Petlyakov Pe-8
| Petlyakov Pe-8 | |
|---|---|
|
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| Type: | Heavy bomb plane |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
December 27, 1936 |
| Commissioning: |
September 1939 |
| Production time: |
1936 to 1944 |
| Number of pieces: |
93 |
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The Petlyakov Pe-8 ( Russian Петляков Пе-8 , also TB-7 , ТБ-7) was a four-engine Soviet long-range bomber of World War II . It was named after its designer Vladimir Petlyakov . When delivery of the first series aircraft began in autumn 1939, the machine, known as the TB-7 until mid-1942, was one of the most modern and technically advanced aircraft in the world. In particular, the high service ceiling and the high speed made it almost inaccessible for a large part of the fighter aircraft and air defense of the time . For this purpose, the aircraft initially had a complex charger system that required the installation of a fifth engine inside. This fifth motor drove a central supercharger , which pumped compressed air to the four main engines, thus ensuring engine performance at great heights. The Pe-8 gained great fame in 1942 when the Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov flew from Moscow to Washington, DC with stopovers in Scotland, Iceland and Canada. As the only heavy long-range bomber of the Red Army in the entire war, the Pe-8 had a prominent role in the fight against the Axis powers , although only 93 machines of the type were built. Further data can be found in the list of Pe-8 aircraft .
history
Development and testing of the prototypes
In 1931, when series production of the TB-3 heavy bomber had just started, the NII (Research Institute) of the Air Force of the Soviet Union (NII WWS) issued the requirements for the successor model. It was supposed to hold a crew of 10 to 14 men and be able to carry 10,000 kilograms of bombs over a distance of 1,500 to 2,000 kilometers. The maximum speed indicated was 250 km / h and the summit height 7,000 meters.
On July 27, 1934, the chief deputy of the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (ZAGI), Andrei Tupolew , gave the internal construction department KOSOS the order to begin with the construction work. Two days later, the order was officially confirmed with directive 7342 and the project name ANT-42 was assigned. In October of the same year, on the initiative of the People's Commissar for Defense Mikhail Tukhachevsky , the Soviet Air Forces issued new, revised demands for the bomber project, which were the result of a new doctrine. Speed and deployment height should now be increased at the expense of payload capacity. This was justified by the fact that future fighter planes would have an ever higher speed and summit height and a slow but heavy bomb plane could only be effective to a limited extent. Accordingly, the ANT-42 should now be able to carry around 500 kilograms of bombs at a top speed of 600 km / h at an altitude of 13,000 to 14,000 meters. The summit height should be 15,000 meters. The first project study on this was presented by ZAGI at the end of 1934 and confirmed by the Council for Labor and Defense on December 27th . However, due to the lack of suitable high-altitude motors, the required summit height could not be reached by far. However, the problem was approximately solved by installing an additional motor to drive a central turbo blower.
In 1935, development work began in the KB-1 design office, which was set up specifically for this purpose, and Vladimir Petlyakov was appointed director. Vladimir Myasishchev , who was responsible for the hull construction, also worked in this department . V12 M-34FRN engines were provided for both the four drives and their loaders . Because these were too big, a smaller M-100 had to be used for the supercharger motor . The charger system known as AZN (Агрегат Центрального Наддува - central charger unit) was developed at ZIAM and tested in a TB-3. The first prototype was built in Plant 156 and largely completed by November 9, 1936; only the engines could not be delivered until December 23 and then installed.
The first flight of the Tupolev ANT-42 took place on December 27, 1936 from Moscow Central Airport and was carried out by Tupolev chief test pilot Michael Gromov and crew members N. S. Rybko, M. F. Schilin and A. S. Rachmanin. During the subsequent factory testing, which was completed by March 20, some changes were made, for example the cooler inlet was rebuilt. On April 20, serial production under the designation TB-7 (Тяжелый Бомбардировщик - heavy bomber) was decided. The state testing, carried out by test pilot Pyotr Stefanowski , lasted from August 11 to October 28, 1938. Just one day later, Petlyakov was arrested in the course of the Great Terror , a week after Tupolev. Iossif Neswal was appointed as the new chief designer . In the meantime, the second ANT-42 “Dubleur” prototype had also passed its maiden flight on July 26, 1938 without any problems. Although there were still some deficiencies in the model, production started at the beginning of 1939 at the Kazan aircraft factory, which had previously manufactured parts for the TB-3 and the twelve series copies of the DB-A heavy bomber . The flight tests were continued in parallel by the military and development technology side.
Further development
Due to sometimes enormous supply bottlenecks for assemblies, especially for engines, only six TB-7s could be completed by the beginning of 1940, five of them with a central charger and one with the better AM-35 engines that did not require a separate charger. Ultimately, the loader system was completely dispensed with, which increased the empty weight of the TB-7 by 1600 kg and was practically impossible to maintain under field conditions; it was also extremely sensitive to combat damage. It also increased the aircraft's fuel consumption and thus reduced its range. For these reasons, both all five TB-7s with central loaders and the two prototypes were later converted to AM-35A engines.
The series production of the TB-7 was then stopped for the time being, partly for economic reasons, partly because Josef Stalin favored the construction of the medium-sized bomber Pe-2 . After the end of the winter war and its evaluation, the question of a strategic bomber became topical again and so production was resumed in May 1940 at the instigation of the "People's Commissar for the Aviation Industry " Alexei Shachurin , who had been appointed four months earlier on January 10, 1940 , this time with the diesel engines M-40 and M-30 (from spring 1941).
In December 1941, official authorities ordered a second production stop, as Stalin considered it unnecessary to have heavy bombers built in view of the German attack on Moscow . In mid-1942 this was lifted after Molotov's flight to the USA. Unofficially, the TB-7 was still being built in the meantime.
On September 8, 1942, the TB-7 received the designation Pe-8 due to the renaming of aircraft types initiated by Alexander Jakowlew after the abbreviation of their designers . Before that, the models were named after their intended purpose.
From January 1943, the Pe-8s with M-82 star engines were delivered to the troops by Schwezow with an output of 1,523 hp. Numerous aerodynamic improvements had been made to these. The rotating turret in the bow weapon stand was replaced by a tapering fuselage nose with only one single- barrel SchKAS -MG as defensive armament instead of the twin SchKAS. About 50 machines of this series were built. ATSch-30B diesel engines from Tscharomsky were later installed on four aircraft on a trial basis , but their reliability was not convincing.
Among the last four aircraft were two special machines, which were named Petlyakov Pe-8 ON (Особого Назначения - For special use). They served as special passenger planes that were to be used by high-ranking Soviet politicians. In the machines, the central shooting range was left out and replaced by a simple panel. The tail unit was slightly extended at the approach and in the fuselage there was a pressurized cabin with twelve seats in the upper part of the bomb bay. The lower part of the bomb bay served as storage space for carrying luggage. In addition, there were four windows behind the wings on both sides of the fuselage through which the pressure chamber could be seen. The aircraft received a civilian paint scheme in green and the serial numbers 42612 and 42712. The state flight tests took place in April and May 1945 and revealed considerable difficulties with the engines and the pressure chamber, so that the conception as an armed touring aircraft was discarded. The 42612 later served as a transport aircraft in the polar air fleet.
In December 1944, production was finally stopped. By then, 93 TB-7 / Pe-8 including two prototypes had been produced.
rating
At the beginning of the 1940s, the TB-7 was one of the most modern types of bombers in the world. Thanks to the new technology of the central loading system, it reached heights that were inaccessible to most other aircraft of the time. While most of the modern long-range bombers of the western states ( Boeing B-17 , Consolidated B-24 , Avro Lancaster , Handley Page Halifax , Short Stirling ) were still in development or were only just being introduced into the force, the Soviet Union had a long-range bomber , which was equivalent to these types even before their first flights. It is a paradox of history that this particular weapon was never used extensively. Although the machine was originally intended as a new “super weapon” for the Red Army, which was primarily intended to replace the large number of outdated TB-3s, it quickly met with a lot of resistance. Inefficiency, difficulties in production and, above all, Stalin's opposing stance ensured that the heavy bomber was never built in any significant number. While the US and British long-range bombers were producing many thousands of aircraft, the Soviet aviation industry was only able to produce just under 100 TB-7 / Pe-8 in five years. Nevertheless, the superiority of the TB-7 is also reflected in the opinion of many aviation experts.
"At altitudes of more than 10,000 meters, the TB-7 was inaccessible to the majority of fighter planes of that time and the summit height of 12,000 meters also made it invulnerable to the anti-aircraft cartillery."
“The machine had strong defensive armament consisting of 20 mm cannons and heavy 12.7 mm machine guns. The large bomb bay could hold bombs of the heaviest calibers ... Inaccessible at its maximum height for both the anti-aircraft cartillery and the fighters of that time, the TB-7 was the most powerful bomber in the world. "
"At altitudes of 26,250 to 29,500 feet, their speed exceeded that of the German Me-109 and He-112."
"The machine, which weighs tons, exceeded the best European fighter planes of the time with its flight data at an altitude of ten kilometers."
“The anti-aircraft cartillery only reaches such a height with a loss of accuracy, almost as a matt bullet, so to speak. Even a fighter plane looks like a sleepy fly up there. Who could harm me? "
"An excellent aircraft ... The TB-7 was able to carry five-ton bombs for the first time, before the USA and England."
