Tupolev ANT-10

The Tupolev ANT-10 was a prototype single-engined light bomber/reconnaissance aircraft of the 1930s. Only a single example was built, the Polikarpov R-5 being preferred.

Development and design

In 1928, the design bureau led by Nikolai Nikolaevich Polikarpov produced the R-5 to replace the R-1, an unlicensed copy of the Airco DH.9A, which was the Soviet Union's standard light reconnaissance aircraft/bomber. As a response, the design bureau led by Andrei Tupolev produced a rival replacement for the R-1, based on Tupolev's earlier Tupolev R-3. Like the R-3, the new design, the ANT-10 was a single-engined sesquiplane with a duralumin structure, but with a much larger upper wing. Like the R-5, it was powered by an imported BMW VI engine. It could carry 500 kg of bombs in an internal bomb-bay.
The ANT-10 made its first flight on 30 January 1930, but its performance was little better than the R-5, while the R-5's wooden structure was advantageous at a time of metal shortages. The type was therefore abandoned later in the year in favour of the R-5.