly designated as heavy bombers, the Chinese never used the TB-3 as such. Together with the surviving S.72s they transported people and cargo. On 16 March 1938 a motor failed on a TB-3 flown by Guo Jiayang and Zhang Jiongyi. the pilots decided to turn back but crashed in the mountain gorge at Yingpan. Of the 25 Soviet volunteers on board, only two survived. The entire crew perished. The fighter pilot D. A. Kudymov remembers that earlier he flew on this aircraft from Hankou to Lanzhou. The commander took off without even checking to assure he had sufficient fuel. The fuel ran out in the air. With difficulty the aircraft crossed the mountain ridge and landed at the foot of the mountain amongst the boulders, not getting more than about a kilometer from the landing strip. "We got out of the aircraft, wild with anger. The pilot of the TB laughed..."

Still another TB-3 was stood on its nose in 1938 in Chengdu, the pilot missing his mark while landing and overflying the borders of the landing field and coming to rest in a bog. A Soviet mechanic then recorded that "The navigator’s cabin was pushed up like a Rhinoceros’ horn." The cabin was repaired, and the propellers replaced, after which the aircraft was sent back to Lanzhou. With such an example the career of the TB-3 in China seems entirely short and completely inglorious.

He He ... [:D][:D][:D]