In this episode I take a look at the Russian tech tree, analysing the aircraft within it and discussing how they might affect the game.
Planes in this episode:
DB-3 (Added in Update 1.67 "Assault")
I-16 Type 5 (Added in Update 1.43)
IL-2-1
IL-2M (NS-37) (Added in Update 1.49 "Weapons of Victory")
IL-28 (Added in Update 1.43)
MBR-2 (Added in Update 1.57 "Battle March")
Pe-8 (Added in Update 1.53 "Firestorm")
Tu-4 (Added in Update 1.59 "Flaming Arrows")
Tu-14 (Added in 1.65 "Way of the Samurai")
Yak-1 (Added in Update 1.43)
Yak-7 (Added in Update 1.27)
Yak-9 (Added in Update 1.43)
Yak-9B (Added in Update 1.53 "Firestorm")
Yak 30 (Added in Update 1.59 "Flaming Arrows")
Future USSR tech tree: http://warthunder.com/en/devblog/current/617
Sources:
Weapons of World War 2
WWII: The directory of weapons
Wikipedia (good for basic information or when noting changes between variants)
http://www.wio.ru/tacftr/yak.htm
Social Media ⬇️
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/toreno.bsky.social
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Game: War Thunder ⬅️
#warthunder #russia #ussr #aircraft #fighter #bomber #jet #techtree
Planes in this episode:
DB-3 (Added in Update 1.67 "Assault")
I-16 Type 5 (Added in Update 1.43)
IL-2-1
IL-2M (NS-37) (Added in Update 1.49 "Weapons of Victory")
IL-28 (Added in Update 1.43)
MBR-2 (Added in Update 1.57 "Battle March")
Pe-8 (Added in Update 1.53 "Firestorm")
Tu-4 (Added in Update 1.59 "Flaming Arrows")
Tu-14 (Added in 1.65 "Way of the Samurai")
Yak-1 (Added in Update 1.43)
Yak-7 (Added in Update 1.27)
Yak-9 (Added in Update 1.43)
Yak-9B (Added in Update 1.53 "Firestorm")
Yak 30 (Added in Update 1.59 "Flaming Arrows")
Future USSR tech tree: http://warthunder.com/en/devblog/current/617
Sources:
Weapons of World War 2
WWII: The directory of weapons
Wikipedia (good for basic information or when noting changes between variants)
http://www.wio.ru/tacftr/yak.htm
Social Media ⬇️
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/toreno.bsky.social
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Toreno4
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toreno170
Mastodon: Toreno17@mastodon.social
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@toreno170
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/Toreno17
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/toreno5/videos
Game: War Thunder ⬅️
#warthunder #russia #ussr #aircraft #fighter #bomber #jet #techtree
Category
🎮️
GamingTranscript
00:00Hello everybody and welcome to this second episode of my tech tree analysis series.
00:06I'm doing the Japanese tech tree but it's taking a bit longer than I expected so I'm just going to go and do the Russians first.
00:14A bit out of chronological order I know but as long as we can still get the information that's good.
00:21Probably going to be a little less in depth than the British one.
00:25That wasn't necessarily in depth but I dragged on for quite a while as I tried to detail every single variant.
00:32The good news is I finally found one of my books that I usually use for World War 2 aircraft.
00:39I've got a big chunky book but it was about £40 when it came out but I got it for £4 from a charity shop.
00:48It's a big chunky book, about 600 pages in all. I'm not entirely sure when it was printed, I'll try and find that.
00:55It has a lot of information but my cheap little Weapons of World War 2 book which is a lot less in depth, only a few hundred pages.
01:07It actually has more information in some cases so I'm probably going to be relying on that a little bit.
01:15Now that we've got that out of the way we'll get on to our first aircraft.
01:19Well actually before we get on to the first aircraft let's just take a quick skim read of the tech tree.
01:27As we can see no Lavochkin, I've probably mispronounced that, Polikarpov, only one aircraft there.
01:36I'm just going to call them MiGs, no new MiGs added.
01:39No new heavy fighters, few light bombers, attackers, not really much just the old two variants.
01:46Flying boat, this is the first flying boat the Russians actually have so that's quite important.
