SpyTHINK 056: Russia's FLYING TANKS--World's 1st Combat AirDrop of Tanks
Russia's FLYING TANKS: Mysterious 4-engined "B-17" Bomber/Transport Equivalent Could Fly All the Way to America!
NEW! 007 Indiana Jones Adventure: FAST GETAWAY
https://jamesbondisreal.blogspot.com/2021/05/007-indiana-jones-fast-getway.html
World's 1st Combat AirDrop of Tanks & Bikes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_A-40
Instead
of loading light tanks onto gliders, as other nations had done, Soviet airborne
forces had strapped T-27 tankettes underneath heavy bombers and landed them on
airfields. In the 1930s, there were experimental efforts to parachute tanks or
simply drop them into water. During the 1940 occupation of Bessarabia, light
tanks may have been dropped from a few meters up by TB-3 bombers, which, as
long as the gearbox was in neutral, would allow them to roll to a stop.
Russian Containerized ParaBikes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbZ8V8MkulE
https://www.amazon.com/Red-Assault-Soviet-Airborne-1930-1941/dp/1912390795
In the
1930s Red Army Command maintained what was often an offensive doctrine.
The plan was to fight a bloodless victory on foreign ground. An offensive by
the Worker's and Peasant's Red Army was to unfold as per the classic Blitzkrieg
- it was with good reason that some of the higher-ranking commanders had
studied at the German General Headquarters Academy. Furthermore all the
technical achievements of the period were taken into account. The assault would
begin with air strikes from strategic aviation: armadas of huge bombers would
attack key targets deep inside enemy territory. At the same time enormous
numbers of airborne troops would be dropped behind enemy lines, armed with a
range of equipment. These airborne troops would capture bridges, and roads, and
take communications, and transport links out of action. Heralded by a
powerful artillery attack, supported by tactical aviation the tanks, armored
vehicles, and trucks carrying motorized infantry would advance.
Russian SEL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0pWAoMxC4I
There was
a basis for such optimistic forecasts. Since the Soviets were in possession of
such a quantitative, and qualitative advantage (and this was certainly the
case) they were definitely able to advance. In the USSR aviation was undergoing
development ahead of schedule, as were armored tank technology, airborne
assault troops, and chemical weapons. If the Soviets had tanks, aircraft,
and chemical weapons, albeit in small quantities, any potential enemies would
possess them too. The airborne assault troops however were a distinctly Soviet
innovation. In this respect it was the Soviets that held an unquestionable
advantage. It was here that the first groups of airborne Paratroopers were
dropped, and the first tanks and guns were dropped from the skies. The Red Army
was conducting mass airborne assault operations during the course of exercises
when no other nation on Earth had airborne assault troops.
In other field’s Soviet military science and technology in many cases copied existing Western achievements. Licenses were obtained, or examples of foreign materiel were simply copied. As far as the airborne troops were concerned the Soviet military, and the designers were in un-chartered territory, having come up with a number of innovative solutions, which were later adopted by the armed forces of other nations.
In this
book the armament, equipment, and military hardware developed for airborne
troops is described, both in terms of the actual technology, and the clearly
fantastical, which only reflected the unrestrained imagination of the
designers. A significant amount of attention is devoted to the aircraft, from
which it was planned airborne troops would be dropped. The exercises that saw
airborne troop drops are described, as well as the role airborne troops played
in actual operations in the period up to 1941.
This book
has been written on the basis of a number of documents that the author has
discovered in the archives, and in museum collections. This work draws upon the
memoirs of the pioneer military Paratroopers in the USSR, some of which have
never been published before.
****
It's highly likely the Russian VDV also dropped T-37A and/or T-41 amphibious light recce tanks in its 1945 Manchurian Campaign against the Japanese at WW2's end...
Soviet
planners recognized that, despite the non-aggression pact, German rhetoric
about lebensraum and untermenschen was fundamentally
incompatible with a lengthy peaceful coexistence with Hitler’s Germany. On
the Asian continent, the rising Japanese empire found its war with Chinese
forces in Manchuria and China an opportunity to test its own aircraft and their
ability to support incursions by the ground forces. French or British terror
bombing of Arab or African villagers proved a poor test of newly-developed
doctrine, and it was not until the Spanish Civil War that the belligerents had
the opportunity to try their new ideas and equipment against a first-rate
power.
The Spanish
Civil War would not even have been possible without developments in tactical
airlift, as German Ju-52 transport aircraft airlifted Gen. Francisco Franco’s
nationalist forces from Spanish Morocco across the Mediterranean into Spain,
enabling them to confront the existing Republican government, which turned to
the Soviet Union for assistance.
