Air Vectors: Petlyakov Pe-2
Greg Goebel
The Petlyakov Pe-2
*v1.0 / 01 june 97 / greg goebel (g...@lvld.hp.com) / public domain*
* The Petlyakov Pe-2 was a fast, twin-engined light bomber used extensively
by the Soviets in their war against Hitler. This document outlines the
origins and history of the Pe-2.
* Contents:
[1.0] ORIGINS: THE VI-100 / PB-100
[2.0] PE-2 IN ACTION
[3.0] PE-2 VARIANTS
[4.0] CONCLUSIONS, STATISTICS, & SOURCES
[%%]
[1.0] ORIGINS: THE VI-100 / PB-100
* Vladimir Mikhailovich Petylakov had learned his trade as an aircraft
designer under the instruction of the Russian aviation pioneer N.E.
Zhukovskii, and from 1920 onward worked closely with fellow designer Andrei
Tupelov.
In the late 1930s, Petlyakov's design bureau was presented with a requirement
for a high-altitude bomber interceptor; Petlyakov and his engineers responded
with a design that featured twin engines, all-metal construction, and a
pressurized cabin for a crew of two. The new aircraft was designated VI-100,
for "Vysotnyi Istrebitel 100" ("High-Altitude Fighter 100"), and the initial
prototype was completed in early 1939.
The VI-100 was a very clean aircraft of conventional twin-engine design and a
twin tail; it was powered by twin Klimov M-105R liquid-cooled 12-cylinder vee
inline engines -- which were enhanced versions of the French Hispano-Suiza
12Y engine, built under license by the Soviets. The engines were to be
fitted with turbo-superchargers (though as it turned out they were never
actually added) and each provided 1,100 horsepower on take-off.
The VI-100 carried both a pilot and a gunner, each in separate cockpits
joined by a long, sealed canopy that provided excellent visibility (the
pressurization system was never actually completed); the crew got into the
aircraft using separate ventral (belly) hatches, which were equipped with
quick-release latches to make baling out easier. The fighter had four
20-millimeter cannon in the nose, while the gunner controlled a single
7.62-millimeter gun firing from the rear cockpit.
The VI-100 attained a speed of 530 KPH (320 MPH) at altitude; once fitted
with the turbosuperchargers it was expected to attain 620 KPH (385 MPH).
However, before this could take place, the high-altitude fighter requirement
was cancelled and Petlyakov was ordered to built a high-altitude light bomber
instead.
* Petlyakov's team quickly redesigned the VI-100 for this role, adding
provisions for carrying bombs and accomodations for a third crew member, a
bombardier/navigator. A ventral gun was also added.
However, no sooner had this redesign been put into motion than the word came
down from the top to give up on the high-altitude bomber design and convert
it to a dive bomber instead. High-altitude bombing was an unproven concept
at the time; only the Americans (with their much-ballyhood Norden bombsight)
were actually putting much effort into it. The Soviets, however, had proven
the value of dive-bombing in the Spanish Civil War.
The new prototype was known as the "Pikiruyuschii Bombardirovschik 100",
("Dive Bomber 100"), or PB-100. The Petlyakov design team finally dumped the
turbosuperchargers and cabin pressurization, added large slatted dive brakes
outboard of the engines, and simplified the cockpit layout; the
bombardier/navigator was given control of the dorsal gun while the radio
operator/gunner controlled the ventral gun.
The first flight of the PB-100 was on 22 December, 1939. Test flights
demonstrated the aircraft was an excellent dive bomber and quite rugged,
although it had a high landing speed, tended to bounce on touch-down, and
was prone to stalls or spins if not treated with respect. The aircraft's
high speed -- 540 KPH at 5,000 meters (335 MPH at 16,400 feet) -- more than
made up for these vices.
Following these recommendations, the aircraft was put into production and two
rolled off the lines in 1940, with first deliveries to field units in August,
1940. It was given the operational designation Pe-2. Pilots and crew would
simply refer to it as the "Petlyakov", or the affectionate "Peshka" ("Pawn";
"Peshki" in the plural).