“And the best thing is that the brothers don't design badly either. They have a long-range bomber and fly with the beast. It reaches as far as Berlin. Old clothes like that flies nine thousand, ten thousand meters above sea level. This TB-7 flies to high altitude, drifts around here and drops its bombs and takes off again. But we can't bring it down. That's unconfortable. That's what I call a long-range bomber that flies from Moscow to here and flies back again. Where do you have a bomber like that? In addition, when he is funny he flies at an altitude of ten thousand meters. So where, please, do we have such a bomber? "
This superiority and the high opinion that even experts have of the TB-7 is underlined by the statements of the controversial author Viktor Suvorov . In his book The Day M , Suvorov claims that Stalin could have prevented World War II if he had mass-produced the TB-7. A large number of long-range bombers of this type would have had such a strong psychological and practical effect that the enemy would have been forced to surrender. Suvorov's claims are highly questionable. On the one hand, he overestimated the potential of the TB-7: Although the long-range bomber was one of the most modern aircraft in the world at the end of the 1930s, the machine was by no means invulnerable, which should also be shown by the great losses at the beginning of the war. On the other hand, a German attack on the socialist Soviet Union would have been unavoidable anyway due to the anti-communism of National Socialism . Even the best Soviet military technology could not change that.
It is undisputed that the TB-7 was one of the most modern and powerful Soviet combat aircraft when the war began. Nevertheless, more than half of all Petlyakov Pe-8s were lost in the war. On the one hand, this was due to the fact that the aircraft lost its greatest advantage with the central charger system before the war began. Although it had many disadvantages, it also had the important advantage of increased flight altitude. Without the AZN-2 unit, the TB-7 could reach a maximum of 10,000 m, with a maximum payload even only 7,000 to 8,000 m, and was therefore easily accessible for the majority of enemy fighters and air defense. On the other hand, the uniqueness of the bomber meant that the Pe-8 were often the main target of enemy air defenses and fighters during war. It was a special event for the Luftwaffe to shoot down such a highly decorated target. Ultimately, however, the heavy use of the machines was also to blame for the fact that there were many breakdowns and accidents due to technical failure. Between 1942 and 1944 the number of losses due to technical errors, shooting down and pilot errors more than doubled: while in 1942 an average of one Petlyakov Pe-8 was lost on 103 flight missions, in 1944 it was already one machine on 46 flight missions.
production
The production of the Petlyakov Pe-8 took place in the aircraft plant No. 124 in Kazan on the Volga . After the two prototypes of the aircraft (Tupolev ANT-42 and ANT-42 “Dubleur”) had been built in ZAGI's plant no. 156 in Moscow, the decision was made on April 20, 1938 to allow series production to take place in Kazan. IF Neswal, the deputy designer of the ANT-42, has been appointed factory director. In May 1938, the design documentation for the TB-7 finally arrived in Kazan and the development of the technologies for the production of the ultra-modern bomber began. The equipment and production facilities were built, the drawings of the aircraft were specified and the contracts with the delivery and delivery companies were signed. At the beginning of 1939, production of the most modern Soviet bomber finally got underway and the first production aircraft, the TB-7 with the serial number 4211, was assembled. Nevertheless, production did not go according to plan. The original plan was to deliver five pre-production aircraft to the air forces by May 1, 1939; However, due to numerous complications, this goal could not be achieved. The first series machines in particular were built under extremely difficult conditions. In the second half of 1939, for example, the delivery of new AM-34FRNW engines stalled. Although this was believed to be a temporary phenomenon, the situation barely improved. Only two TB-7s were built by the end of 1939, the cells of other machines were in the factory halls and could not be completed because of the poor work of the suppliers for the series production of the long-range bomber. It was even forgotten to designate a plant for the production of the AZN-2 charger stations, which is why production of the TB-7 almost completely came to a standstill in early 1940. Due to the acute shortage of specialized workers and important parts for production, construction was finally officially discontinued.
Although the bomber was originally intended to help solve the major problems of the Soviet air forces in connection with the modernization projects in the area of aircraft types, it also fell out of favor with Stalin . For the Soviet dictator, strategic bombers were unimportant, since the destruction of the enemy industrial infrastructure during the later occupation of the defeated state could only be detrimental. Many advocates of the series production of the aircraft were therefore persecuted and executed in the course of the Stalinist purges . In addition, the production of the TB-7 was very complex. Production was costly and required special manufacturing equipment, which in turn was very expensive and complicated to build. The production was extremely labor-intensive. There were frames with tubular fuselage spars, covers with aluminum plates with rivets from the inside, armored and self-sealing fuel tanks and modern fully electric fire extinguishing systems. These innovations were primarily reflected in the production price of the machine. In addition, a single TB-7 required as much metal as an entire squadron of attack aircraft Ilyushin Il-2 , which put the profitability of production in question.
The heavy long-range bomber was therefore a significant financial and economic burden for the Soviet air force, which also explains the low number of buildings. But despite these complications, Soviet aviation experts were convinced that the aviation industry could cope with mass production of the machine. In spite of this, mass production was not used for the time being. It was not until the catastrophic losses of the Red Army in the winter war against Finland that the management level of the air force had to resume the TB-7 project. Here it became apparent that the lack of modern bombers, which could carry a high load of drop armament, led to considerable difficulties in the Soviet air force. Attacks against enemy industrial centers and cities during the winter war either had to be flown with Ilyushin DB-3 and Tupolev SB-2 , which were modern but could only carry a small load of bombs, or with Tupolev TB-3, which were much too slow and were very out of date, which led to high losses. The only Soviet bomber that combined the latest innovations in technology, payload capacity and range was the TB-7. Also in response to the war against the Finns, numerous organizational changes were carried out in the air force, which were also intended to affect the fate of the long-range bomber. The air armies of the reserve of the high command (AON - Air Force for Special Use) formed in 1936 on the instructions of the Soviet government were reorganized in 1940. Five air corps (four in the West and one in the Far East) and three separate divisions of the long-range bombing forces emerged. At that time, the four corps in the west consisted of around 1,000 operational aircraft and 740 crews. The corps in the Far East was only set up at this point in time and an exact number of machines and crews is not documented. Overall, the five corps consisted of 70% DB-3 and 30% TB-3. On July 25, 1940, the "decision on the reorganization of the air forces of the Red Army" was finally passed in which it has been written that, 45% to DB-3 and all units still flew TB-3 Jer-2 convert be. 22% of these units should continue to be equipped with the more modern variants of the TB-3 and the remaining 33% should eventually be retrained for the TB-7.
This decision clearly shows that the TB-7, despised as expensive and uneconomical, was to once again become an important core of the Soviet heavy bomber fleet. After the first cessation of series production, the production facilities for the production of the long-range bomber in Kazan had already been dismantled and were about to be scrapped. The new plant director in Kazan, Steinberg, was therefore ordered to rebuild the relevant facilities and to resume production of the TB-7. A government decree at the beginning of May 1940, in which the resumption of series production was officially confirmed, then achieved final clarity. But precisely because of the major problems in production that still existed and the prejudices of Stalin, real large-scale production could not take place. The supply companies continued to work too slowly and the delivery of the new diesel engines M-40 and M-40F, with which the aircraft was to be equipped in the future, was only slightly faster than that of the AM-34FRNW a few months earlier. Because of these serious engine complications, various engine types were tested with the TB-7. Already the bomber with the serial number 4215 was not equipped with four AM-34FRNW and a central loader AZN-2, but as a trial with four AM-35 engines. Ultimately, the AM-35 and its improved variant AM-35A proved their worth in the TB-7. Often machines were equipped with these engines when the delivery of the engines actually intended was delayed or did not materialize. Although production was actually planned with diesel engines M-30 and M-40, eleven TB-7s with AM-35 or AM-35A were built by the start of the war. In total, due to the problems with delivery and the constant change of the engines, only 27 TB-7s were delivered by the end of May 1941.