****
Diesel piston engines gave the Pe-8 Long Range & Fire Safety: a Good Idea for Today's Air/Ground Vehicles...
Soviet
Foreign Minister Molotov (the one the fire bomb is named after) flew from
Moscow to London to meet secretly with U.K. PM Churchill...then ACROSS THE
ATLANTIC to meet with POTUS FDR in 1942 during WW2!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petlyakov_Pe-8
This was
a test run for a flight carrying Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov and his
delegation from Moscow to London and then to Washington, D.C. and back, for negotiations
to open a second front against Nazi Germany (19 May–13 June 1942). The
flight crossed German-controlled airspace on the return trip without
incident.[23]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDWAStFxRHo
Wow.
Good
thing Russia was now our ally--and didn't have an atomic bomb to drop on New
York City...
https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2015/12/21/petlyakov-pe-8-tb-7-part-i/
The TB-7
bomber is perhaps one of the few Soviet warplanes built before the war whose
history clearly reflects all the distinctive features of aircraft development
under the onerous totalitarian Soviet regime of the 1930s and 1940s. The fact
that even its designation changed twice (from ANT-42 to TB-7 and then Pe-8)
gives food for thought, not to mention that it was twice withdrawn from
production.
Preparation
for series production had begun as early as 1937, but was not completed until
1939. It was a long time before a plant was found to build the supercharger
units, and this caused great anxiety. When series production started, Plant No.
124 obtained ATsNs for the first four aircraft only, and the TsIAM refused to
manufacture any more. This was a sad blow, as without the ATsN the bomber’s
service ceiling was greatly reduced, along with other performance parameters.
The advisability of TB-7 production became questionable.
Delivery
problems with the AM-34FRNV main engines arose in the second half of 1939, and
TB-7 production was halted. The plant had managed to complete only the first
two production bombers, and several more were in various stages of
construction. Only two of these featured the ATsN superchargers.
At the
beginning of 1940 the People’s Commissariat of the Aircraft Industry (Aviaprom)
gave aircraft Plant No. 124 directions and construction of the TB-7 was finally
halted, but the Aviaprom authorities realised the need to supply the WS with
the new bombers. At the same time a number of aero-engine design bureaux
proposed alternative powerplants for the TB-7.
The
newly-appointed director of aircraft Plant No. 124, Mikhail Kaganovich, brother
of Lazar Kaganovich, one of Stalin’s high-ranking officials, also paid great
attention to the bomber, and obtained enough of the new 1,200hp (895kW) AM-35A
engines to equip the six aircraft then under construction. At the same time a
powerplant using- Aleksei Dmitriyevich Charomskii’s M-30 and M-40 diesel
engines was designed.
In the
spring of 1941 the first TB-7 powered by M-40s, with a nominal power of 1,000hp
(746kW) and a take-off power of 1,500hp (1, 119kW) was rolled out. Kaganovich
invited Georgy Baydukov, well-known throughout the USSR as a crew member on
Valery Chkalov’s record-breaking long range flights, to act as its test
pilot.
Simultaneously
another aircraft powered by M-30s, subsequently redesignated ACh30B after
Charomskii, was constructed. The M-30 and M-40 were essentially the same, but
differed in turbo-supercharger dimensions and number. However, in the process
of running the diesels it was found that they were unreliable. They were
liable to cut out at high altitude because the manually-controlled fuel feed
depended on a certain rate of revolutions per minute being maintained, and they
could only be restarted at about 1,500m. The M-30 was more reliable in this
respect because it had a centrifugal supercharger.
By the
end of 1940 Plant No. 124 had completed 18 aircraft and delivered them to the
WS, despite constant production stoppages. After the outbreak of war the plant
began production of Pe-2s, which drew heavily on the factory’s resources, but
TB-7 production continued. Complicated and skilful work was undertaken to
insure the aircraft’s efficiency. In August 1941 TB-7 formations were organised,
one of them led by the well-known Arctic flyer M Vodopyanov. On 9th August the first
air raid by these bombers was made on Berlin.
Most of
the TB-7s built in 1942 had AM-35As, which were considered more reliable, but
engine deliveries suffered frequent hold-ups. It was therefore proposed that
Shvetsov designed 1,850hp (1 ,380kW) air-cooled M-82s be fitted, though their
installation posed problems because wing and engine nacelles needed to be
reconstructed and complicated exhaust collectors had to be fitted.
Nevertheless, these more powerful engines were installed, and were provided
with’ two-speed superchargers to increase their altitude capability. At first
the M-82s ran irregularly because of the turbo-superchargers, but this problem
was later eliminated. Adoption of the M-82 meant that Plant No. 124 was not
short of engines in 1943, and steady production began. In the middle of the war
the bomber was redesignated Pe-8 in acknowledgement of Vladimir Petlyakov, who
led the team that designed it. He later became leader of the design collective.
