Petlyakov Pe-2

The Petlyakov Pe-2 (Cyrillic: Петляков Пе-2), nicknamed Peshka (Пешка - "Pawn") was a Soviet medium bomber aircraft used during World War II. It was fast and maneuverable yet durable, and was manufactured in large numbers. Several Communist nations flew the type after the war, when it became known by the NATO reporting name Buck. The Finnish Air Force serial code was PE- and unofficial nickname Pekka-Eemeli.

The Pe-2 was designed in a sharashka after Vladimir Petlyakov had been arrested and imprisoned in 1937 for allegedly deliberately delaying design work on the Tupolev ANT-42 bomber. In the sharashka, Petlyakov was put in charge of a team to develop a high-altitude fighter escort for the ANT-42 under the designation VI-100. The first of two prototypes flew on December 22 1939 and was a very sophisticated aircraft for its time, featuring a pressurised cabin, all-metal construction, superchargers and many electrically-actuated systems. The prototypes proved so pleasing that production was ordered almost immediately. It is said that Petlyakov and his team could see the VI-100 prototype from their prison as it was put through its paces for the crowds watching the annual May Day parade in 1940. Some early sources say the Pe-2 is based on the Potez 63. This does not seem to be the case.

Just as production was ready to begin, the air force ordered a re-design of the aircraft. The value of tactical bombing had just been displayed by the Luftwaffe in the Blitzkrieg, and the need for such an aircraft suddenly became much more important than the need for a high-altitude escort fighter. Petlyakov's team was given 45 days to redesign their aircraft as a dive bomber. The cabin pressurisation and superchargers were deleted, and dive brakes and a position for a bombardier were added, among a number of aerodynamic refinements. A fuselage bomb-bay was added, along with smaller bays in each engine nacelle. Initially designated PB-100, Stalin was impressed enough with Petlyakov to free him, and his name was permitted to be used in the aircraft's designation. The first aircraft flew on December 15 1940, rushed through production without a prototype under severe threats from Stalin if a Pe-2 did not fly by the end of the year. Deliveries to combat units began the following Spring.

The aircraft did not really show its true potential until the end of the year, after the Soviet Air Force had a chance to regroup after the German onslaught during the Winter. The Pe-2 quickly proved itself to be a highly capable aircraft, capable of eluding the Luftwaffe's interceptors and allowing their crews to develop great accuracy with their bombing. Throughout 1942 the design was steadily refined and improved, in direct consultation with pilots who were actually flying them in combat. The product of this evolutionary development was the Pe-2FT variant, where FT stands for Frontovoe Trebovanie(Frontline Request).

A large number of minor variants were also developed, including a dedicated trainer version (Pe-2UTI), a heavily-armed version (Pe-2M) and a rocket-boosted version (Pe-2K). A fighter version (Pe-2I) and radial-engined version (Pe-2K) were put into limited production as the Pe-3 and Pe-4 respectively.

Air forces that continued to fly the Pe-2 after the war included those of Czechoslovakia, China, Poland, and Yugoslavia. In total, around 11,000 were built.

While the Pe-2 general featured favorable flying characteristics when airborne, it took a good amount of force to pull the elevators up to get the plane rotated off the runway during takeoff. Russian night bombing missions often flew with female pilots and some of the women pilots were not strong enough to get the airplane airborne by themselves. When such a situation occurred, the procedure was to have one of the crew get behind the pilot's seat and wrap her arms around the control wheel and help the pilot force the wheel back. Once the aircraft was airborne, the crew returned to her duties and the pilot continued to fly the plane without assistance.

Operators

* World War 2 - Finland, Soviet Union,
* Post-war - China, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Soviet Union, Yugoslavia.

Specifications (Petlyakov Pe-2)

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