After the German raid, it turned out that heavy long-range bombers were quite important for the front, and it took revenge that the manufacture of the bomber had never received the amount of attention that was necessary before the war. The start of large-scale production with an output of many hundreds of TB-7s per year was out of the question, however, as the high level of utilization of the Soviet aviation industry caused by the war prevented this. Additional problems were created by the fact that since December 1940 the two -engine dive bomber Petlyakov Pe-2 had also been manufactured in the Kazan Plant No. 124 and the production of the long-range bomber therefore had to be relocated to a smaller adjoining hall. In October 1941, Moscow plant No. 22 was finally relocated to Kazan because of the German attack on Moscow . Now there were two different aircraft factories on the site of the combine . Under these conditions, the output of the TB-7 deteriorated further, so that production had to be stopped again by an official decree in December 1941. Despite this decision, the machine was actually continued to be built illegally. In the many preceding months, which had been characterized by a shortage of materials during construction, the manufacturers of the long-range bomber succeeded in stocking up a considerable amount of parts and assemblies for the construction of the TB-7, which is why production did not necessarily have to be terminated. After one of the planes even flew the Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov as far as the USA in May and June 1942 , production was also revived by official bodies. In the following two and a half years, the long-range bomber, now renamed the Pe-8, was produced in a small series with numerous small changes and without major interruptions in Kazan. It was not until December 1944 that production of the Petlyakov Pe-8 was stopped again, this time for good. The performance of the aircraft manufacturers in Kazan was nevertheless impressive. In five and a half years they had built 91 four-engine long-range bombers for the Soviet air forces under mostly very complicated production conditions and hardly descriptive personal sacrifices and poor living conditions. Ultimately, it was mainly Stalin's reservations, the difficult manufacturing environment and the later utilization of the aviation industry that led to the low number of Pe-8s.
technical description
The Pe-8 was a cantilevered mid-decker in all-metal construction with four engines mounted on the wings and a conventional vertical stabilizer.
hull
The fuselage cell consisted of three sections with an oval cross-section. It consisted of a tubular frame made of dural, which was planked with 1-millimeter dural sheet. The cabin itself was divided into two floors and was located in the front section of the bomber. Upstairs in the glazed cabin sat the two pilots and behind that, in a small room lit by two panes on each side, the flight mechanic. In the lower and larger part of the cabin were the positions of the radio operator, the navigator and the bombardier. The bombardier sat in front of a partition that separated the main part of the cabin from the nose of the aircraft, directly above the bow glazing, where the bomb sight was also located. The upper part of the cabin was asymmetrical on the left side in the direction of flight. The pilots were also protected by 9 mm armor plates, the two nacelle and nose guns with 12 mm plates.
The central loading unit of the two prototypes and five early series machines was located in the middle of the fuselage and thus below the room for the on-board mechanic. It was right in front of the central shooting range and between the wing spars. The exhaust gases from the central loader were led out of the aircraft through an exhaust pipe which was located in the direction of flight to the right above the wing on the side of the fuselage. When the central loader was later omitted, a reinforcement was riveted on at the place of the exhaust pipe.
Behind the main cabin and the small space for the loader unit, the fuselage passage was connected above the bomb bay. There was a small elevation here for the shooter of the central estate, which enabled him to take his position in the armory. This elevation for the shooter of the rear stand was also located above the bomb bay of the aircraft, which ended directly below. Therefore a kind of step followed, which marked the position of the weapon bay. In the next section of the long-range bomber there was a door on the right in the direction of flight, which could be used next to the hatch in the front part of the aircraft to enter the machine. In the last part of the aircraft there was only a crawl tunnel, which served the rear gunner to reach his position and connected the tail stand with the rest of the bomber.
The drop armament was taken up by a large bomb bay in the middle of the fuselage and could be increased by two external load suspensions between the fuselage and the inner engines. The largest bomb caliber used was a 5000 kg high-explosive bomb. In addition, the aircraft had two additional weapon bays , one for light and incendiary bombs and another for special photo bombs. The shaft for the light bombs was located on the right in the direction of flight behind the access hatch, i.e. directly next to the lower part of the main cabin. The weapon bay that held the photo bombs was quite inconspicuous in the stern near the rear gunner. The photo bombs themselves were in two discharge tubes.
Structure
The wings consisted of a three-part tubular construction with dural planking. Only the oars were covered with fabric. The middle piece comprised the inner motors with the landing gear pods. As a special feature, they contained manned arms. These armories were a particularly striking feature of the aircraft, as their location was very unusual. The shooters either had to crawl from the fuselage through the wings to their firing positions or enter them through a hatch at the top of the wing. In the stands, the shooters only found space on their knees, an upright posture was not possible. From the second prototype onwards, the coolers for the outer motors were also integrated into the inner engine covers. A total of 18 lubrication and fuel tanks were integrated into the wings.
landing gear
The main wheels of the chassis were retracted electro-hydraulically into the gondolas of the inner motors, in an emergency also by hand. The tail wheel was not retractable. In flight, the main wheels protruded slightly, which should prevent damage to the fuselage in the event of a belly landing. The special feature of the chassis were the large main wheels, which had a diameter of 1.60 m. Initially, both the ANT-42 and the first series machine (number 4211) with the usual ski chassis for winter use were tested. However, it turned out that the bomber's wheels were so large that it was not necessary to change the landing gear even in winter. The Pe-8 was the first Soviet military aircraft to have this property based on its wheel size.
electronics
A large number of electronic devices and electronically operated systems were on board the Petlyakov Pe-8. The following data all relate to the second prototype Tupolew ANT-42 "Dubleur", but are also correct for the later series bombers, as only minor and hardly noteworthy changes were made here. Almost the entire power supply for the aircraft ran through three GS-1000 generators , one of which served as a backup generator. The machine was also supplied with fuel via two series-working BNK-5U fuel pumps that were driven by these generators. There were also two 12A-30 batteries in the aircraft. These batteries supplied the electronic systems with power in the event that the generators should fail. The remote bomber's radio station consisted of an RSB device and an RSPK-1bis radio compass. Two cameras of type AFA-24 (perspective camera) and AFA-1 (plan camera) were located in the stern to photograph targets hit and special areas. These devices were fully electronically remote-controlled by the navigator. The autopilot of the Pe-8 consisted of the AP-42 system specially developed for the machine. The Pe-8 was one of the first Soviet bombers to have such a large number of electronic systems on board.
Armament
The armament of the Pe-8 was divided into drop and defensive armament. The drop armament itself was divided into three main groups according to its purpose.
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Main bombs: They served as the actual means of attack. The main bombs were high explosive , incendiary and fragmentation bombs . The explosive bombs were called FAB (Fugasnaja Awiabomba) with the weight in kilograms. They could be used in the Pe-8 in special configurations, which are shown here depending on the bomb caliber. All of the following drop devices were used with Pe-8 bombers during the war.
- FAB-100: 40 bombs attached to ten cassettes of four bombs each. Four cassettes as external load on the suspensions between the fuselage and the inner engine pod. The total mass of this configuration was four tons.
- FAB-250: Twelve bombs attached to six cassettes of two bombs each. Two cassettes as external load. The total mass here was three tons.
- FAB-500: Six bombs in individual suspensions, two of them as external loads. The total weight of the bombs was three tons.
- FAB-1000: Four bombs in individual suspensions, two of them as external loads. The total mass was four tons.
- FAB-2000: A bomb attached to two locks in the bomb bay. At first it was only possible to record a single FAB-2000. On October 22, 1944, however, the 45th AD reported to the chief engineer of the ADD that there were in Division 24 with ASch-82 and two Pe-8 equipped with ATSch-30B, in whose bomb bay two FAB-2000s could also be accommodated . The large-caliber high-explosive bomb had been developed during the war and was first tested by the 45th AD in July 1942 during attacks on the Bryansk railway junction .
- FAB-5000NG: A bomb attached to two locks in the bomb bay. The stabilizer on this bomb, however, was so large that the shaft of the Pe-8 could no longer be closed properly when it was attached. For this reason, missions in which FAB-5000 were to be used always had to be flown with an open shaft. The FAB-5000 was one of the most powerful aerial bombs used in the war and was developed with the help of the engineers of the 45th AD, since from the beginning only the Pe-8 was considered as a carrier aircraft. The abbreviation NG stands for the initials of the designer of the bomb, Nisson Gelperin, who had the weapon made from reinforced concrete and not from ordinary steel in order to save the raw material that was essential to the war effort. Due to the complexity of their manufacture, only 48 of these bombs were made, with eleven confirmed to be in use.
- ZAB-100-ZK: explosive fire bomb that was developed before the war and has proven itself well. The ZAB bombs had to be housed in a special light and incendiary bomb bay.
- ZAB-100-65TSch: Bomb filled with 65 incendiary balls, which were scattered by the explosion on impact.
- ZAB-500-300TSch: body of a FAB-500 that was filled with 300 incendiary balls.
- OFAB-100: Body of an FAB-100, which in this configuration served as a fragmentation bomb.
- RRAB-1000: Large rotary cluster bomb that was filled with 1.5 to two kilograms of fragmentation and incendiary bombs. It could also be used with the Pe-8 in calibers 250 and 500.
- MAB-250: FAB-250 as a bridge bomb to destroy bridges. This bomb could be housed in the bomb bay like an ordinary FAB-250.
- WAP-1000: Container of flammable liquid that has been spilled over a target. The WAP was also available in 500 caliber. The containers were hung on the external hangers of the Pe-8.
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Auxiliary bombs : They were used to support the deployment of the main bombs. The most famous representatives of this genus were the light bombs. They were housed in the specially designed light and incendiary bomb bay in the fuselage bow and could be dropped by the navigator of the Pe-8 independently of the main bombs.
- SAB-100-55: Most famous light
- TAB-50-35: The only photo bomb that was used with the Pe-8. Shortly after the explosion it shone briefly with 700,000,000 candelas. Photographing was possible from a height of up to 7,500 m. The photo bombs were particularly useful for the Pe-8 on special reconnaissance missions. They illuminated the area to be photographed at night so that the reconnaissance was not limited to the day. Basically, photo bombs were therefore more effective light bombs, which, however, were not used to mark a target on the ground, but to mark a large area. The photos were taken from aboard the bomber.