01:52Maybe it shows Gaijin are starting to move towards the more naval orientated battles or maybe in anticipation of the warships being added.
02:03Boats, well it could just be because they want to add them into all their nations now to complete them all.
02:10Quite a few long range bombers, as we can see we only had the UR-2s and the R-4s, we've now got the PE-8, TU-4 and the DB-3.
02:19So if we count the UR-2s as just one variant we've actually doubled, well more than doubled the amount of aircraft, well long range bombers.
02:30And we've got the frontline bombers, just two added there.
02:34So now that we've got that out of the way let's move on to the aircraft properly this time.
02:38Now the first aircraft on here in the Yak-11 line is the Yak-1.
02:43I did have a bit of trouble finding out information about this so I quickly hopped over to the War Thunder.
02:48Because as we know we've got the Yak-1B and some of the aircraft you can get information about them.
02:53So let's quickly pop over there to find out more.
02:57Here we are at the tech tree.
03:01Now going to the Yak-1B, read through this information quickly.
03:05We can see that for the Yak-1B the main attempts were to try and increase the top speed.
03:12And I believe improved armament and cockpit improved visibility.
03:20Now of course that is the Yak-1B but we can see from this that the Yak-1 had weaker armament, less visibility and possibly a bit slower.
03:30Now based on that information, well I found my book about the same time as I found out this information.
03:38And it seems that the wingtips were made a bit narrower on the Yak-1B.
03:42I'm not exactly an expert on aerodynamics but I'm assuming that must have made it a bit faster.
03:48I don't know the exact speed of the Yak-1 compared to the Yak-1B.
03:54I'll try and find that out.
03:56But I think they replaced the...
04:00The Yak-1B has the one 12.7mm machine gun.
04:04I believe the Yak-1, if I'm correct, had two 7.92 chakas.
04:10I've probably got it wrong.
04:12You're probably familiar with it on the I-16, the biplanes.
04:18But anyway, they updated it to the Beresin 12.7mm machine gun.
04:24Oh right, I found the chakas.
04:28So a bit like the Bf-109, E-1 and E-3.
04:32The E-1 having weaker armament.
04:36Not much difference between the two really.
04:40It's a bit faster but other than that, not too much difference I don't think.
04:46Now the next plane on the list is the Yak-7.
04:50As before, we've got the Yak-7B.
04:54So we'll quickly pop over to War Thunder again and quickly read up what the Yak-7B is.
04:58See if that will tell us anything about the Yak-7.
05:02And we're back at the Russian tech tree again.
05:04The Yak-7B is actually a lower tier than the Yak-1B.
05:08So possibly that tells us something about it.
05:12Now there isn't too much information.
05:16Based on the Yak-7UTI, which was a tandem seat advanced trainer based on the Yak-1.
05:22Now my books do mention the Yak-7 being designed as a two seater trainer version for the Yak-1.
05:28Now it doesn't really tell us anything else besides that.
05:32So I like to obviously look online and read through my books.
05:36So let's quickly go back to the normal background.
05:42So after this I did some looking through my books and looking online.
05:46And I found out, I believe, that the Yak-7 was the same as the Yak-1 and the Yak-1B.
05:54The Yak-7 had the two 7.92mm machine guns.
06:00It had them replaced with the UBS 12.7mm.
06:04It was also quite a bit slower, about 30 miles an hour.
06:08It might have been 30km an hour, I can't remember now.
06:12So again, a Bf 109E by an E3 comparison.
06:16It doesn't seem to have been that much different.
06:20Not that much difference between the two.
06:22The Yak-7B just being a natural progression.
06:24Upgrading the armament as the war went on.
06:28So again, not particularly looking forward to these two fighters.
06:32Not that I don't want them, or that I won't fly them.
06:34Just not something I'm going to get particularly excited about.
06:38So let's quickly move on to the next aircraft.
06:42Now the next aircraft on our list are the Yak-9 and the Yak-9B.
06:46We've already got the Yak-9T, the Yak-9K.
06:48So again, we'll quickly pop over to the War Thunder website.
06:52See if there's any information there we can gleam about the Yak-9 and the Yak-9B.
06:58So here we are on the actual game.
07:01Here we've got the Yak-9TK.