The bomber’s development was controlled by the chief designer at Plant No. 124,
Joseph Nezval, one of A Tupolev’s best assistants, who had taken a most active
part in its design.
Production of the M-82-powered Pe-8 continued in 1944. It was believed at the plant that the versions with M-30s and M-40s would no longer be built, but another four aircraft were constructed with modified M-30s. However, the performance was not greatly improved.
With a
4,4091b (2,000kg) bomb load and full fuel tanks the Pe-8 powered by AM-35As had
a maximum range of 2,236 miles (3,600km). With M-30 or M-40s its range
increased to 3,392 miles (5,460km), and with M-82s it was 3,604 miles
(5,800km). Most production TB-7s (Pe-8s) had AM-35As, which were the most
reliable. Unlike the first prototypes, aircraft powered by M-30s, M-40s,
AM-35As and M-82s had no ATsN to enhance their altitude capabilities. In total,
93 aircraft were built (96 according to some sources).
Practically
all of the available TB-7 heavy bombers were delivered to the 14th Heavy Bomber
Air Regiment, which was non-operational at the beginning of the war. Most of
its four-engined giants were awaiting planned modernisation of their engines
and replacement of their defensive armament.
https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2015/12/21/petlyakov-pe-8-tb-7-part-ii/
A week
after the outbreak of war, Stalin took an interest in the status of this unique
WS unit. He summoned to the Kremlin the regiment’s commander,
Colonel Novodranov, and Colonel Lebedev of the NII WS, who was responsible for
refining the TB-7. The leader, who had repeatedly raised objections against
production of the aircraft, regarded the four-engined bomber as a retribution
weapon, even if only symbolically, but it was ideal for striking blows against
targets deep in the enemy’s rear. On Stalin’s initiative it was decided to
strengthen the regiment immediately by drawing air and ground crews from civil
aviation and the NII VVS.
The re-formed regiment was named the 412th, and later the 432nd, and Lebedev became its new commander. Nine of the dozen aircraft built had diesel engines, while the rest had AM-35As. After initial preparations eight M-40-powered aircraft were detached for an attack on the Reich capital. Computations showed that the desired radius of operation could be guaranteed by using the advance airfield at Pushkin, in the environs of Leningrad. Of eight TB-7s that took off on 10th August 1941, only five dropped their bombs on Berlin. The serious losses were due to the low reliability of the diesel engines, which failed to come-up to expectations. Seven TB7s were lost during August 1941, one in a crash, rendering the regiment practically useless. Command quickly took corrective action, re-engining the remaining aircraft with AM-35As. This increased their altitude to 16,400ft (5,000m), clear of anti-aircraft fire.
In October 1941, after replenishment with new aircraft from Plant No. 124, the regiment launched raids on Berlin, Konigsberg, Danzig and other objectives. In the winter of 1941-42 it was given the unusual tasks of bombing a railway bridge across the Volga in the Kalinin region and delivering a special agent to the Zhitomir area, in the enemy’s rear. In April 1942 a crew captained by Major Asyanov accomplished a non-stop flight to Great Britain, carrying embassy officials and diplomatic mail. This flight presaged another, to the USA and back via England, on 19th May 1942. On board for this trip were the Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vyacheslav Molotov, and his staff. In spite of great difficulties the flight was successful, and the aircraft’s commanding officer and navigators Major Romanov and Major Shtepenko were made Heroes of the Soviet Union.
In brief,
the results of TB-7 operations at the beginning of the war were as follows.
From August 1941 to May 1942 the regiment flew 226 operational missions and
dropped 606 tonnes of bombs. The total attrition was 14 aircraft (nine were
non-combat losses) and 61 crew members. Seventeen new and modernised TB-7s
replaced the casualties.
In May
1942 the government decided to increase TB-7 production in Kazan. As a result
the 746th Long Range Regiment (as the unit was named in 1942) was expanded into
a two-regiment division. As Colonel Lebedev took command of division, Major N
Egorov was placed in command of the 746th Regiment and Major A Lebedev led the
newly created 890th Regiment.
After a short training period the division returned to combat. Its TB-7s bombed enemy positions in the Orel, Bryansk, Kursk and Poltava regions in the summer of 1942, and in August 1942 alone they made as many flights as they had during the preceding ten months.
In the
autumn, and especially in the winter of 1942-43, the activities of the TB-7
(re-designated Pe-8 at that time) diminished somewhat. This was partly due to
the increased difficulty of operating in winter conditions, and partly to the
discovery of serious manufacturing deficiencies which meant that barely half of
the available aircraft were usable.