[%%]
[2.0] PE-2 IN ACTION
* Some 462 "Peshki" rolled off the production lines before the Nazi invasion
of the Soviet Union on 22 June, 1941. Early production Pe-2s appear to have
had a single hand-held 7.62-millimeter gun in the rear cockpit, with another
7.62-millimeter gun firing backwards from a tray in the belly; this ventral
gun was aimed with a periscopic sight, with eyelike portholes on either side
of the fuselage to give the gunner better visibility.
The Pe-2 also had two fixed forward-firing 7.62-millimeter guns, controlled
by the pilot. The nose had extensive glazed paneling to improve visibility
for the bombardier.
After the Nazi attack, the German Luftwaffe enjoyed almost complete air
superiority, shooting down thousands of Soviet aircraft for losses of
hundreds of their own. Most of the Red aircraft were obsolete types and easy
targets for the Luftwaffe's Messerschmitt 109 fighters; but Me-109E pilots
found the fast Pe-2s difficult to catch and destroy.
The British, with a new ally in the war against Hitler, sent a detachment of
Hawker Hurricane IIBs to Vianga, near Murmask, and flew top cover for a Pe-2
bombing mission on 24 September, 1941. The Hurricane pilots found they had
to stay at full throttle to keep up with the Petlyakovs.
As invading columns rolled into the Soviet Union, as much of the Red
industrial machine as could be dismantled was packed up and shipped off to
beyond the Urals; whatever could not be moved was destroyed. Despite the
chaos of the relocation, by the end of the year another 1,405 Pe-2s had been
rolled off the production line.
Soviet resistance through the summer and fall of 1941 was scattered and not
very effective; such Pe-2s as were available were not used to their fullest
potential, being used in intermittent bombing sorties and as improvised
night fighters -- with searchlights mounted under the wings used to pin down
Luftwaffe bombers for destruction by single-engine fighters.
When the Red Army finally rallied in December, 1941, Pe-2s began to make
their first significant strikes on the enemy; on 9 December, Pe-2s of the
23rd Bomber Air Division annihilated a retreating German troop convoy,
striking at the lead vehicles to block the road and then destroying the
rest.
* The Soviets endured further setbacks in the spring and summer of 1942; the
Pe-2 was able to make the Germans pay for their gains to an extent as Russian
pilots perfected tactics -- such as the "Vertushka" ("Carousel"), in which
the bombers circled, making successive dive attacks on targets inside the
circle. Tactics were devised to make the best use of fighter cover, with
fighters assigned to provide top cover while two or three followed the dive
bombers down to provide flanking protection.
Unfortunately for Red aviators, the Peshka began to lose its edge as the
Luftwaffe fielded their new and improved Bf-109F. Pe-2 crew cried up the
chain of command for help, and the State Defense Committee ordered the
Petlyakov design bureau to address the problem.
Vladimir Petlyakov was killed in an air crash in late 1942, ironically in a
Pe-2. He had been called to a meeting and preferred to ride in his own
creation, rather than a VIP transport; the aircraft flew into bad weather and
went down. He was replaced by A.I. Putilov.
In any case, by late 1942 the design bureau had come up with the needed
improvements, adding more crew armor and better defensive armament: the
7.62-millimeter dorsal and ventral guns were replaced by heavier
12.7-millimeter Beresin UBT guns. The hand-held dorsal gun position was
replaced by a turret, with an odd "weather-vane" fixture on top to negate
the effects of wind resistance when the turret was turned.
The updated Pe-2 was designated Pe-2FT, for "Frontovoye Trebovaniye" ("Front
Line Demand"). The new armament and armor suggested a slower Pe-2, but
various tweaks to obtain streamlining -- such as reducing the nose glazing to
bottom panels only -- and the introduction of the VK-105RF engine (with 1610
horsepower) in February, 1943 resulted in improved performance.
The improved Pe-2s would be used to good effect through the rest of the war:
through the end of the Stalingrad battle, the Kursk counteroffensive in the
spring of 1943, the Belorussian offensive in 1944, and the final drive on
Berlin in 1945.