07:05Can't find... oh yeah, the 9T is there as well.
07:07Let's quickly find out the information here.
07:11Now, we know it was the first combat aircraft designed by Alexander Yakalev's construction bureau.
07:16And it was the most mass-produced Soviet fighter of the war.
07:19The Yak-9, that is, not the Yak-9T.
07:21So, obviously pretty good.
07:24In production until almost 1949, so it must have been very good.
07:29Further modification of the Yak-1, Yak-7.
07:32It was a redesign of the Yak-7.
07:35With external differences, the Yak-9 was at the same time much more advanced internally.
07:40Two years of design, combat experience. Let's just skip through that.
07:45Aluminium... oh, what does it say?
07:49It doesn't say if it uses aluminium, but I'm guessing it does if it mentions it.
07:54Brake was significantly reduced, meaning more fuel could be stored and the aircraft could be equipped with more powerful weapons, armament and specialised equipment.
08:02Now, it doesn't particularly say anything else about the Yak-9 or the Yak-9B.
08:08The Yak-9K doesn't have information, not too unexpected.
08:13So let's quickly pop back to the tech tree.
08:17Now, having looked at the War Thunder website... game, not website.
08:22I obviously went back to my books and internet again.
08:25It seems the main difference between the Yak-9 and the Yak-9...
08:29Well, the Yak-9 and the Yak-9B were both faster than... well, they were both a lot faster.
08:33The Yak-9B might have been a bit slower than the Yak-7B, I can't remember.
08:37The Yak-9B, from what I can tell, was intended more as a fighter bomber.
08:43While the Yak-9, I believe, was more of the fighter.
08:47Now, they both had the standardised armament.
08:52The Yak-9, both having the 20mm cannon and the one 12.7mm machine gun.
09:00While also being, like I said, quite a bit faster, in most cases.
09:05So, again, seems like it's just going to be a natural progression of the Yak-7B with more powerful armament.
09:15With the Yak-9B taking on more of the fighter bomber role, I'm not sure...
09:19It'll probably be used in War Thunder exclusively as a fighter.
09:23I think it only takes, like, 8... how many kilograms of bombs?
09:28Oh, I've lost it now, let me just find it.
09:31400 kilograms worth of bombs, which isn't going to be an awful lot.
09:35Especially at higher tiers, where it likely is going to be operating.
09:39So, again, looking forward to him a bit more, but not, you know, greatly excited.
09:44I generally don't get excited about fighters anyway, but...
09:48Yeah, nothing to particularly get me excited in these two aircraft.
09:53Now, the next aircraft on here is the Yak-30.
09:56There's apparently two Yak-30s, with this being a Yak that was a bit of a prototype.
10:02Now, unlike the other ones, War Thunder doesn't have a Yak-30, so I couldn't go over there and find out information about it.
10:09Also, unfortunately, most of my books deal with World War II, and the ones that do deal with the modern era...
10:15Apparently, because this is a prototype, I never actually could find any information.
10:19So I had to kind of exclusively rely on the internet for this.
10:23So, anyway, I went on the internet, quickly found a Wikipedia article on it.
10:27Yeah, there was a Yak-30 in 1960, and a prototype in 1948? 1946?
10:341948, sorry.
10:36So, yeah, there was a bit of confusion about that on the forums at first,
10:40with people thinking Gaijin were just adding in, like, ultra-modern aircraft, which it wasn't.
10:46But, anyway, I quickly looked at the stats.
10:50According to the Wikipedia article, it had a top speed of about 636 miles an hour,
10:56and it had a rate of climb. It said something like... I can't remember the exact number now,
11:00but it was doing it in meters a minute, rather than seconds.
11:03So I did quickly divide it by 60, and it came up with 41 meters a second.
11:09Now, that seems like a lot. That seems quite an insane amount of rate of climb.
11:15I don't know if the Wikipedia article's wrong on it.
11:18Like I said, I haven't really got any books on the Yak-30, so I had to rely on that.
11:22But that seems like it would be quite a good climber,
11:27which would also be quite good as a bomber interceptor,
11:35because of the high rate of climb. It has three 23mm cannons.