In 1943
Kratovo was the 45th Air Division’s main base. Operating from there it bombed
enemy airfields, railway lines and stations, and echelons of troops. One of
the regular targets was Gomel, in Belorussia, and from February to September
1943 753 tonnes of bombs were delivered on the railway station and other
targets, resulting in 139 large conflagrations and 79 explosions.
Operations
against troops and material in occupied towns and enemy territory were no less
important. The use of ‘superheavy’ FAB500 bombs dates from this
period, the first being dropped on Konigsberg in April 1943. In July 1943 the
Germans strengthened their defences against Soviet heavy night bombers, and
their Messerschmitt Bf 110 night fighters shot down four aircraft. This was due
firstly to the increase in night fighter activity in the Kurskaya Duga area,
and secondly to the fact that the new Pe-8s with [gasoline] M-82 radials
were more visible in the night sky because they lacked flame-damping exhausts.
Crews noted both the advantages and disadvantages of the M-82-engined Pe-8. Among the new variant’s obvious merits, its increased range was especially appreciated. With a 4,409 lb. (2,000 kg) bomb load it covered almost 3,106 miles (5,000 km), some 932 miles (1,500km) further than the AM-35A powered aircraft. First among the shortcomings was the complex throttle control of the M-82s. Uneven increase of power during take-off could cause the aircraft to veer off, with the attendant danger of damaging its undercarriage. In 1943 alone, six Pe-8s were lost to such accidents. Shortly after the arrival of the M-82-powered aircraft, Pe-8s with ACh30B diesel engines entered service with the 45th Air Division. Although this engine was considerably more mature than the M-30 and M-40 it was not flawless, suffering frequent failures of its compressor bearings and piston rings. In 1943-1944 the heavy bomber pilots fondly remembered the less powerful and economical but far more reliable AM-35A, the production of which was curtailed.
By the
spring of 1944 it was clear that the 45th Division could not be equipped solely
with the Pe-8. The production rate was too low, and in the whole of 1944 only
five were built. Consequently the WS Command decided to equip the newly formed
362nd Air Regiment and, partially, the 890th Air Regiment, with U.S.-built
North American B-25 Mitchells. From June the flight hours accumulated by
the division’s Mitchells increased all the time, but even in 1944 the
Pe-8s completed 276 operational sorties, including attacks on Helsinki,
Nazi-occupied Tallinn and Pskov. However, the number of Pe-8s available
decreased steadily, and on the night of 1st/2nd August 1944 the type flew its
last operation.
It was
clearly necessary to bring Pe-8 operations to an end. In 1942 the loss rate was
one aircraft for every 103 flights, but by 1944 on it was up to one for every
46 flights. The aircraft had evidently become obsolescent, and it was
impossible to continue using it as a long-range heavy bomber. Its high-altitude
capability, speed, defensive firepower and reliability were now inadequate. The
Pe-8 served in the transport role beyond the war’s end.
****
https://daydaynews.cc/en/military/423816.html
In the
early 1930s, the TB-3 heavy bomber developed by Tupolev began to be installed
in batches. After all, it was the first all-metal four-engine heavy bomber of
the Soviet Union. Although it has been continuously improved since its
introduction, it is in a backward stage compared with the new bombers of
Germany, the United States and other countries. The high-level Soviet leaders
realized that the TB-3 heavy bomber would be intercepted by fighters from other
countries in the event of a war due to its slow speed and other problems, so it
would be difficult for the TB-3 heavy bomber to shoulder heavy tasks. At this
time, the Soviet leaders made up their minds to develop new heavy bombers to
replace the TB-3 heavy bombers.
An unrecognized
masterpiece, the only [TB-3s were used extensively in combat, ever
hear of the ZENO Airborne Aircraft Carrier raids, normie civilian?] heavy
bomber in the Soviet Union in World War II, the history of the development of
the Pe-8 bomber
The
Soviet Air Force’s Pe-8 bomber
When the
Soviet high-levels proposed to develop a new heavy bomber, they began to put
forward specific indicators for the new heavy bomber. The index of the TB-3
heavy bomber is doubled. The high level of the Soviet Union put forward such a
high index because the Soviet Union had a lot of trust in its own country's
aviation industry. At that time, the Soviet Union built the world's first
four-engine heavy bomber with a metal fuselage at the most difficult time. The
indicators for the new heavy bomber proposed by the Soviet high-level officials
are: the speed of the aircraft must reach 440 kilometers per hour, the load of
bombs is about 3 tons, the practical ceiling is 10,000 meters, and the range is
4500 kilometers. In addition, the Soviet Air Force also hopes that the aircraft
has air combat capabilities and needs to have strong firepower in the air.
