The Polikarpov NB (''Nochnoi Bombardirovshchik''—Night Bomber) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

twin-engined bomber designed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Only a single prototype had been built before the program was terminated upon the death of

Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov (russian: Никола́й Никола́евич Полика́рпов; – 30 July 1944) was a Soviet aeronautical engineer and aircraft designer, known as the "King of Fighters". He designed the I-15 series o ...

, the head of the aircraft's design bureau, in 1944.

Development

The origins of the NB program are obscure, but design work began during the winter of 1941–42 with the

OKB OKB is a transliteration of the Russian initials of "" – , meaning 'experiment and design bureau'. During the Soviet era, OKBs were closed institutions working on design and prototyping of advanced technology, usually for military applications. ...

designation of aircraft T. The NB was a high-winged, twin-engined,

twin tail A twin tail is a specific type of vertical stabilizer arrangement found on the empennage of some aircraft. Two vertical stabilizers—often smaller on their own than a single conventional tail would be—are mounted at the outside of the aircra ...

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

of mixed construction. The fuselage was built of 'shpon', molded birch plywood, thick and was reinforced with a welded steel tube framework and a network of bracing wires in the midsection around the aperture for the wing and the capacious bomb bay. The single-

spar SPAR, originally DESPAR, styled as DE SPAR, is a Dutch multinational that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well ...

wing was built from a mix of steel and

duralumin Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium, duralum, dural(l)ium, or dural) is a trade name for one of the earliest types of age-hardenable aluminium alloys. The term is a combination of ''Dürener'' and ''aluminium''. Its use as a tra ...

. The center section had a duralumin skin, but the outer panels were skinned in 'shpon'. The duralumin slotted

flap Flap may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Flap'' (film), a 1970 American film * Flap, a boss character in the arcade game '' Gaiapolis'' * Flap, a minor character in the film '' Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland'' Biology and h ...

s were electrically powered and ran the length of the wing center section, divided by the engine nacelles. Automatic

leading edge slat Slats are aerodynamic surfaces on the leading edge of the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft which, when deployed, allow the wing to operate at a higher angle of attack. A higher coefficient of lift is produced as a result of angle of attack and speed ...

s were mounted on the outer panels. All control surfaces were built from wood and covered in fabric. The

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplan ...

had 7° dihedral with twin fins. It had a duralumin structure and was covered in 'shpon'. The main gears of the conventional undercarriage retracted aft into the rear of the engine nacelles and the tail wheel retracted into the rear fuselage. Six protected fuel tanks were in the wing center section, plus four more in the outer wings. They had a total capacity of (including oil). Two air-cooled

Shvetsov ASh-82 The Shvetsov ASh-82 (M-82) is a Soviet 14-cylinder, two-row, air-cooled radial aircraft engine developed from the Shvetsov M-62. The M-62 was the result of development of the M-25, which was a licensed version of the Wright R-1820 Cyclone. D ...

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ...

s were slung underneath the wings.Gunston, pp. 311–12 Alternative engines considered were the

Mikulin AM-39 The Mikulin AM-39 was a 1940s Soviet aircraft piston engine. Representing a high-output version of the AM-35A, AM-39 was used on the Mikoyan-Gurevich I-220 and Polikarpov ITP fighters, and the Tupolev SDB Tupolev (russian: Ту́полев, ...

V-12 and the

Shvetsov M-71 The Shvetsov M-71 was a Soviet radial engine built in small numbers during World War II. It was derived from the Shvetsov M-25, which was a license-built copy of the American Wright R-1820-F3 Cyclone engine. Development The M-71 was developed ...

radial, but development problems with both engines dropped them from consideration.Gordon, p. 283 The bombardier was given an extensively glazed position in the nose which also had a fixed

Berezin UB The Berezin UB (russian: УБ - Универсальный Березина) (''Berezin's Universal'') was a 12.7 mm caliber Soviet aircraft machine gun widely used during World War II. Development In 1937, Mikhail Yevgenyevich Berezin began ...

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifl ...

for which the pilot had a

reflector sight A reflector sight or reflex sight is an optical sight that allows the user to look through a partially reflecting glass element and see an illuminated projection of an aiming point or some other image superimposed on the field of view. These sigh ...

. The dorsal gunner had a UBT machine gun in a turret while the ventral gunner fired another UB through a hatch. The bomb bay could carry up to internally and an additional of bombs could be carried underneath the wings. The NB made its first flight on 23 May 1944 and completed its manufacturer's flight tests in August. Its performance promised to be outstanding, but Polikarpov's death a month earlier caused his design bureau to be shut down and all his projects were terminated.Gunston, p. 312

Specifications

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Gordon, Yefim. ''Soviet Airpower in World War 2''. Hinckley, England: Midland Publishing, 2008. . * Gunston, Bill. ''The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft 1875–1995''. London: Osprey, 1995. .

External links

NB (Т)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polikarpov Nb NB 1940s Soviet bomber aircraft World War II Soviet medium bombers Abandoned military aircraft projects of the Soviet Union High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1944 Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft