The first BZ-38 tankers were a derivative of the GAZ-AAA truck and initial conversion was first seen in 1938. This refuelling truck was the basic transport and refuelling machine of the soviet air force for much of the war. It was used to refuel most of the fighter aircraft, scout-airplanes with smaller fuel needs as this was not a large truck. The truck weighed 4 tons with a maximum speed 65km/h. With 1942 the soviet forces began manufacture of the simplified variant, which has called the BZ-38U.