The defensive armament of the Petlyakov Pe-8 comprised a total of five manned rifle stations. The bow tower initially consisted of the NEB bow tower (Носевая Електрищеская Базня - electrical bow tower) and the SchKAS twin machine gun . From mid-1943, only one MG SchKAS was installed in the modified bow, which also meant that the shooter was omitted, since the bombardier took over his job. The central state consisted of the turret TAT (Тяжелая Авиационая Турел '- Heavy aeronautical carriage) with a machine gun shvak cannon and the two engine nacelle objects from the gondola stand SchU (Шассийная Установка - Rack installation) and a Berezin UBT . The rear stand finally consisted of the KEB tower (Кормовая Електрищеская Базня - electrical rear tower) and a SchWAK. The aircraft's defense system was designed so that there were only blind spots in the immediate vicinity of the cell, but otherwise the entire space around the bomber was covered by at least two on-board weapons. The defensive armament of the first prototype was considerably stronger than that of the production aircraft (see technical data) and also included a SchKAS-MG in the rear pilot's cockpit, in the commander's position and in a floor stand under the back stand. In addition, a SchWAK cannon was installed on a tripod in the middle of the fuselage, with which it was possible to shoot from two window hatches on both sides. The bow MG was originally a SchWAK automatic cannon. The second prototype was largely equipped with serial armament.
crew
The crew of the Petlyakov Pe-8 consisted of eleven men. For special tasks, however, the number of crew members could vary between ten and twelve men. When the large-caliber FAB-5000NG high-explosive bomb was first deployed on the night of April 28-29, 1943, when the bomb was thrown from the Pe-8 with the serial number 42029 on Koenigsberg , in addition to the regular crew, the senior armament engineer of 45. AD, AP Taranenko, with. In special cases the crew could even consist of 13 men. Every crew member had to wear special equipment to protect against the cold at high altitudes, which consisted mainly of thick woolen clothing and a leather cover. Fur gloves should protect hands from frostbite. Because of the thin air at high altitudes, wearing an oxygen mask was essential for survival and therefore mandatory. The feet were protected with large sheepskin boots. Every member of the crew had a parachute close at hand so that they could leave the aircraft quickly in an emergency. In addition, many crew members carried a handgun in a small leather bag on their belt, which was not unusual for members of the Soviet Air Force. Each crew member on board had a special task, for which they often had to be extensively trained beforehand.
| Crew member | tasks |
|---|---|
| Pilot / commander | The pilot (also called the commander in some sources) steered the Pe-8 and thus took over the main task on board. He also coordinated the interaction of all other crew members and was thus the commanding officer of the long-range bomber. He was the pilot in the front of the pilot's cabin. |
| Copilot | The copilot helped the pilot with his duties and took over control of the aircraft when the commander had to attend to other tasks. He was sitting directly behind the pilot in the pilot's cabin of the Pe-8. |
| On-board mechanic | The on-board mechanic mainly monitored the work of the engines during the mission and had to crawl into the various sections of the aircraft to carry out repairs in the event of damage. His seat was behind the two pilots in a small room in the pilot's cabin. |
| Bombardier | The bombardier was responsible for the precise deployment of the drop armament over the target. He was in the front of the plane, right behind the nose gunner and above the bow glass where the bomb sight was. In the later versions of the Pe-8 (from mid-1943) it also operated the SchKAS -MG in the glazed bow. |
| Radio operator | The radio operator coordinated the communication between his own aircraft and the other bombers. He also received orders from the division headquarters and coordinates for the flight, which he passed on to the navigator. He was sitting at an instrument panel in the large room directly below the pilot's cabin on the left in the direction of flight. |
| navigator | The navigator, together with the pilot / commander, had the most important task in the Pe-8. Using maps and received commands, he calculated the course of the machine and guided it to its destination. He sat behind the radio operator in the large room under the pilot's cabin and had his own large table on which he could hang his cards. |
| Bow gunner | The nose gunner sat in the front of the glass turret and operated a SchKAS twin machine gun. It was omitted in the newer version of the Pe-8 from mid-1943. |
| Sagittarius of the central estate | The backman operated a SchWAK automatic cannon and sat on a specially attached canvas above the bomb bay of the Pe-8. He was also called "Master of Artillery" by the crews. |
| Rear gunner | The rear gunner sat in the stern turret and also operated a SchWAK automatic cannon. |
| Motor nacelle contactors on the left | The motor nacelle gunner knelt in the left motor nacelle stand facing the direction of flight and operated a UBT automatic cannon . |
| Motor nacelle contactors on the right | The motor nacelle gunner knelt in the right motor nacelle position in the direction of flight and also operated a UBT automatic cannon. |
commitment
Use before the start of the war
The first brand new TB-7 aircraft from Kazan were flown to Kiev-Borispol in the Ukraine in September 1939 . The 14th TBAP (14th Heavy Bombing Regiment) was stationed here and had been flying the TB-3 heavy bomber until then . This unit was chosen to carry out the practical troop and field trials of the new long-range bomber. The retraining of the staff was supported by the test pilots PM Stefanowski and GF Baidukow from the NII WWS. The technical staff in Borispol was retrained under the direction of IV Markov. Under the leadership of the squadron commander GS Stschottschikow, the squadron commissioner AP Tschuchajew and the squadron navigator Major Kovalenko, the 14th TBAP began with its conversion from TB-3 to TB-7. The commanders Major Dimitrijew, Hauptmann Remisow and First Lieutenant Makarenko, Dodonow and Naumenko were the first to receive the new type approval . The captains Pachomtschik, Lisatschow and Gorbunow received approval for training on the TB-7. Since initially only six TB-7s were available, these bombers were united until July 1940 in the 2nd season of the 14th TBAP under the leadership of AG Dimitrijew. On June 4, 1940, Marshal of the Soviet Union, Semyon Budjonny , paid a visit to the unit - evidence of the importance of the TB-7 in the eyes of the Red Army leadership.
From the spring of 1940, the 14th TBAP carried out regular test and practice flights with the TB-7 bombers. Take-offs and landings were rehearsed, the performance of the various engine types compared and flight personnel trained for the bomber. The resumption of series production in May 1940 also slowly increased the number of operational TB-7s in the regiment. Borispol regularly sent reports and ascertained data on the flights and testing to chief designer Neswal in Kazan. From the spring of 1941, however, these suddenly stopped, so that the chief engineer for flight tests, Ossokin, was forced to come to Borispol in April 1941 to check the condition of the long-range bombers. It turned out that the TB-7 had not been flown at all since December 1940. At that time, machine 4216 crashed while taking off, killing six crew members. This crash was the first ever aircraft accident of its type. In order to prevent further losses, the Commander-in-Chief of the Kiev Special Military District forbade the 14th TBAP to continue flying on the TB-7. This long flight break of five months had caused serious problems. Significant maintenance work had to be carried out on the aircraft and the pilots' flight permits had expired. Only when the well-known aviator Wladimir Dazko (he conducted the flight tests of the ANT-42 together with Stefanowski ) instructed the crews again, this problem was solved and the regiment was able to continue training and testing with the TB-7. When the war with Germany began in June 1941, the 14th TBAP had 14 TB-7s in stock. The other long-range bombers, which had already been built by this time, were ready for testing purposes in Moscow and Kazan and were not to be made available to the regiment until later. Due to the German attack on the Soviet Union, however, this did not happen.