Peshka pilots sometimes became proficient "snipers", capable of planting
bombs "down chimney stacks". Some of these pilots were women: squadrons led
by Captains Nadezhda Fudutenko, Klavdia Fumicheva, and Maria Dolina performed
vital service during the battle for Borisov in June, 1944.
By the end of the war, Pe-2 production had moved on to the Pe-2M, with a
bigger bomb bay and external bomb racks to give it a maximum bombload of 3
tonnes, plus further streamlining. Production of the Pe-2 trailed off after
the war; some Peshki were used as trainers and for test purposes in the
postwar period, but in the main it had already done its duty.
[%%]
[3.0] PE-2 VARIANTS
* Although the Pe-2 was specifically designed as a dive bomber, it was also
used in a wide variety of other roles -- so much so that it has been compared
to the British Mosquito and the German Junkers 88, which were also noted for
their flexibility.
The Pe-2 had its origins in a fighter design, the VI-100, and would evolve
back into fighters during its lifetime. The Pe-3 general-purpose fighter was
derived from early production Pe-2 dive bomber and also powered by the Klimov
M-105R. Like the early Pe-2s, it also had defensive armament of
12.7-millimeter machine guns, one each in the dorsal and (except for early
pe-3s) ventral positions, but the forward-firing armament was increased to
twin 20-millimeter ShVAK cannon and two 12.7-millimeter machine guns; the
Pe-3 could also carry bombs and rockets. The dive brakes were discarded and
other minor streamlining was incorporated.
Only a little over 300 Pe-3s were built, but they served with both the Red
Air Force and Navy.
The introduction of the Klimov VK-107A engine (with 1650 HP) led to a fast
interceptor design, the Pe-2I (where "I" stood for "istrebitel" --
"interceptor"); this variant was capable of 657 KPH (408 MPH) and replaced
the twin 20-millimeter forward-firing guns with twin 23-millimeter guns.
Only a handful of Pe-2Is were built.
A single prototype of a pressurized high-altitude interceptor ("vysotny
istrebitel") was flown in 1944; the Pe-2VI was highly streamlined and deleted
the defensive armament. Forward-firing armament was four 20-millimeter guns.
There was no production because Luftwaffe high-altitude activities declined
in the last year of the war.
The speedy Peshka was also useful as a photo-reconnaissance platform. The
Pe-2R (where the "R" stood for "razvedchik", or "reconnaissance") carried
three cameras and an AK-1 autopilot system for maintaining straight-and-level
flight over the target. It was also fitted with additional fuel tanks.
The Pe-2UT was an advanced trainer variant, with duplicate cockpits and
controls.
Finally, a number of Pe-2s (as mentioned in the previous section) were used
as test platforms during and after the war, including evaluations of ramjets,
liquid-fuel rockets (one experiment along this line involving Sergey Korolev,
who would become the "chief rocket designer" of the Soviet space program),
and ejection-seat tests.
[%%]
[4.0] CONCLUSIONS, STATISTICS, & SOURCES
* The official figure for the number of Pe-2s completed was 11,426, and at
their height comprised 75% of all Soviet twin-engined bombers in operation.
One interesting detail concerning the Pe-2 was its use of the AG-2 aerial
grenade; this weapon was ejected by the Pe-2 to explode about 80 meters (260
feet) behind the aircraft and scatter shrapnel in the path of a pursuer. The
Soviets claimed that about 1 out of every 5 aerial kills obtained by the Pe-2
were obtained with this weapon.
* Specs follow for the Pe-2I:
_____________________ _________________ ___________________
spec metric english
_____________________ _________________ ___________________
wingspan 17.16 meters 56 feet 3.5 inches
length 12.66 meters 41 feet 6.5 inches
height 4 meters 13 feet 1.5 inches
empty weight 5,870 kilograms 12,943 pounds
max loaded weight 8,496 kilograms 18,730 pounds
maximum speed 540 KPH 335 MPH
service ceiling 8,800 meters 28,900 feet
range 1,500 kilometers 932 miles
_____________________ _________________ ___________________
There were not many sources available to me on this aircraft, despite its
importance:
% THE PETLYAKOV PE-2 AND VARIANTS, by Malcolm Passingham and
Waclaw Klepacki, PROFILE PUBLICATIONS.