11:39So, obviously, this would be able to go quite, well, very fast,
11:45quickly gain a lot of altitude, and blow bombers out of the sky.
11:49This may be what Gaijin were talking about.
11:54They added in some of the jet bombers, because there was no way to really intercept them.
12:00This may be why they're starting to add in the jet bombers,
12:03because the Yak-30, and maybe other aircraft like it,
12:06will be able to finally sort down those aircraft.
12:09So, I'm looking forward to that a lot more.
12:11I don't really fly jets, mainly because I haven't actually unlocked any,
12:15but I'm not trying to get there too fast.
12:18But, yeah, I might try and grind down the Russian tree to get that a bit quicker.
12:23So, we've finished the Yak-11 line.
12:26So, mainly just fighters, mainly early production models.
12:31Yak-30 being the only one that really shines for me, at least.
12:35And we'll move on to the Polikarpov.
12:39I'll probably mispronounce that. I'm sorry if there's any Russians watching.
12:43Now, the next plane on our list is the I-16 Type 5, not Type 3.
12:49Now, my books didn't actually have this listed.
12:52The smaller book did have the I-16, but didn't have the Type 5,
12:57while the big, bulky, expensive book, naturally, just didn't.
13:01For some reason didn't seem to list it.
13:06I'm starting to think this book wasn't actually all that good.
13:09But I digress.
13:11So, again, had to rely on the internet.
13:13Went on the Wikipedia article, and as far as I can tell,
13:17it's just a more streamlined version of the Type 4,
13:20which was the first production model, the I-16.
13:25So, it did have a slightly different engine,
13:29but I believe it was a weaker engine, 700 horsepower,
13:34compared to the Type 24, which had a 1,100 horsepower engine.
13:40So, 700 versus 1,100.
13:43Not really convinced this is going to be a very good fighter.
13:47Armament-wise, I don't think it's much different.
13:50I could be wrong, but I'm guessing it's just going to be
13:53the four 7.62mm machine guns.
13:57So, not particularly looking forward to this fighter.
14:00I mean, it's good to have more of the I-16s for low-tier battles,
14:04but, yeah, not really looking forward to it.
14:07So, that's the one aircraft added to the Polikarpov line of Russian fighters.
14:14We'll go on to the attackers and light bombers.
14:18Really, it's just the R-2s that have been added.
14:23Now, the two aircraft that have been added here are the R-2-1.
14:27I'm guessing an early production model of the R-2,
14:30or perhaps the first production model of the R-2 series, even.
14:34And the R-2M NS-37.
14:36Now, the NS-37, I believe, is a high-caliber cannon.
14:40I didn't have much information in my books about these particular variants.
14:45Lots of information about the R-2 and the R-2M,
14:49but hardly anything on the actual specific variants.
14:53So, I quickly went into War Thunder.
14:56Well, we're quickly going to War Thunder now, actually.
14:58Here we are in War Thunder.
15:00Now, where's the R-2s? Here's the R-2.
15:03Quickly go on to information again.
15:06Lots of information about...
15:08Right, it doesn't actually tell us anything about specific variants.
15:11We'll quickly check on the R-2M. Where is it?
15:14There it is. Quite a big gap.
15:17R-2M AM-38 doesn't actually say...
15:22So, again, it doesn't really say anything here.
15:24So, we'll have to go to the internet and quickly find some more information.
15:31However, even after looking online, I couldn't really find much information.
15:35The R-2M-37, well, that was much easier.
15:40It was the R-2M armed with two 37mm NS-37 cannons,
15:46rather than the 23mm cannons.
15:49But it also had to produce bomb load,
15:51and I believe it was quite hard to aim and fire the 37mm cannons,
15:57so they weren't really built in that huge numbers.
16:00It wasn't particularly successful, from what I understand.
16:03The R-2-1, well, I haven't really found anything on it.
16:08I found some information on an R-2I,
16:12which possibly could be the R-2-1.
16:18It's possible there's a misprint here.
16:22That was a prototype of a fighter version of the R-2, from what I understand.
16:28But I really don't think this is what they're talking about here.
16:31Sorry, I can't find much information about it.
16:34Everywhere I've looked, I haven't been able to find anything on it.