After the
Soviet Union proposed this indicator, many engineers thought it was too
difficult and many people were unwilling to take over. At this time, Tupolev
resolutely took over the task and began to develop a new heavy bomber. Tupolev
was able to take over this task because Tupolev also developed a "SB-2"
light Type fast bomber. In this way, Tupolev began to develop a new four-engine
heavy bomber based on the ANT-40 (the prototype of the SB-2 bomber). The new
four-engine heavy bomber project was named ANT-42.
ANT-40
(the prototype of the SB-2 bomber) but used many new design concepts, such as
streamlined fuselage, all-metal fuselage, Fully enclosed cockpit, semi-circular
self-defense machine gun tower, etc., this new scheme was first introduced by
the Soviet Air Force. With the progress made in the field of Soviet domestic
engines, the aircraft was mass-produced. Officially due to the emergence of the
ANT-40 (the prototype of the SB-2 bomber) project, Tupolev was able to develop
the ANT-42 four-engine heavy bomber.
An
unrecognized masterpiece, the only heavy bomber in the Soviet Union in World
War II, the history of the development of the Pe-8 bomber
The road
to the birth of the Pe-8 bomber
After
Tupolev took over the development task of the four-engine heavy bomber, The
direction for the new four-engine heavy bomber was immediately set. Tupolev
believed that the aircraft must have an all-metal fuselage, a cantilevered
mid-wing single vertical tail layout, in order to be able to achieve the speed
of the aircraft to reach the target proposed by the Soviet Air Force. Tupolev
plans to install 4 liquid-cooled engines. In terms of engine, it is planned to
use a single AM-34 liquid-cooled engine designed for Mikulin. Due to the
relatively small engine power, Tupolev installed an 860 on the upper mid
fuselage directly above the center of the main wing. The horsepower M-100
liquid-cooled engine is mainly used to provide supercharged air for the other
four main engines to maintain normal operation at high altitude.
Tupolev
and his team are in the process of developing the ANT-42 project. There was a
"purge" in the Soviet Union at that time, and many design engineers
were imprisoned, even Tupolev was no exception. In this way, the ANT-42 project
was taken over by Petlyakov, who mainly solved the engine problem for it. Later
Petlyakov was also put in prison, and the project could only be transferred to
other engineers for design. In November 1937, the construction of the first
prototype was completed. Due to engine problems, the test flight took several
months. During the flight test, although the speed of the aircraft reached 400
kilometers per hour, the aircraft encountered problems such as engine
overheating during the flight.
ANT-42’s
first prototype
Later,
engineers improved the machine. On the first unit, the fuselage was lengthened
and replaced with a more powerful AM-34FRNV engine, two fuel tanks were added,
and an autopilot was added. The improved second prototype has not only improved
its power, but also its range. The second prototype was finally completed in May
1938, and it flew for the first time on July 26. After the first flight, the
aircraft was mass-produced by the Soviet Air Force. Due to the impact of the
Soviet "Great Purge", the aircraft only began production in the
second half of 1939, and was installed in 1940. The unit was later called the
TB-7 heavy bomber, and was given the official designation Pe-8 by the Soviet
Air Force in 1941.
Body
structure
Pe-8
bomber is a four-engine heavy bomber developed before World War II, and it is
also the only four-engine heavy bomber installed by the Soviet Air Force during
World War II. The overall data of the aircraft is not much different from the
TB-3 heavy bomber. According to data, the aircraft has a length of 23.6 meters,
a wingspan of 39.13 meters, a height of 6.2 meters, and a wing area of 188.7
square meters. The TB-3 heavy bomber has a skinned metal structure, while the
Pe-8 bomber uses an all-metal semi-hard shell structure. The weight of the
fuselage is much higher than that of the TB-3 heavy bomber.
Pe-8
bomber adopts the overall layout of cantilevered medium single wing and single
vertical tail. This layout is mainly for good aerodynamics, so as to achieve
the purpose of fast flight. The fuselage and wings of the aircraft adopt a
sleek and streamlined design. The front fuselage section is elliptical, and the
middle fuselage section is pear-shaped. The front three-point landing gear is
used. It mainly consists of a cockpit, a bomb bay, and a turret cabin. . In
terms of crew, the aircraft has a total of 11 people, including two
drivers(Driver, co-pilot), a navigator, a bombardier, a correspondent, five
weapon shooters, and an engineer. In terms of avionics, the aircraft is
equipped with automatic driving, wireless power, navigation systems, etc.
