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Col. Chibani a écrit : ↑

mar. oct. 18, 2022 6:23 pm

Chinois ?

The XB-3 was a indigenously designed Chinese medium bomber using parts from the Soviet Tupolev SB-3 bomber. The project began in 1942 when there was an urgent need for more bombers as the SB and DB bombers given to the Chinese Air Force by the Soviets started to become obsolete against the fast evolving Japanese Air Force and to decrease reliance on foreign imports.

Even though the XB-3 used parts from the Tupolev SB (engines, propellers, landing gears, and instrument panels) its fuselage and material composition was different from the soviet bomber. Instead of being all metal like the SB the XB-3's fuselage and wing spars were made out of wood and its skin was a special bamboo-based aircraft skin layer made by the Aeronautical Research Institute.

Three test flights were conducted with the first two being successful however on the third test flight on of the landing gears failed to extend and led to a crash landing, heavily damaging the plane and pilot. After this further research was halted and the project was shut down... however according to one source 3 more aircraft were made with one being fully competed and the project officially shut down in 1946.

Even if this project was successful by 1944 the XB-3 would have been practically obsolete and wouldn't have been the frontline medium bomber it was intended to be. Fortunately for the ROCAF B-25's filled in for the aging Tupolev SB fleet.

From Google translate:
It was a deep adaptation of the Soviet SB bomber. In addition to the aerodynamics refinement, Zhen Baoyuan (鄭葆源), the head of the third factory of Aircraft Manufacturing Company (AFMAF), and Tang Xunyi (唐 勳 貽), the chief designer of the factory design bureau, redesigned the internal design of the aircraft.
An all-metal machine in warring China was not affordable, so the wing consoles had a wooden set, and the skin was made of an innovative material based on bamboo. The armament of the machine was identified in three rifle machine guns. Development speed was ... not too highand the XB-3 reached flights only in 1944. In October 1943, the XB-3 was made, after which it was disassembled and delivered to the Taipingxi (太平 寺 机场) airfield in Chengdu, where in January 1944, it was assembled and prepared for test flights. At first, everything was not bad, the car ran smoothly on the ground, the first (in a circle) and second (with maneuvering) flights went well, but the third flight ended so-so. That is, the flight itself went fine - but when landing, the XB-3 had problems with the release of one of the landing gears. As a result, the plane struck the wing console on the ground, spun ...
The pilot survived, but the plane was no longer worth recovering. Again, the clone of the SB with the tightly outdated pre-war M103 engines in 1944 looked completely hopelessly outdated. Moreover, the United States had already driven to this moment modern-day B-25 Lend-Lease bombers, that is, free of charge, to China. According to some reports, the stewardess XB-3 was dug up and dug up almost until 1947, but this is unlikely.