Use during the war
1941
When the war against the Soviet Union began , only the 14th TBAP stationed in Kiev-Borispol was still equipped with TB-7. After the location in Kiev had been attacked several times by the German air force , the remaining nine aircraft were flown to Poltava on June 25, 1941 . On June 26, the TB-7 bombers were officially detached from the 2nd Squadron of the 14th TBAP and, unaware of the situation in Kiev-Borispol, placed under the reserve of the Commander-in-Chief. On the same day, W. I. Lebedev went to Borispol with the test pilot Mikhail Kawerin to carry out the order to outsource the 2nd squadron. After the troop unit could not be found, it was only with the help of the local residents that they found out that the machines were in Poltava and that the airfield of the 14th TBAP had been badly bombed by the German air force. Finally, in Poltava, the TB-7s were camouflaged on the spot and flown to Monino and later to Kazan at the manufacturer's airfield. Originally it was planned to form two squadrons with TB-7 and to subordinate the long-range bombing forces to the reserve of the headquarters. The actual situation and the lack of a sufficient number of bombers of this type made the formation of a second squadron impossible for the time being. In addition, it was decided in Kazan to convert all TB-7s to the M-30 and M-40 diesel engines and to large-caliber on-board weapons. Some TB-7s came to Kazan from Moscow, others could be taken over from the factory and nine machines came from the 14th TBAP in Kiev-Borispol. A total of 14 TB-7s were available in mid-July 1941. The conversions ordered by the headquarters could be done quickly, at least in the area of the engines, since the installation of the diesel engines was already mastered before the war. The renewal of the on-board weapons posed major problems, however, as the 7.62 mm SchKAS had to be exchanged for 12.7 mm UBT and BR automatic cannons . For this task, the entire engine nacelle had to be changed and redesigned, which took a long time. On July 27, 1941, the 412th DBAP (Remote Bombing Regiment) was finally formed under Lebedev's command. The colonel had eight TB-7s with M-40 and M-40F, one with M-30 and three machines with AM-35 and AM-35A. A few weeks later the TB-7s with the numbers 4215 and 4218 were finally handed over after a repair, making a total of 14 of these long-range bombers ready for use. These 14 aircraft were divided into five squadrons of three crews each, with the fifth squadron only having two crews:
| Season number | commander | Serial number of the aircraft | Board number |
|---|---|---|---|
| First season | Major AA Kurban | 42016 | 1 |
| First season | First Lieutenant AA Peregudow | 42025 | 2 |
| First season | Lieutenant WD Bidny | 42035 | 3 |
| Second season | Major AN Tyagunin | 42045 | 5 |
| Second season | First Lieutenant EK Puusepp | 42036 | 8th |
| Second season | Lieutenant MW Rodnych | 4225 | 6th |
| Third season | Major KP Yegorov | 42046 | 7th |
| Third season | Major MM Ugryumov | 42055 | 9 |
| Third season | Lieutenant AI Panfilov | 42026 | |
| Fourth season | Colonel AD Alexeyev | 42015 | |
| Fourth season | First Lieutenant IS Lisachev | 4221 | |
| Fourth season | Ever. O. Fedorenko | 4222 | |
| Fifth season | Major AG Dimitrijew | 4218 | |
| Fifth season | Captain AS Asjamov | 4215 |
On August 8, 1941, these machines and their crews, i.e. the entire 412th DBAP, were incorporated into the newly formed 81st Long-Distance Aviation Division under Michail Wodopjanow as the 432nd DBAP. The crews were recruited not only from military pilots but also from members of the Aeroflot , the polar air fleet and even from test pilots, because only the elite of the technical flight personnel were allowed to fly the TB-7. The first combat mission of the 432nd DBAP, and thus also the first combat mission of TB-7 at all, took place on the night of August 10th to 11th, 1941 from the airfield in Pushkin near Leningrad , where the squadron went on August 9th and 10th had been relocated. For the first use of the unit, only the eight TB-7s that were equipped with diesel engines M-40 were approved. They were given the blue board numbers, which the crews were able to use to distinguish their aircraft from one another. Berlin , the capital of the German Empire, was chosen as the target for this first combat mission . Stalin personally gave the order to carry out the mission on the morning of August 9, 1941. Orders for the crews were issued in Pushkin on the evening of the same day. The importance attached to this combat mission by the entire management level of the Soviet Air Force was expressed in the fact that the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Air Force and his subordinate Commander of the Air Force of the Soviet Northern Front , AA Novikov , were present at the briefing . They gave the crews of the TB-7 and Jer-2 final information and conveyed Stalin's greetings to them. As early as June 29, 1941, he had a meeting with the pilots VI Lebedjew and NI Novodranov in the Kremlin, during which he asked the pilots exactly how the most modern Soviet bombers of the time, the TB-7 and Jer-2, could be used. The plans for an attack against Berlin were already taking shape a week after the start of the war. In Pushkin, on the evening of August 9th, the special features of the flight to Berlin were explained to all those present and what to do in the event of a capture was discussed. On August 10th, the preparations for deployment within the 81st AD finally took place. The long-range bombers were refueled at their stand, bombs were hung, cards were pasted, navigational calculations were made and the crews again discussed the tactical behavior during the extremely demanding mission. Originally it was planned to fly the Berlin mission with ten TB-7 and 16 Jer-2 in six different attack waves, but reality forced some corrections. Now eight TB-7s and several Jer-2s should bomb the capital of the German Empire. The circumstances of the attack were extremely complex. The pilots, who were used to taking off from concrete runways in airplanes, were supposed to launch the bombers with maximum take-off mass from a very short grass runway, something that had not been trained either before the start of the war or in preparation for the deployment.
After some organizational discrepancies such as the order of the individual squadrons at take-off had been clarified, eight TB-7s from the 432nd DBAP and several medium twin-engine long-range bombers of the type Jer-2 from the 420th DBAP finally took off on the evening of August 10, 1941 8:50 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. from Pushkin across the Baltic Sea towards Berlin. But even the take-off of the planes went anything but according to plan. When the TB-7 with the serial number 42046 under Major KP Jegorow took off, the two right engines failed and the bomber exploded during the subsequent crash landing in front of the airfield. Six crew members lost their lives. At least one Jer-2 suffered the same fate. When more and more burning aircraft wrecks lined the edge of the airfield, the entire fight start was finally canceled. But it wasn't just the start that was catastrophic. The TB-7 with the serial number 42025 was so badly damaged by its own Soviet flak 30 km west of Tallinn that the crew had to ask for permission to return. After the machine had thrown its entire load of weapons into the Baltic Sea, it rolled back to its position in Pushkin a few hours later, severely damaged. However, the 42025 was not the only machine in the division that was attacked by its own flak and fighter planes. Several TB-7 and Jer-2 were shot at by their own I-16s , whose pilots believed that the bombers were German planes. A Jer-2 was set on fire by Soviet fighters and crashed near Krasnogwardejsk . The crew was able to save themselves with the parachute, but lost their commander. The same fate befell the TB-7 with board number 42045. Of all the aircraft that took off, only three TB-7 and three Jer-2 reached their destination Berlin. Two more TB-7s were lost on the return flight; 42036 landed in Estonia , the crew, to which the commander of the 81st AD, MW Wodopjanow, belonged, found their way back to Pushkin only because of the knowledge of their Estonian copilot Puusepp . In total, only three TB-7s and two Jer-2s returned home, but only one aircraft landed in Pushkin again, the 42025, which was reversed after the shelling near Tallinn. The other two machines ended their use on alternate airports in the Baltic States and the north-western RSFSR .
The first combat use of TB-7 bombers only partially achieved its goal and was associated with extreme losses; he revealed numerous weaknesses and errors in planning and execution. The losses and breakdowns on bombers of this type were disproportionate to the effort involved in maintaining, servicing and ensuring the operational readiness of the aircraft. In order to be able to continue using the TB-7 effectively for combat missions in the future, a completely new strategy and tactics had to be developed. Especially when the TB-7 was deployed, it became clear what serious consequences the Stalinist purges had within the Soviet air forces. Many of the most capable pilots with the highest level of leadership had been liquidated before the start of the war, and the commanders who moved up often had no experience whatsoever in their tasks. The losses due to errors, which could easily have been avoided, were correspondingly high. The level of training within the air force was also catastrophic at the beginning of the war. The pilots were not instructed in the specifics of the individual aircraft types and often did not even have basic basic knowledge. All these problems also occurred in the 81st AD, although not to the same extent as in other formations of the air force, since here most of the pilots came from the polar air fleet or the Aeroflot. Other mundane things were also completely forgotten. The high losses caused by the aircraft being shot down in Berlin were mainly due to the fact that the air force command failed to inform the individual anti-aircraft and fighter regiments about the use of the TB-7. Accordingly, it was also not recognized that the four-engine bombers were Soviet and not German aircraft. It was not until 1942 that the level of training, the effectiveness and also the coordination of air defense and air forces improved, so that further cases of losses from our own flak and fighters almost no longer occurred.
Within the 81st Long-Distance Aviation Division, the losses were dealt with in accordance with Stalin's doctrine; there were big changes in personnel. MW Wodopjanow was released from command of the division, followed by A. Je. Golovanov . In addition, it was ordered to pay special attention to the deployment and the level of training within the 81st AD in order to be able to ensure their effective use in the future. Ultimately, due to the Berlin mission, there was also an important conclusion about the technology of the TB-7. The M-40 diesel engines were extremely unreliable, so that future long-range bombers should only be equipped with the M-30 and AM-35A engines. The division was moved first to Kazan, then finally to Vsegoditschi near Kovrov and began sporadically to attack both front and long-range targets. The first combat deployment of TB-7 after the Berlin disaster took place on August 28th. The TB-7 with the serial numbers 4221 and 4222 started the battle. In September, the 432nd DBAP slowly regenerated itself, and things settled in order. From October 1941 new attacks were flown regularly and the entire division stabilized. On December 3, the 81st AD was then renamed the 3rd AD and shortly afterwards (December 12, 1941) the 432nd Regiment also received the new number 746. By the end of the year, the following missions were flown with the TB-7 bombers:
| aims | Starts | Flight time | Dropped bombs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long-term goals | 15th | 144: 32 h | 33.23 t |
| Battlefield | 28 | 196: 59 h | 72.12 t |
| Railway systems | 20th | 113: 33 h | 59.40 t |
| Airfields | 5 | 35:16 h | 13.25 t |
The long-term destinations are the cities of Berlin , Gdansk , Königsberg and Memel . All other targets were in the area that had been occupied by the Wehrmacht .