% AIRCRAFT OF WORLD WAR II, by Bill Gunston, CRESCENT BOOKS, 1980.
I was not sure that the uncertainties I had in the text above were really due
to the sparse sources, however. It appears that assignment of revision
numbers to aircraft variants was only weakly followed by the Soviets during
the war, and there was a tendency to informally tweak production, sometimes
in several directions simultaneously -- absolutely infuriating practices to
anyone who's ever worked in a manufacturing organization and had to provide
support and service on complicated machines.
Coupled with the old Soviet tendency towards paranoid secrecy, trying to
reconstruct the history of Soviet aircraft appears to be a formidable task
even for someone with much greater resources than myself.
[<>]
Greg Goebel
GIF illustration of Pe-2m:
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y.chi...@popmail.csuohio.edu
In article <5nein8$bi...@hpcc883.corp.hp.com>,
g...@lvld.hp.com (Greg Goebel) wrote:
> Peshka pilots sometimes became proficient "snipers", capable of planting
> bombs "down chimney stacks". Some of these pilots were women: squadrons led
> by Captains Nadezhda Fudutenko, Klavdia Fumicheva, and Maria Dolina performed
> vital service during the battle for Borisov in June, 1944.
That my hometown Borisov in Belarus. A lot of Germans got their killed
there and those women did exelent job demoliting the city and killing the
Germans. Unfortunatly it was to late for crew of T-34 tank under comand
of Pavel Rak that fought a lone in the German held city for 24 hours
until burning a live by Germans in the own tank, when ammo and fuel run
out. In the same fasion Napoleon had sufered serious defeat 140 years
before that while geting over the Berezina river few milles south of
Borisov. Napoleon run so fast, that he forgot his shoose.
> The Pe-2 had its origins in a fighter design, the VI-100, and would evolve
> back into fighters during its lifetime. The Pe-3 general-purpose fighter was
> derived from early production Pe-2 dive bomber and also powered by the Klimov
> M-105R. Like the early Pe-2s, it also had defensive armament of
> 12.7-millimeter machine guns, one each in the dorsal and (except for early
> pe-3s) ventral positions, but the forward-firing armament was increased to
> twin 20-millimeter ShVAK cannon and two 12.7-millimeter machine guns; the
> Pe-3 could also carry bombs and rockets. The dive brakes were discarded and
> other minor streamlining was incorporated.
>
> Only a little over 300 Pe-3s were built, but they served with both the Red
> Air Force and Navy.
The main mission of the Pe-3 was fighting, it was mean to be large two
engine fighter with some bombing capobilities. Interesting story about
Pe-3. The first of two prototypes of the Pe-3 had been shoot down by the
German fighter deep inside the Russian North. It was descovered only 45
years later. But when the distance to the closest German air base
calculated it shows that no way Geraman fighter could do that. But latter
Russians found secret German air base deep inside the Russia. At this
time Russian North was so uninhabitable that Germans had air base there,
and it was descovered only 50 years later.
> Coupled with the old Soviet tendency towards paranoid secrecy, trying to
> reconstruct the history of Soviet aircraft appears to be a formidable task
> even for someone with much greater resources than myself.
That true. I hope with some democracy in today's Russia, they would get
info from the old archives. Russians have all the info, they never throw
anything away, even documents about their crimes. I think they need
somebody who would have money to publish all information, I'm sure they
would.
Interesting story over all. This is what rec.aviation.military should be
about.
Yevgeniy Chizhikov.
-------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Post to Usenet
Eric Ginzburg
One of many air operations where Pe-2s were involved was sinking German
warship "Niobe" (classified by VVS as "AAA cruiser") in a Finnish port in
1944 . About 150 AC were put into action including fighters for sweeping
and escorting, IL-2s for AAA suppression, Pe-2s for dive bombing and
american-made A-20s for low-level skim bombing.
