One of two Tupolev Tu-4s at the museum. With the original piston engines replaced by four Ivchenko AI-20K turboprops, this version was used as a drone carrier. In more recent years it has been displayed with a WZ-5 reconnaissance drone under each wing

A gift from Stalin in 1953 and refitted with turboprops between 1970 and 1973. The last PLAAF Tu-4 was retired in 1988. The red thing hanging undeneath the wing is a WZ-5 reconnaissance drone, which entered service in 1981.

Tupolev developed the Tu-2 from Boeing B-29 WW2 bombers, of which one is seen here with RPV/drones under its wings

By the end of WW2 several Boeing B-29s had to divert to Vladivostok during combat actions against Japan; they were never returned by the Russians. Instead Tupolev developed the Tu-4, which is seen here in an AEW version

Obviously a Chinese derivative of the B-29 but note that turboprop engines have replaced the piston originals.

The Tu-4 was an unauthorized copy of the B-29 Superfortress.

This was one of the relatively few aircraft at Datangshan for which it was easy to get a nice side on shot. Nevertheless, I picked this one out as it shows off nicely the unusual lines of this magnificent aircraft. Note turboprops have replaced the piston engines present on the B-29 original.

Toward the end of WWII, the Soviet Union saw the need for, but lacked completely, a strategic bombing capability similar to that of the USAAF. On four occasions during 1944, B-29s made emergency landings in Soviet territory after bombing Japan. Three repairable B-29s were flown to Moscow and delivered to the Tupolev OKB enabling reverse-engineered copies to be produced in less than two years. This example is on display at the Central Museum of the Air Forces at Monino.

There are two of these extraordinary turboprop conversions of the Russian-built B-29 at Datangshan, one an AEW variant and this drone carrier. The engines were the Ivchenko AI-20, as used in the Il-18