Power design
Pe-8
bomber used four AM-34 engines in the early stage of the engine. However, due
to the low power of the engine and the output power of 800 horsepower, it was
replaced with an AM-35A engine. Mass production began gradually. It is reported
that the horsepower output of the AM-35A engine has reached more than 1,100
horsepower. When the AM-35A engine was originally used for mass production, the
AM-35A engine was out of stock, and finally the M-82 air-cooled engine had to
be used. The output power of the M-82 air-cooled engine reached 1850
horsepower. The speed of the 82 air-cooled engine has also increased a lot,
mainly due to a longer range, which is said to be 5800 kilometers.
Weapon
design
Pe-8
bomber from the prototype to the final discontinuation, and a total of 93 aircraft
were produced. Among the 93 planes, mainly bombers, a small number of
transport planes and Pe-8VIP planes. Since the Pe-8 bomber came out, it has
been improved, mainly due to the engine problem. During the period, many
engines were replaced, such as AM-35A engine, M-30 engine, M-40 engine, M-82
Engine etc. It is precisely because of the engine problem that the aircraft
made the Soviet Air Force uninterested.
Performance
parameters
Pe-8
bomber has an empty weight of 18 tons, a maximum take-off weight of 35 tons,
can carry about 5 tons of ammunition, and a maximum flight speed of Mach 0.36
(speed of 440 thousand per hour) M), the practical ceiling of the aircraft is
8400 meters. The aircraft has a combat radius of more than 2,300 kilometers and
a maximum range of 5,000 kilometers.
Summary
Throughout
the Pe-8 bomber was only produced 93 after its advent. After the outbreak of
World War II, the aircraft served as the Soviet Air Force. The long-range
bombing force participated in the bombing mission of Berlin. I remember that
once, the Soviet Air Force dispatched 12 Pe-8 bombers, and in the end only 4
completed the mission, mainly due to navigation and engine failures. In the
end, it spread to the ears of the Soviet high-level leaders, and the heavy
bombers that were originally not favored were even worse. From then on, the
Soviet high-level seldom let this bomber perform bombing missions, until the
aircraft was later improved into a transport aircraft, to carry out
transportation business, has been in service until the 1950s. Although the
aircraft was not valued by the high level of the Soviet Union, the aircraft
also made a lot of contributions to the Soviet Union in the early stage of World
War II.
Petljakov Pe-8 / TB-7
The Petlyakov
Pe-8 was a Soviet heavy bomber designed before World War II, and the only
four-engine bomber the USSR built during the war. Produced in limited numbers,
it was used to bomb Berlin in August 1941. It was also used for so-called
"morale raids" designed to raise the spirit of the Soviet
people by exposing Axis vulnerabilities. Its primary mission, however, was to
attack German airfields, rail yards and other rear-area facilities at night,
although one was used to fly the People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs (Foreign
Minister) Vyacheslav Molotov from Moscow to the United States in 1942.
Originally designated the TB-7, the aircraft was renamed the Pe-8 after its primary designer, Vladimir Petlyakov, died in a plane crash in 1942. Supply problems complicated the aircraft's production and the Pe-8s also had engine problems. As Soviet morale boosters, they were also high-value targets for the Luftwaffe's fighter pilots. The loss rate of these aircraft, whether from mechanical failure, friendly fire, or combat, doubled between 1942 and 1944.
By the end of the war, most of the surviving aircraft had been withdrawn from combat units. After the war, some were modified as transports for important officials, and a few others were used in various Soviet testing programs. Some supported the Soviet Arctic operations until the late 1950s.
--------------------------------
General characteristics
Crew: Eleven
Length: 23.2 m
Wingspan: 39.13 m
Height: 6.20 m
Wing area: 188.66
m²
Empty weight:
18,571 kg
Loaded weight:
27,000 kg
Max. takeoff
weight: 35,000 kg
Powerplant: 4 ×
Mikulin AM-35A liquid-cooled V12 engine, 999 kW (1,340 hp) each
Maximum speed:
443 km/h
Range: 3,700 km
Service ceiling:
9,300 m
Rate of climb:
5.9 m/s
Wing loading: 143
kg/m²
Power/mass: 140
W/kg
Armament: 2 x
20-millimeter (0.79 in) ShVAK cannons (dorsal and tail turrets)
2 x
12.7-millimeter (0.50 in) UBT machine guns (engine nacelles)
2 x 7.62-millimeter (0.300 in) ShKAS machine guns (nose turret)
Bombs: Up to 5,000 kg
When Operation Barbarossa began on 22 June 1941, only the 2nd Squadron of the 14th Heavy Bomber Regiment (Russian: Tyazholy Bombardirovochnyy Avia Polk—TBAP), based at Boryspil was equipped with Pe-8s, but was not ready for combat. Two of its nine Pe-8s were destroyed by German air strikes shortly after the war began, before the Pe-8s were withdrawn out of reach in Kazan. Stalin ordered that the squadron be reformed into a regiment, and that it strike targets deep inside German territory.