Pe-2s scored a few hits [with 500kg bombs?] and then A-20s finished Niobe
off with a couple of [I think] 2-ton bombs.
Maybe our Finnish readers would give us more info about the operation?
Best regards, Eric.
Wilhelm Wirén
AA cruiser "Niobe" (ex-Dutch cruiser "Gelderland") was apparently
targeted because it was mistaken for the Finnish coastal battleship
"Väinämöinen" of similar tonnage (3900 tons). The Red Banner Baltic
Fleet air force unsuccesfully tried to sink "Väinämöinen" throughout the
war.
Niobe was attacked in the Kotka harbour on 16 July 1944. The
participating aircraft were 28 Pe-2s, 4 A-20C Havocs, 23 Il-2s, 30
Jak-9s, 24 LaGG-3s, 16 La-5s and 6 Yak-9s. The total of 131 aircraft was
the highest number the Baltic Fleet used against a single target during
the war.
The initial attack was conducted by the Il-2s followed by three waves of
Pe-2 dive-bombers. The last Pe-2 wave made a mock attack to allow the
Havocs to attack during the diversion. "Niobe" was hit twice by the
Pe-2s and then sustained two hits below the waterline from 1000kg
FAB-1000 bombs carried by the Havocs which caused the ship to sink
rapidly.
The German casualties were 60 killed and 100 wounded. The Soviet sources
admit losing 2 Havocs with 2 Havocs, 1 Pe-2 and 1 Il-2 hit. The Finns
claimed 6 aircraft shot down of which 4 were eventually confirmed.
After the raid Lt.Col. Ponomarenko, Lt.Col. Pavlov, Capt. Tikhomirov
(KIA) and Lt.Col. Rakov were made Hero of the Soviet Union. Rakov, the
commander of the mission, received the HSU award for the second time. He
had received his first HSU during the Russo-Finnish Winter War on 7
February 1940, when he was a Captain commanding 57 BAP.
Wilhelm Wirén
Alexei Doubinski
Yama <tj...@raita.oulu.fi> wrote:
>Greg Goebel wrote:
>> The first flight of the PB-100 was on 22 December, 1939. Test flights
>> demonstrated the aircraft was an excellent dive bomber and quite rugged,
>> although it had a high landing speed, tended to bounce on touch-down, and
>> was prone to stalls or spins if not treated with respect. The aircraft's
>> high speed -- 540 KPH at 5,000 meters (335 MPH at 16,400 feet) -- more than
>> made up for these vices.
>I've seen Finnish test pilot report about Pe-2 (we had few). It states
>that Pe wasn't very agile aircraft, and as a dive-bomber it was rather
>mediocre (after all it wasn't originally designed to be one), being
>somewhat difficult to control in dives. It's speed was reported to
>480-500kmh, however it's likely that Finnish planes weren't at very good
>condition, being war-booty. It's technical equipment was good, being
>second only to Ju-88.
You are correct about Pe-2 fighter heritage. Later in the war it was
retrofitted with better dive-breakes and automatic dive-recovering
device, because pilots tended to blackout after the speed-dive.
Interesting is that this device was invented by a schoolboy who later
became known as one of the Russian top speed-boat designers, Mr
Alekseyev.
Chris Manteuffel
Chris Manteuffel
Yama
Chris Manteuffel wrote:
>
> Yama <tj...@raita.oulu.fi> wrote:
> > It's technical equipment was good, being
> >second only to Ju-88.
> In terms of what? Radar? MGs?
Terrain-avoiding radar, ECM/RWR gear, ALCM capability, FBW
[just kidding]
Actually stuff like autopilot, radio-navigation and
blind-flying/landing-equipment. Both planes had dive-automatic which
pulled the plane back to level flight from dive. Btw Pe-2 used lots of
electric engines to operate it's control surfaces and radiators, so it
really was an FBW plane:)