16:38The only other thing I can think of is this is one of the early variants
16:42with a slightly different engine, or possibly one of the first two-seaters.
16:46I believe they originally had two seats,
16:49and then went to the normal one seat for the R-2, and then went back to it for the R-2M.
16:54But like I said, I can't really find much information on it,
16:57so I'll do some digging. If I find anything, I'll let you know.
17:00But for the moment, I can't really add anything to them.
17:07Now, we've gone through the attackers and light bombers.
17:10We'll move on to the flying boats now, because there's only one of them,
17:13in the form of the MBR-2.
17:16This was introduced before World War II as the MBR-2.
17:20When World War II broke out, or just before it broke out,
17:23it was redesigned and improved and named the MBR-2 bis.
17:29I'm guessing that will be the version we get in the game.
17:33I think it would be rather odd if we got the pre-war version.
17:37I could be wrong, but it can go about 154 mph, its max speed.
17:44Now, the only other planes that really go that slow are the bioplanes and the TB-3,
17:53which struggles to make 100 mph when I've used it.
17:57It's only got two 7.62mm machine guns in the dorsal turret and the bow,
18:07and only carries about 300kg worth of bombs.
18:11I'm not sure what sort of role this is going to take.
18:16It seems like they've just put it in there just to say,
18:21oh, it's there, and it's not really going to be all that useful.
18:25These were mainly used around the Baltic and Black Sea,
18:28so I suppose they didn't need to be as good as their allied counterparts.
18:33There wasn't as much naval combat around the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front
18:40as there was for other sectors of the war.
18:43So, it would be nice to have it, but I'm not particularly looking forward to it.
18:46Although, there is one small little fact.
18:49This actually uses a pusher propeller.
18:51It has the propeller at the back of the aircraft and pushes it,
18:55rather than like most planes do, it's at the front.
18:59So yeah, one fact about that aircraft.
19:03Quickly move on to the frontline bombers now.
19:06Now, the two bombers that have been added to the frontline bombers for the Soviet Union
19:11are the Tu-14 and the R-28, both of which are jet bombers, or jet attack aircraft.
19:17So, this is quite important because we've only got one jet bomber in the game at the moment,
19:22in the form of the Arado, which isn't exactly the best bomber in the world.
19:28So this is quite a big addition to the Soviet Union and to jet combat in general for the game.
19:33As usual, we'll deal with them one at a time.
19:36So, let's move on to the Tu-14 first.
19:39Now, this was a jet bomber introduced in 1952.
19:43Now, interestingly, it was used as a torpedo bomber by the Soviet Naval Aviation.
19:50There are two forward-facing 23mm cannons and two 23mm cannons in the tail of the aircraft.
19:59So, quite powerful.
20:02It seems to be a bit of a running theme with Russian bombers.
20:06Well, at least with the Pe-2, they have forward-facing guns as well as guns in the turret.
20:11So, it's all carrying on with that sort of doctrine, I'm guessing.
20:15So, it'll be quite powerful. It'll have a decent amount of defence.
20:20It's bomb load. Bomb load was about 3000kg, I believe, of bombs, mines or torpedoes.
20:28So, quite a decent amount of bomb load.
20:31And its max speed was, I think, about 520mph, 525.
20:37So, quite fast.
20:40I mean, some of the other jets, I'm thinking the new British jets, will be able to catch it quite quickly.
20:46But, it seems like a good addition to the Soviet Union.
20:51Considering it was used as a torpedo bomber, I'm guessing it'll have a bit of...
20:55Maybe suggest there'll be a bit of a... more of a naval combat type role in the future.
21:00Well, I'm hoping there will be.
21:03I don't have any jets yet, but it must be a lot harder to deal with naval units when you've only got bombs rather than torpedoes.
21:12Now, the next plane on our list, where is it? There it is.
21:15It's the R-28 Jet Bomber.
21:18Now, we've actually got a bit of information on it down here.
21:21I forgot about this earlier.
21:23Used the VK-1 model engines, which were based on the Rolls-Royce Nene engines.
21:28Which were received by the USSR from Britain, under an obligation not to use it for military purposes.
21:34I may have mentioned in my British Tech Tree episode that these were actually used...