Theoretically, this tactic would boost Soviet morale by demonstrating the vulnerability of the enemy. The squadron was re-designated on 29 June as the 412th TBAP and began training for long-range missions. On or about 27 July it was again renamed, this time as the 432nd TBAP. On the evening of 10 August, eight M-40-engined Pe-8s of the 432nd TBAP, accompanied by Yermolaev Yer-2s of the 420th Long-Range Bomber Aviation Regiment (DBAP), attempted to bomb Berlin from Pushkino Airfield near Leningrad.
One heavily loaded Pe-8 crashed immediately upon take off, after it lost an engine. Only four managed to reach Berlin, or its outskirts, and of those, only two returned to their base. The others landed elsewhere or crash-landed in Finland and Estonia. The aircraft of the commander of the 81st Long-Range Bomber Division, Combrig Mikhail Vodopianov, to which both regiments belonged, was attacked mistakenly by Polikarpov I-16s from Soviet Naval Aviation over the Baltic Sea and lost an engine; later, before he could reach Berlin, German flak punctured a fuel tank. He crash-landed his aircraft in southern Estonia.
Five more Pe-8s were lost during the operation, largely due to the unreliability of the M-40s. Seven Pe-8s were lost during the month of August alone, rendering the regiment ineffective. During this period, the surviving aircraft were re-equipped with AM-35As, which gave them a shorter range, but a more reliable engine.
By 1 October 1941, the regiment mustered fourteen Pe-8s after having been replenished by new aircraft from the factory. It spent the rest of the year conducting night raids on Berlin, Königsberg, Danzig and as well as German-occupied cities in the Soviet Union. The regiment was re-designated as the 746th Separate Long-Range Aviation Regiment (Russian: Otdel'nyy Avia Polk Dahl'nevo Deystviya—OAPDD) on 3 December. No aircraft were reported on hand two days later after this designation, but eleven were on strength on 18 March 1942.
During the winter of 1941–42, the regiment was assigned the destruction of a railroad bridge over the Volga River, near Kalinin. In April 1942, one aircraft flew diplomatic personnel and mail on a non-stop flight from Moscow to Great Britain. This was a test run for a flight carrying Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov and his delegation from Moscow to London and then to Washington, D.C. and back, for negotiations to open a second front against Nazi Germany (19 May–13 June 1942). The flight crossed German-controlled airspace on the return trip without incident.
From August 1941 to May 1942, the regiment flew 226 sorties and dropped 606 tonnes (596 long tons; 668 short tons) of bombs. In the course of these missions, they lost 14 bombers, five in combat, and the rest from engine malfunction. The regiment received 17 Pe-8s as replacements. Sixteen aircraft were on hand on 1 May 1942, but the number had only increased to seventeen two months later; the regiment was losing aircraft almost as fast as they were being replaced.
The 890th Long-Range Aviation Regiment (Russian: Avia Polk Dahl'nevo Deystviya—APDD) was formed on 15 June 1942 and both regiments were used to bomb German-held transportation centers of, among others, Orel, Bryansk, Kursk and Poltava. The pace of activity increased and the regiments flew as many missions in August as they had in the first ten months of the war. By the eve of the Soviet counterattack at Stalingrad, Operation Uranus, on 8 November the regiments had fourteen Pe-8s on hand. Under the command of the 45th Long-Range Bomber Aviation Division (Russian: Dal'nebombardirovochnaya Aviatsionnaya Diviziya—DBAD), they did not participate in the Stalingrad air attacks.
In 1943, from the division's primary airfield at Kratovo, southeast of Moscow, the regiments bombed transportation centers, airfields and troop concentrations. The railroad yard at Gomel was a favorite target and the regiment dropped approximately 606 tonnes (596 long tons; 668 short tons) of bombs there between February and September 1943. It is not clear if these sorties were made by Pe-8s alone or in combination with other aircraft. In addition, the regiment dropped the first FAB-5000 bomb on Königsberg in April 1943, continuing the pin-prick attacks against targets deep in the German rear. In May 1943, efforts shifted to disrupt the German concentration of forces for the Battle of Kursk. In one sortie, the 109 bombers of the 45th DBAD struck the rail junction at Orsha during the evening of 4 May, most of which were not Pe-8s; the German High Command reported the destruction of 300 rail wagons and three ammunition trains.
