Of some relevance to this blog Sabre Kits have just released the 1/72 ICM Tupolev Tu-2 in a limited edition of 100 kits featuring post-war decals for China's PLAAF in 1952, an Indonesian example from the early 1960s and a North Korean aircraft from the 1950s. The kit retails at £22.50 from Hannant's in the UK and contains a 3D printed four bladed propeller for the Chinese and Indonesian subjects.
In 1949 the Soviet Union had supplied China with 40 Tu-2 bombers, sending 120 personnel to each bomber school. In 1958 the PLAAF requested an additional 198 Tu-2 bombers. The Tu-2 saw service during China's intervention in the Korean War equipping two bomber division. The PLAAF 10th Division were trained in night flying by a RoCAF B-24 pilot Liu Shanben who had defected to the communists in 1946. But it was the 8th Division which embarked on the first daylight bombing raid on Taehwa-do Island on 6 November 1951 when six Tu-2's sortied from Yuhongtun led by Han Ming-yang and escorted by 16 La-11 fighters with 24 MiG-15s conducting covering sorties to prevent UN interceptions from the south. The second daylight raid on the island by the 8th Division, led by Gao Yue-ming on 30 November with nine Tu-2's, proved disastrous. Reaching the rendezvous location too early and missing the planned MiG-15 cover, they ran into 24 F-86's of the 4th FW, prepped for a repeated performance by the PLAAF. After losing two aircraft in the rearmost vee of his formation Gao continued towards the target, pulling it in a tighter formation and relying on his gunners and the close escort of 16 La-11s. They were harried by the F-86's all the way, with the La-11s engaged in attempted defence too. La-11 pilot Wang Tian-bao claimed destruction of an F-86 in the slashing dogfights between jet and piston and although no Sabres were reported lost a 335th aircraft did return with severe damage to its left wing and rear fuselage from Wang's La-11, with a cannon shell striking the pilot's headrest rendering him temporarily unconscious and putting the Sabre into a spin which Wang believed to be fatal. Despite five of the remaining Tu-2 bombers being damaged during the F-86 attacks Gao pressed on and his formation dropped their bombs on Taehwa-do, albeit prematurely and without results. Four Tu-2's were lost on the mission with only a single navigator surviving from those, but the F-86 pilots claimed eight bombers destroyed from a reported formation of 12. Gao survived but the PLAAF mounted no more daylight bombing raids.
Details of the PLAAF Tu-2 raids in November 1951 are from 'Red Wings Over The Yalu - China, the Soviet Union, and the Air War in Korea' by Xiaoming Zhang, published by Texas A & M University Press in 2002, a fascinating, detailed account and highly recommended.
Image credit: © 2024 Sabre Kits via Hannant's.