Tupolev ANT-16

ANT-16 (TB-4)
Role	Heavy bomber Type of aircraft
National origin	Soviet Union
Manufacturer	Tupolev
First flight	3 July 1933
Status	Retired
Primary user	Soviet Union
Number built	1
Developed from	Tupolev TB-3
Variants	ANT-20

The Tupolev ANT-16 (also known as the TB-4; Russian: Тяжелый Бомбардировщик – Heavy Bomber) was an experimental heavy bomber aircraft designed and tested in the Soviet Union in the early 1930s.

Conceptually representing evolution of the TB-3 bomber, the ANT-16 was designed under the doctrine that size and payload were more important for a bomber than speed because it would be able to protect itself with defensive armament.^[1] The twin 5 by 1.8 by 1.8 metres (16.4 ft × 5.9 ft × 5.9 ft) bomb bays were the largest in the world at that time and presented many design challenges in order to preserve structural rigidity of the airframe.^[1]

The sole prototype first flew on 3 July 1933 with M. M. Gromov at the controls. The test flight program was completed by 29 September 1933 with disappointing results. The two top-mounted engines performed poorly and a significant portion of thrust generated by the wing-mounted engines was absorbed by the two meter-thick (6 ft 7 in) wing. A proposal to re-equip the aircraft with Mikulin AM-35 engines of 933 kW (1,250 hp) was not implemented.^[1] A second prototype was under construction, but was never finished^[2] (construction stopped 2 July 1933); some of its parts were used in the ANT-20.

Data from The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft 1875-1995 ^[3]

General characteristics

• Crew: 12
• Length: 32 m (105 ft 0 in)
• Wingspan: 54 m (177 ft 2 in)
• Height: 17.3 m (56 ft 9 in)
• Wing area: 422 m² (4,540 sq ft)
• Empty weight: 21,400 kg (47,179 lb)
• Gross weight: 33,280 kg (73,370 lb)
• Fuel capacity: 4,950 kg (10,913 lb) (~7,000 L (1,800 US gal; 1,500 imp gal) at 0.7 s.g.)
• Powerplant: 6 × Mikulin AM-34 V-12 liquid-cooled piston engines, 560 kW (750 hp) each
• Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch propellers

Performance

• Maximum speed: 200 km/h (120 mph, 110 kn) at sea level

188 km/h (117 mph; 102 kn) at 5,000 m (16,000 ft)

• Cruise speed: 159 km/h (99 mph, 86 kn)
  
• Landing speed: 105 km/h (65 mph; 57 kn)
• Range: 1,000 km (620 mi, 540 nmi)
• Combat range: 940 km (580 mi, 510 nmi) with 8,000 kg (17,637 lb) bomb-load

2,000 km (1,200 mi; 1,100 nmi) with 2,000 kg (4,409 lb) bomb-load

• Service ceiling: 2,750 m (9,020 ft)
• Time to altitude: 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in 12 minutes 24 seconds

2,000 m (6,600 ft) in 34 minutes

• Wing loading: 79 kg/m² (16 lb/sq ft)
• Power/mass: 0.101 kW/kg (0.061 hp/lb)
  
• Take-off run: 800 m (2,600 ft) in 36 seconds
• Landing run: 400 m (1,300 ft)

Armament

• Guns: 4x20mm cannon, 10x2 7.62mm DA machine guns
• Bombs: Up to 4,000 kg of bombs^[4]

Related development

• TB-3
• ANT-20

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