By 1 July, the regiment had 18 Pe-8s for deployment during the early phase of the Battle of Kursk. The long-range aviation units continued to attack targets in the German rear areas at night, supporting the Soviet ground offensive in the Orel Bulge, called Operation Kutuzov, that began on 12 July. The Germans had transferred the nightfighters of the Fourth Group of Nightfighter Wing 5 (IV./Nachtjagdgeschwader 5), flying a mix of Junkers Ju 88 and Dornier Do 217 aircraft, to counter the Soviet raids near the Orel area. Initially, the night fighters were ineffective against the Soviet raids, until the deployment of their ground radar "eyes".
Once the Germans had use of their radar, after the night of 17–18 July, Soviet losses increased sharply. Although the Germans flew only fourteen sorties that night, they claimed eight kills. On the night of 20–21 July, Captain (Hauptmann) Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, commander of IV./NJG 5, shot down three himself.
The exhaust plume of the ASh-82 engine may have been a contributing factor; the engines lacked flame dampening exhausts, making their plume visible from a distance. Despite its losses, the 746th was re-designated as the 25th Long-Range Guards Aviation Regiment (GAPDD) on 18 September 1943 in recognition of its achievements.
The 890th began to fly Lend-Lease B-25 Mitchells in the spring of 1944 and was itself re-designated as the 890th Bomber Aviation Regiment on 26 December 1944.[24] The 362nd APDD was formed in early 1944 with four Pe-8s received from the other two regiments, but these were returned in the spring of 1944, when the regiment began to convert to the Lend-Lease Mitchells.
After the war, the Pe-8 was used extensively as a testbed for trials involving Soviet derivatives of the German V-1 flying bomb and it was designated as the Pe-8LL for prototype piston engine trials. It was also used as a mother ship for the experimental rocket-engined Bisnovat 5 in 1948–49.
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Russian RIGHT STUFF
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisnovat_5
The Bisnovat 5 (Бисноват 5) was a supersonic research aircraft designed in the USSR in the late 1940s, inspired by the German swept-wing, DFS 346 aircraft that was captured by Soviet troops towards the end of World War II.
The Bisnovat 5 was ordered into development to provide an all-Soviet alternative to an aircraft built with foreign technology. Originally intended to take-off from the ground, gliding flights were carried out from a Petlyakov Pe-8 mothership, similar to the way that the Bell X-1 was dropped from a B-29 Superfortress mothership.
Aeroflot received several of the surviving Pe-8s for polar exploration. Their military equipment removed, they had additional fuel tanks installed, were painted orange, and had their engines upgraded to either ASh-82FNs or Shvetsov ASh-73s. One landed at the North Pole in 1954[15] and others helped to monitor the drift ice stations NP-2, NP-3 and NP-4 during the late 1950s. [Think movie, "Ice Station ZEBRA" and CIA Operation COLD FEET snatch of agents from an abandoned ice station by Fulton STAR aka "SkyHook 1" seen in the 007 movie "Thunderball" and John Wayne movie, "The Green Berets". ]
1. How many
troops could a Pe-8 carry? 50x?
2. Could VDV
Paratroops exit out the fuselage door? If not, how about the bomb bay?
www.combatreform.org/axisandalliedspecialoperationsaviation.htm
3. Were any
light tanks carried under a Pe-8 at least as a test?
The biggest problem with air-dropping vehicles is if their crews are dropped separately, and may be delayed or prevented from bringing them into action. Today's Russian Airborne VDV has specially cushioned seats in their BMD family of light tanks with which drivers are inside them when dropped. Gliders allow crews to arrive at the drop/landing zone along with their vehicles. They also minimize exposure of the valuable towing aircraft, which need not appear over the battlefield. So the Soviet Air Force ordered Oleg Antonov to design a glider for landing tanks.
Antonov was more ambitious. Instead of building a glider, he added a detachable cradle to a T-60 light tank bearing large wood and fabric biplane wings and a twin tail. Such a tank could glide into the battlefield, drop its wings, and be ready to fight within minutes.
One T-60 was converted into a glider in 1942, intended to be towed by a Petlyakov Pe-8 or a Tupolev TB-3. The tank was lightened for air use by removing its armament, ammunition and headlights, and leaving a very limited amount of fuel. Even with these modifications, the TB-3 bomber had to ditch the glider during its only flight, on September 2, 1942, to avoid crashing, due to the T-60's extreme drag (although the tank reportedly glided smoothly). The A-40 was piloted by the famous Soviet experimental glider pilot Sergei Anokhin. The T-60 landed in a field near the airport, and after dropping the glider wings and tail, the driver returned it to its base. Due to the lack of a sufficiently-powerful aircraft to tow it at the required 160 km/h (99 mph), the project was abandoned.[1]
Semper Airborne!
James Bond is REAL.
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