1942
The new year began for the 3rd AD (the former 81st AD) with relief, as the Wehrmacht's offensive in front of Moscow could be stopped by the Red Army, which also led to a reduction in the number of attacks on German front positions. As early as January 1942, the headquarters of the 3rd Long-Distance Aviation Division was relocated to Moscow, and in the second half of January the 746th DBAP (the former 432nd DBAP) was partly relocated from Vsegoditschi near Kowrov to Kratowo, southeast of Moscow. The next major structural change took place on March 18, 1942; the 746th DBAP was spun off from the 3rd Division and now formed an independent regiment. On April 1, the new base in Kratowo was officially declared the regiment's location. The most important event of the spring of 1942 within the air force did not take place in the TB-7 unit, but concerned the entire future organization of the long-range aviation units. On March 5, 1942, the decree on the formation of the Soviet was Long Range Aviation (Авиация дальнего действия - Long Range Aviation), the ADD, the State Defense Committee of the USSR adopted. As a result of this restructuring, all previous units in which bombers flew with long range (i.e. DB-3 , Il-4 , Jer-2 and TB-7) were divided into long-range flier divisions under the command of the long-range pilot. Although there were already divisions in which only long-range bombers flew (the 81st / 3rd DBAD was such a unit), they were not subordinate to any superordinate body and were deployed according to the interests of the individual fronts of the Red Army , which changed in the course of the year 1941 proved to be of little use. Now the Supreme Commander (in this case Stalin himself) and the staff of the ADD could coordinate the attacks of the individual divisions of the long-range air forces and coordinate their operations with one another in order to achieve a higher impact.
The independent 746th DBAP was also to be integrated into a long-range flying division as part of this new tactic, but this required a second regiment with long-range bombers. That is why the plan to form a second TB-7 regiment, which had been rejected in the summer of 1941, has now been resumed. A start was made to outsource personnel and bombers from the 746th Regiment and to form a new unit from it. These activities were completed on June 4, 1942. On that day the 890th DBAP ADD (890th Long-Distance Air Force Regiment) was officially established and on June 10, 1942 the 746th DBAP and 890th DBAP were merged to form the 45th AD ADD (45th Long-Distance Air Force Division). The result was the first Soviet long-distance flight division, which combined planes with strategic range and very high payload capacity. Both regiments flew their first mission, i.e. the entire 45th AD, on June 15, 1942. A total of 15 TB-7s were available at this time, eight machines in the 746th regiment and seven aircraft in the 890th DBAP. In the 890th Regiment, a special TB-7, the 4202 or 385D, flew since its formation. It was the second prototype of the bomber, which had been converted to standard AM-35A engines in early 1942 and was now to fly combat missions in the 45th AD. The ANT-42 "Dubleur" was particularly popular with the pilots in the division because its curb weight was 1.5 tons less than that of the production aircraft and it therefore had significantly better flight characteristics. Major WT Lavrowski became the commandant of the ANT-42 "Dubleur".
On September 8, 1942, the TB-7 was renamed Pe-8, whereupon the new type designation was also used in the internal documents of the ADD. In the following years, the long-range bombers of the 45th AD flew their missions against numerous long-range and front-line targets. The second ever deployment of Pe-8 bombers in Berlin is particularly striking. It took place on the night of August 26th to 27th, 1942 from Kratowo. This time the conditions were much better than in 1941 and the extreme losses of the previous year could now be avoided. Although only a single Pe-8 made it to the target in this attack, all bombers returned undamaged. The following Berlin missions were also successful, but not without losses. During the attack on the night of August 29th to 30th, 1942, Major BA Kubyschko's 42018 had to make an emergency landing near Kaunas and its crew became a prisoner of war. Overall, the long-range bombers of the 45th AD in 1942 flew operations against the enemy hinterland, for example against Berlin, Bucharest , Budapest , Stettin , Stargard , Stolp , Danzig, Koenigsberg, Labiau , Insterburg , Tilsit and Warsaw , as well as against targets at the front as Orsha , Smolensk , Vyazma , Balbasowo , Vitebsk and Bryansk . For this year the following statistics result in both squadrons of the 45th AD:
| Data | 746. DBAP | 890. DBAP |
|---|---|---|
| Mission starts | 620 | 365 |
| Flight time in use | 2893: 26 h | 1764: 13 h |
| The mass of bombs dropped | 1,822 t | 1,122 t |
| Aircraft losses | 10 | 3 |
| Personnel losses | 42 | 23 |
1943
The year 1943 was the high point of the use of the Pe-8. After the 45th AD had gained a lot of experience in the use of these long-range bombers in the previous year, it was now able to fully exploit the potential of the aircraft. The bombers were used for a variety of tasks that could only be accomplished by aircraft of this size and range, such as the dropping of leaflets in East Prussia and occupied Poland . Numerous technical improvements were also implemented in the previous year. In August 1942 an experiment was carried out within the 45th Division in which the underside of the Pe-8 with the serial numbers 42015 and 42028 was painted in deep black instead of the traditional light blue. The result was that the aircraft could practically no longer be seen above an altitude of 300 m in the light of the searchlights . From this point on, almost all other Pe-8s were given this black paint. In addition, special measurement parameters had already been determined in the previous year with which the fuel consumption of Pe-8 bombers with AM-35A engines could be precisely classified. Only extremely precise analyzes by the division's technical service allowed the bombers to be deployed to Berlin and Danzig. The year 1943 was also marked in the Pe-8 association by the fact that the first serial machines with the radial engines ASch-82 arrived in the combat unit. The first bombers with this engine type arrived in the 45th AD last year, but only for test purposes. On January 31, 1943, the 42058, the first Pe-8 of the new series with these engines, entered the division. The ASch-82 engine in particular caused many problems later, however, as the flames that came out of the engine's exhaust pipes unmasked the aircraft and made it an easy target for enemy night fighters and anti-aircraft artillery. For this reason, the technical service of the 45th AD later developed a flame destroyer for the ASch-82 in order to better protect the Pe-8 equipped with these engines. But not only the ASch-82 expanded the inventory of engine types that the Pe-8 bombers had in the division. The experiments with diesel engines were also resumed. After the disaster of the Berlin mission in 1941, hardly any more bombers with engines of this type were built. Three Pe-8s with the newly developed ATSch-30B, which was an improved variant of the M-30, were manufactured in Kazan as early as 1942, but most of them did not fly until the spring of 1943. One of these missions was the first drop the large-caliber FAB-5000NG high-explosive bomb, which was specially developed for use with the Pe-8 because no other type of Soviet aircraft could transport a bomb of this size. The first blow from one of these bombs hit the city of Königsberg on the morning of April 29, 1943. The FAB-5000 was transported by the Pe-8 equipped with ATSch-30B with the serial number 42029.
Overall, the climax of the combat operations in the third year of the war was reached in the summer of 1943 during the Battle of Kursk and the liberation of Oryol . From Kratowo, the Pe-8 bombed various targets such as the front positions of the Wehrmacht or important industrial centers in the rear occupied area. The 45th AD and its two regiments had to fight heavy losses during this time, among other things because the Air Force relocated the IV. Group of their Night Fighter Squadron 5 with Ju 88 and Do 217 to the Eastern Front in order to prevent night attacks there. The initially unsuccessful missions of the German night fighters became increasingly effective through the use of radar technology. On the night of July 17-18, they were able to achieve eight kills in only 14 operational flights, the number of Pe-8s being shot down is unknown. On the night of July 20-21, Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein alone shot down three Petlyakov Pe-8s. Only in a precise evaluation within the division was the reasons for these extreme losses analyzed and the fight against them began. In the summer of 1943 one of the two regiments of the 45th AD was in combat almost every night. Attempts were made to take regular maintenance breaks for the long-range bombers, but even that could not be guaranteed with the extreme use. In the fierce air battles of that year, the elite of the Soviet aircrew proved their worth as part of the 45th AD. Famous test pilots and, above all, members of the Soviet polar air fleet served in the Pe-8 formation. Pilots like EK Puusepp and AS Dodonow were part of the division and became known for their service in it after the war. The constant commitment of the 45th Long-Distance Aviation Division was ultimately rewarded with the fact that at least the 746th DBAP, i.e. the original TB-7 Regiment, was awarded the title of Guard on September 18, 1943, which gave it the new name of the 25th Guard Bombing Regiment of Long-Distance Aviation Forces (25 . GwBAP ADD). Overall, the 45th AD ADD flew in 1943 primarily against military and industrial installations in the areas of Danzig, Königsberg, Insterburg, Tilsit, Warsaw and Brest . Railway systems and positions of the Wehrmacht were also attacked. This results in the following statistics for the third year of the war:
| Data | 746. DBAP / 25. GwBAP | 890. DBAP |
|---|---|---|
| Mission starts | 639 | 558 |
| Flight time in use | 3010: 40 h | 2655: 05 h |
| The mass of bombs dropped | 2,402 t | 2,110 t |
| Aircraft losses | 4th | 13 |
| Personnel losses | 16 | 62 |
1944
The fourth year of the war began with an important change within the 45th AD. On January 10, 1944, she received an additional new regiment, the 362nd AP, which flew the American B-25 Mitchell . These twin-engined bombers were delivered to the USSR under the Lend Lease Treaty . At the end of April, the first B-25s arrived in the 45th AD and were handed over to the 362nd AP. The 890th DBAP was also equipped with B-25 in one squadron, which meant that both Pe-8 and B-25 were now flying in one regiment. Only the 25th GwBAP remained exclusively equipped with Pe-8. On July 10, 1944, the new 362nd AP of the 45th AD ADD flew its first combat mission with ten B-25s. Before the takeover of the B-25, however, the use of the Pe-8 reached another high point. In February 1944, the ADD began a strategic air operation against Finland , which was intended to induce a withdrawal from the war. On the night of February 7th, the 45th Long Distance Aviation Division flew its first mission against Helsinki , the capital of Finland, with 16 Pe-8s . Two FAB-5000s were also dropped on the city again, which caused severe fires and destruction in the cable works and the barracks area. But a Pe-8 was also lost via Helsinki: The machine with the serial number 421010 was shot down by enemy flak. Attacks against Helsinki were carried out on two additional nights up to the end of February, but between February 11 and 23, mainly against Kotka and Turku . These operations against Finland were among the largest operations Pe-8 took part in. On May 30, 1944 the 45th AD was moved from Kratowo to Olsufjewo near Smolensk and from there later to Balbasowo, south of Orsha. Although the division had fought from Kratowo for more than two years, relocation had become necessary because the front was too far away from the base, even for the long-range bombers, but especially for the new B-25s. Other larger deployments of Pe-8 took place against targets in Belarus as part of Operation Bagration in June and July 1944. On the night of 1st to 2nd August 1944, the last combat deployment of Pe-8 in World War II against the port of Riga . Nine Pe-8s of the 25th GwBAP and three long-range bombers of the 890th DBAP, a total of twelve of the four-engine long-range bombers, took off from Olsufjewo between 10:00 p.m. and 10:25 p.m. in the direction of the capital of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic . Among the three aircraft of the 890th regiment was again the 385D, ie the ANT-42 “Dubleur”. The mission was successful; the port of Riga could be badly damaged. But even in this last combat mission by Pe-8 bombers, a machine was lost: Captain Grjasnow's 42512 did not return.