21:40I believe that the Nene engines were actually used to power some of the MiG engines.
21:44Or to reverse-engineer for use in the MiGs during the Korean War.
21:49Now, as it mentions here, it's got one very flexible twin-cannon turret mounted in the tail to protect the entire rear hemisphere.
21:56I believe there's a 223mm turret at the front of the aircraft as well.
22:02I'll have to double-check that in a minute.
22:05And it could reach a speed of about roughly 580 miles an hour or so.
22:11590, possibly.
22:13And it carried about 3,000 kilograms worth of bombs, I believe.
22:18So, again, quite a powerful aircraft.
22:21This is going to definitely shake up the higher-tier games.
22:27Because bomber aircraft probably, I'm guessing, don't survive that long in those sort of tiers.
22:33Apparently this was actually not added because there was no aircraft capable of intercepting it.
22:40So, I believe there was the message given out by Gaijin.
22:45So, obviously, they must feel they are, or will be, aircraft soon capable of intercepting this sort of bomber.
22:56So I'm looking forward to it being added into the game.
22:58Hopefully I will have unlocked jets myself by that point.
23:01So, yeah, definitely looking forward to the R-28 and the Tu-14.
23:06Now, the last section of this video will deal with the long-range bombers.
23:10I've got some books on these bombers, or some of them at least.
23:14So I'll hopefully do a lot better than I did with the jet bombers.
23:17You can probably tell I sort of use the internet for them.
23:20I do have the books on one or two of them, but they're sort of packed away at the moment.
23:25But the first bomber on the long-range bombers is the DB-3.
23:29Now, we've got the R-4 in the game.
23:32So, like with some of the other aircraft, I've hopped over to War Thunder to try and find out some more information,
23:38which I will quickly show you now.
23:41So, we're here on the War Thunder game.
23:44Let's go to information for the R-4.
23:47Now, it's a further development of the Arshin DB-3 bomber.
23:51Redesigned cockpit, wings, landing gear, new fuselage.
23:55So, based on that, we can tell the DB-3 probably was a little less developed.
24:01The pictures I've got, you can see the similarities between the two,
24:04but the DB-3 definitely looks quite... not very streamlined.
24:09So, we'll quickly go back to the Research Tech Trip.
24:15Now, the information I have here is that the DB-3 had three 7.62mm machine guns.
24:22Same places as the R-4.
24:24The nose, the tail, and the waist.
24:30So, a bit weaker in armament, because I believe the R-4 gets a 12.7mm machine gun in the rear turret,
24:37rather than the 7.7.
24:39The turret itself looks actually a lot better designed on the DB-3.
24:43It's a lot flatter, which I suppose makes it less likely to be hit.
24:47If we go to other weaponry, the bomb load.
24:51Now, the DB-3 could carry 1,500kg compared to the R-4's 2,500kg.
25:00Other than that, they seem to have the same range and surface ceiling.
25:04The DB-3 actually seems a bit faster, which is weird, because it actually has slightly less powerful engines.
25:11950 horsepower compared to 1,500 on the R-4.
25:16But it also seems to weigh a lot less.
25:19As far as I can tell, weight when empty is about 600 less than the R-4.
25:27So, I'm not particularly looking...
25:29I mean, I'm looking forward to any bombers being added,
25:33but not exactly the bomber I'm looking forward to the most.
25:37But it'll be good to see it in-game anyway.
25:40So, let's move on to the next bombers.
25:43Now, the next plane on our list is the PE-8.
25:47Now, I will have to probably rely on internet sources for this,
25:51because for whatever reason, it's not listed in any of my books again.
25:55Seems to be a bit of a recurring theme here, but I'll try and do my best.
26:00Now, the PE-8 was apparently the only four-engine bomber built in the Soviet Union during WWII.
26:07There was other bombers, the TB-3 for example,
26:10but as far as I'm aware, they weren't built during the war.
26:13Well, I'm guessing that's what the article was referring to.
26:17Now, it was armed with two 20mm machine guns,
26:21two 12.7mm machine guns,
26:25and two 7.62mm machine guns.
26:28And could carry about 5,000kg worth of bombs.