Although the Pe-8 long-range bombers were noticeably less used by the new B-25, the headquarters of the ADD decided after the end of the operation on August 2, 1944, to use the Pe-8 bombers only in case of special need. There were several reasons for this. Even at the beginning of the war, the USSR tried to get American four-engine long-range bombers and to supplement their Pe-8s with them. However, since the USA feared that the Soviet Union could use these aircraft against the Americans themselves after the war, it refused to deliver long-range bombers. On the one hand, the Pe-8s became more and more important to the Soviet leadership because, due to the unsuccessful agreements, they would initially remain the only heavy four-engine long-range bombers of the Soviet air force. On the other hand, since autumn 1944, the entire enemy territory was also accessible with twin-engine machines, so that one did not want to put the Pe-8 at risk unnecessarily. But not only the aircraft had become too valuable for the ADD leadership; the aeronautical personnel in the 45th AD was now among the best in the entire USSR, which is why they did not want to lose them in operations with the Pe-8. Until the end of the war, the 45th AD only flew on the B-25 bombers of the 362nd and 890th AP. In the following statistic, the 362nd AP is omitted because only the units that flew the Pe-8 are taken into account. In the 890th DBAP, however, the B-25 must also be included, since in this regiment, in contrast to the 25th GwBAP, not only Pe-8s flew:
| Data | 25. GwBAP | 890. DBAP |
|---|---|---|
| Mission starts | 159 | 384 |
| Flight time in use | 957: 57 h | 1796: 16 h |
| The mass of bombs dropped | 602 t | 716 t |
| Aircraft losses | 4th | 10 |
| Personnel losses | 42 | 27 |
The Pe-8 at war
The Petlyakov Pe-8 played an important role in the Great Patriotic War . Above all, it had a positive influence on the morale of the Soviet people. Despite the small number of models, the Pe-8 also flew a large number of combat missions compared to other Soviet bombers. Even if the approximately 20 aircraft that were always available in the 45th AD could not achieve the same performance as the many thousands of British and US long-range bombers, the Pe-8 alone carried out the tasks that other aircraft could not solve were. They bombed enemy cities at night with large arms loads, threw 5000 kg high explosive bombs (FAB-5000NG) on enemy troop positions and were able to severely destroy the enemy's infrastructure. The missions usually had a great effect, attacks only rarely failed due to inaccurate bombing or enemy defenses. In relation to the number of builds, the Pe-8 was very effective. The long-range bombers coped well with their role as tactical front-end bombers. The attacks took place regularly from heights of at least 5000 m and the target devices showed a high accuracy of hits when fighting front positions. The Pe-8 mostly found the target quite precisely by optical orientation and approaching by waypoints guided by radio. In the end, the aircraft became known during the war as the only modern four-engine, long-range heavy bomber in the Soviet Union. Due to its uniqueness, it enjoyed great media attention in the Soviet Union during the war, which is why journalists and front-line reporters often visited the 45th AD. Overall, the following statistics can be compiled for the Pe-8 and the 45th Long-Distance Aviation Division for the entire war (only the data of the Pe-8 are shown, the B-25 was not recorded, although it also flew in the division). The losses of people and machines also include those of the 412/432. DBAP counted, which includes all units that the Pe-8 flew temporarily in war:
| Data | 45. AD ADD |
|---|---|
| Number of combat missions | 2,521 |
| Flight time in use | 12.232: 81 h |
| The mass of bombs dropped | 9,755 t |
| Aircraft losses | 48 |
| Personnel losses | 320 |
Use after the end of the war
Immediately after the end of the war, extensive changes and restructuring began in the Soviet air force. The 45th AD took the 52nd Guards Squadron, equipped with Tupolev TB-3 , as the fourth squadron . The 890th DBAP was dissolved at the end of 1945 and its staff, if not demobilized, was taken over by the 25th GwBAP. The 25th GwBAP was officially renamed the 203rd Orlovsk Guard Bombing Regiment on December 15, 1945.
The fate of the 37 Pe-8s that survived the war was determined by tragedy. When the Red Army Victory Parade took place in Moscow on June 24, 1945 , the 45th AD with 18 Pe-8s also traveled there to take part in the air parade. However, as it was raining heavily, this did not take place, so that the planes were flown back to Balbasowo over the next few weeks. On September 12, the crew of the commander NA Ishchenko prepared for the return flight at the Bykovo airfield , about ten kilometers from Kratovo. The start of the Pe-8 had to be postponed by about two hours because the engines were not working properly. After the bomber had flown a traffic pattern, a wing broke off during course alignment and the Pe-8 fell to the ground. All 13 crew members died in this disaster. In the following weeks, strength tests were carried out on all Pe-8s. The result was disastrous. During the many years of the war, the wing spars of the machines were badly corroded, and other parts were also affected by this material fatigue. The damage was so severe that it was difficult to repair. In addition, most of the machines were no longer needed anyway, since work was already being carried out on the successor to the Pe-8. Of the 37 machines, 22 were written off. Just under a year later, in autumn 1946, these last aircraft were also handed over to the Research Institute of the Air Force (NII WWS) and the Ministry of Aviation Industry (NII MAP). The last time three Pe-8s were shown on August 18, 1946, Air Fleet Day, at an aircraft exhibition in Moscow. The Pe-8 ended its seven-year active service as a long-range heavy bomber in the Soviet air force.
The other Pe-8s were used as test vehicles for engines and in 1945 as a carrier aircraft for the cruise missile " Tschelomei 10ch " and in 1948/49 for the test of the rocket experimental aircraft Bisnowat 5 . The machines used for this were specially converted; it was probably three to four Pe-8s.
Although the Pe-8 had not been manufactured since December 1944, new demand for these machines arose shortly after the end of the war. In 1944 the last Tupolev ANT-6s were retired from the Soviet polar air fleet. These machines were the only four-engine transporters there and a comparable successor could only be found in the Pe-8. The former bombers were now to serve as transport aircraft in the polar air fleet when setting up research stations in the Arctic . They were supposed to provide supplies and groceries and thus benefit research. As a result, from 1946 onwards, some of the machines handed over by the air forces were converted at the manufacturing plant in Kazan for use in the Arctic. For this they all received the Schwezow ASch-82 FN engine with four-blade propellers and the defensive armament was completely removed. Like the rear stand, the back stand was expanded and disguised. The last Pe-8 in the polar air fleet (СССР-Н562) was later also equipped with the ASch-73 engine, which was also used in the Tupolev Tu-4 . The use of five aircraft in the polar air fleet has been confirmed. However, hardly any information is available about the СССР-Н419. The rumor that the second prototype of the Pe-8, the ANT-42 “Dubleur”, served in the polar air fleet after the war cannot be documented.
| Construction year | number | Work number | Mark | annotation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| СССР-Н419 | Was painted completely blue and took part in the expeditions "Norden-2" and "Norden-4" in 1948 and 1949. | |||
| 1943 | 77 | 42311 | СССР-Н562 | Performed the last ever Pe-8 flight, served in the polar air fleet until 1954. |
| 1944 | 79 | 42511 | СССР-Н396 | Was involved in the construction of the "Nordpol-2" station. |
| 1944 | 90 | 42612 | СССР-Н550 | Former Pe-8 ON, lost in 1950 due to a broken gear at Dikson. |
| 1944 | 92 | 42812 | СССР-Н395 | First Pe-8 in the polar air fleet, lost on June 7, 1947; today their remains are kept in Monino. |
The last flight of a Petlyakov Pe-8 was carried out in 1954 with the 42311 (registration number СССР-Н562). The machines were already very outdated and no longer needed. In 1961, the polar air fleet was finally completely disbanded.