26:32Now, unlike the TB-3, this could go quite fast, about 275mph,
26:39whereas the TB-3, for any of you who haven't got it,
26:43is actually ridiculously slow.
26:46I mean, if you go in historical battles, it goes about 100mph,
26:50and even then you'll be getting a stall indicator every now and then.
26:54So, an eight-engine bomber, four-engine bomber,
26:59quite a bit of speed, quite a lot of payload.
27:02I'm actually quite looking forward to this, as well as a decent defensive armament.
27:06I'm definitely looking forward to the PE-8.
27:09I mean, it would be a very good addition to the Soviet Union,
27:13maybe in the mid-tiers.
27:15It has a lot of twin-engine bombers, the Russian Tech-3,
27:19but not many, well, no four-engine bombers at the moment,
27:22unless you happen to have the TB-3.
27:25So, I'm definitely looking forward to this bomber.
27:28Now, the last bomber on our list is the TU-4,
27:32which was, for those of you who don't know,
27:35a reverse-engineered B-29 Superfortress.
27:38Three or four of these ended up in the Soviet Union
27:41after bombing raids on Japan,
27:44because Russia was technically neutral up until the end of the war
27:48with, I think it was Operation August Storm,
27:51I've probably got it wrong.
27:53So, the crews were returned to the USA, but the aircraft were interned,
27:57and they were quickly reverse-engineered,
28:00so the Soviet Union could get a strategic bomber,
28:03because they had very good tactical bombers,
28:05but they don't really seem to have had many great strategic bombers.
28:09Now, the main difference is between the B-29 and the TU-4.
28:13The TU-4 seems to have been about 15-20km slower,
28:18and instead of the Browning machine guns,
28:21it had 23mm cannons.
28:24These were twin 23mm cannons,
28:28so quite a lot of power in them.
28:31For those of you who already find it a pain attacking B-17s and B-24s,
28:35you may want to avoid the TU-4,
28:38because you will be ripped to shreds pretty quickly, I'm guessing.
28:42Another difference is the aluminium was slightly thinner,
28:45I'm not entirely sure why,
28:47I think the Soviet Union industry wasn't able to produce the right aluminium,
28:52or produce it in the required quantities,
28:55so I don't know if that will affect the strength of the TU-4,
28:58or make it easier to shoot down.
29:01Now, the TU-4, as far as I know,
29:04the B-29 could carry quite a lot of bombs,
29:08I'm not entirely sure of the right number.
29:11Nope, I found it.
29:13About 9000kg, the B-29 could carry.
29:16Now, the TU-4 online says it could carry about 6000kg,
29:23or more specifically, 6 1000kg bombs.
29:30It's possible that's just what it usually carried,
29:34it's possible it could carry more than that.
29:37It could also carry missiles and nuclear weapons,
29:41I don't think we're going to get them, unfortunately.
29:44But I'm definitely looking forward to this,
29:46I've always been really good with bombers.
29:49So, definitely looking forward to those 23mm cannons,
29:52to help me make my bombing deliveries.
29:56So, that was the last plane on our list.
29:59So, that's the end of this analysis of the Soviet tech tree,
30:04I'll leave a link to the tech tree in the description.
30:08Personally looking forward mostly to the bombers,
30:11and some of the jet aircraft, the Yak-30 in particular.
30:16It's nice to have some other additions,
30:18like the new attackers, the flying boat,
30:21and some of the fighters,
30:23but really I'm looking forward to the bombers and the jet fighters.
30:27They seem like they've really improved the Soviet tech tree.
30:31Now, this was actually a lot shorter than the other tech trees.
30:36I think the Soviet Union, Russia only gets about 13, 15 or so new aircraft.
30:43So, mainly because their tech tree is the most complete.
30:47Japanese on the other hand get nearly 35, 40 new aircraft,
30:53and I haven't counted the Germans yet, but they get quite a lot.
30:57So, yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to these new aircraft.
31:00It's good that they are focusing on the other nations as well though.
31:03So, thank you for watching, please leave a like,
31:06leave any feedback or information on these aircraft that I wasn't able to find,
31:10particularly the R-21.
31:12I would definitely appreciate any information on that.
31:17And subscribe if you like these videos,
31:21if you're enjoying the series, and I'll see you next time.