Flight to Washington
On May 19, 1942, the TB-7 with the serial number 42066 took off under the command of Major Puusepp with the Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov on a flight to Washington. A TB-7 with pilot Asjamow had already flown to Tealing / Dundee in Scotland for diplomatic negotiations on April 28th. The 42066 also made a stopover in Tealing and flew to Prestwick on May 24th to prepare the aircraft for the Atlantic flight. The departure took place on May 27th with the next stopover in Reykjavík / Iceland. On the morning of May 30th, after a seven-hour flight, she arrived at the alternate Goose Bay airfield in Canada and landed on the same day at Bolding Field in Washington / USA. The return flight took place on June 4th on the same route, except that instead of landing in Goose Bay in Gander, Newfoundland. On June 12, the plane arrived at Moscow Central Airport again. This flight was the first and only Atlantic crossing by a TB-7. The crew then resumed their service in the 45th Division.
Whereabouts
Today there is no Petlyakov Pe-8 left. The majority of the machines were lost in the war or were scrapped after the end of the war and the end of their service life. Still, it is possible to see the remains of a Pe-8 in the Central Museum of the Russian Air Force in Monino . The remains of the Pe-8 with the serial number 42812 that were recovered from the ice are exhibited there. The machine, which was originally equipped with ATSch-30B engines and is one of the last Pe-8 ever built, served in the polar air fleet and had an accident in the Arctic on June 7, 1947. Their remains have been restored and exhibited in the museum. There is little hope of a complete reconstruction; Above all, there is a lack of financial resources to carry it out.
There is also a small memorial near Lapinjärvi in southern Finland for the six fallen crew members of the TB-7 with the work number 42026, which had to make an emergency landing here during the attack on Berlin on the early morning of August 11, 1941. The monument was inaugurated on the 40th anniversary of the USSR's victory in the Great Patriotic War on May 9, 1985 in the presence of approximately 300 people, including staff from the Soviet embassy in Finland, Finnish communists, relatives of the fallen, Soviet war veterans and local residents. It consists of a large stone on which several bronze plaques are placed. The names of the six fallen as well as their birth and death years can be read on one of the panels. These include AI Panfilow (commander), GS Boloboschko (navigator), AG Gaynutdinow (on-board technician), WE Tjuschkin (on-board technician), IW Shatrov (nose gunner) and WI Stanewski (radio operator). Since the Russian embassy in Finland did not have the financial means to ensure the proper maintenance of the monument after the collapse of the Soviet Union , it is now mainly organized by relatives of the fallen and Finnish communists. Members of communist parties also occasionally hold small memorial services with wreath-laying ceremonies at the monument, the last time being on August 10, 2011 on the 70th anniversary of the crash.
Trivia
When the Petlyakov Pe-8 was in action, there were some curious incidents, which were also mentioned again and again in the stories of Pe-8 veterans and which clearly illustrate the performance of the personnel entrusted with the operation of the Pe-8.
- During the first use of the TB-7, the attack on Berlin on the night of August 11, 1941, Major MM Ugrjumow with his 42055 lost fine orientation after successfully dropping the bombs on the return flight and landed on a grass runway near Borseni, 50 km northeast from Torzhok near Kalinin . Since individual engines had already failed several times before and restarting in the air always cost a lot of fuel, the tanks of the bomber were completely empty on landing. But a lucky coincidence played into the hands of the crew. There was an abandoned kolkhoz nearby, which also housed a tank farm with diesel fuel for tractors. So the men rolled the big plane up to the camp to fill the tanks with the diesel. Since there was no container to fill the fuel with apart from an ordinary bucket, refueling took almost two whole days. Ugryumov then took off the TB-7 on the grass runway and landed on August 12 at 4:30 p.m. at its home airfield, Pushkin, where no one had believed the crew would return.
- On the night of November 7, 1941, the TB-7 with board number "Blue 4" of the 432nd DBAP (the aircraft's serial number is not exactly known) bombed the power station in Danzig . On the return flight, the crew, led by EK Puusepp , believed that they were already shortly before Kowrow at their home airfield, but flew exactly over the front line when they came out of the clouds at a height of 500 m and came under German flak fire. The bomber's fourth engine immediately caught fire. After attempts to extinguish the fire on board failed, the crew jumped off and gathered in a village four kilometers from Kashin on the Volga. Only the rear gunner was missing. The crew returned to Vsegoditschi to the airfield of the 432nd Regiment and did not care about the fate of their machine. Three weeks later, however, the unit received an inquiry as to whether a four-engine aircraft was missing. In fact, the TB-7 with the board number "Blue 4" was only slightly damaged east of Kashin in a swampy area. The following had happened: Puusepp switched off the aircraft's engines and set the autopilot of the TB-7 to descent before he left the aircraft. Strangely enough, the fire on the fourth engine then extinguished itself and the machine covered several kilometers without a driver before it crash-landed in the swamp without major damage. The rear gunner had meanwhile not heard the order to jump, so he only left the machine when he found the remaining sections of the bomber completely empty. However, the jump was not a good decision for the shooter, as he was a commander who had been transferred to punishment and could theoretically have flown the TB-7 to an alternate airfield on his own. In any case, a technical brigade of the 432nd DBAP under the leadership of the on-board technician SN Dimitrijew went to the scene of the accident and repaired the damaged TB-7. A short time later, the four-engine long-range bomber landed in Vsegoditschi and was able to be included in the mission statistics again.
- After a night mission, Major NN Ilyukhin flew to the runway in Kratowo on the morning of July 6, 1942 with the Pe-8 with the serial number 42087 of the 890th DBAP. After the heavy bomber touched down, after a few hundred meters it suddenly braked sharply and overturned on the runway because Commander Ilyukhin had mistaken the concrete runway for the Moscow River behind it . All crew members survived unharmed, but the Pe-8 was completely destroyed. The entire front section of the bomber lay splintered on the runway and the rest of the machine was also badly damaged. By the evening of July 6th, the technical service of the 45th AD pulled the wreckage of the Pe-8 into the division's workshop and began repairs that were actually completely hopeless. All that was sent from the manufacturing plant in Kazan was a complete "F-1" nose section, the rest of the items had to be completed on site and assembled from spare parts. Despite these complicated circumstances, the repair was managed and the aircraft could be included in the operational statistics of the 890th DBAP. After this accident, the 42087 flew a total of 86 combat missions before it was completely destroyed in another accident on March 13, 1943.
Technical specifications
| Parameter | ANT-42 (without AZN) | ANT-42 "Dubleur" (AZN-2) | TB-7 (AM-35A) | TB-7 (M-40F) | Pe-8 (ASch-82) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conception | Long-range bomb plane | |||||
| constructor | W. M. Petlyakov | |||||
| Construction year | 1936 | 1938 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | |
| span | 39.00 m | 39.13 m | ||||
| length | 22.78 m | k. A. | 23.20 m | |||
| Altitude in flight | 8.16 m | 8.26 m | ||||
| Height when standing | 6.40 m | 6.20 m | ||||
| Wing area | 188.40 m² | 188.66 m² | ||||
| Wing span | 11.12 m | 12.00 m | ||||
| Elevator surface | 26.82 m² | 30.80 m² | 31.39 m² | |||
| Vertical tail surface | 10.85 m² | 11.95 m² | 11.95 m² | |||
| Track width | 6.94 m | 6.64 m | ||||
| Wheelbase | k. A. | 15.58 m | ||||
| Landing gear wheel | 1,600 × 500 mm | k. A. | 1,600 × 500 mm | 1,660 × 585 mm | ||
| Rear wheel | 600 × 250 mm | 700 × 300 mm | ||||
| Empty mass | k. A. | 18,755 kg | 18,380 kg | 19,790 kg | 18,570 kg | |
| Max. Takeoff mass | k. A. | 32,000 kg | 33,500 kg | 35,000 kg | ||
| Engine type | four Mikulin AM-34FRN | four Mikulin AM-34FRNW + one Klimow M-100A |
four Mikulin AM-35A | four Charomsky M-40F | four Schwezow ASch-82 | |
| Starting power | 882.60 kW (1,200 PS) each |
each 882.60 kW (1,200 PS) + 632.53 kW (860 PS) |
992.92 kW (1350 PS) each |
1,103.25 kW (1,500 PS) each |
992.92 kW (1,350 PS) each |
|
| Continuous output | 684.01 kW (930 PS) each |
each 772.27 kW (1,050 PS) + 566.33 kW (770 PS) |
823.76 kW (1,120 hp) each |
919.37 kW (1,250 PS) each |
992.92 kW (1,350 PS) each |
|
| Propeller type | WPSch-3B | WISch-24 | k. A. | |||
| Diameter of the propellers | 3.9 m | 4.1 m | k. A. | |||
| Capacity of the fuel system | 10,996 L. | 11,050 l | 12,455 l | 11,660 l | 16,355 l | |
| Fill capacity of the lubricant system | 175 l | k. A. | 462 l | 670 l | k. A. | |
| Top speed | 322 km / h near the ground, 370 km / h at an altitude of 3,600 m |
310 km / h near the ground 444 km / h at high altitude |
337 km / h near the ground 443 km / h at 6,360 m altitude |
355 km / h near the ground 393 km / h at an altitude of 5,640 m |
362 km / h near the ground, 422 km / h at an altitude of 5,600 m |
|
| Service ceiling | 8,240 m | 10,400 m | 10,300 m | 9,200 m | 7,820 m | |
| Range | k. A. | 3,000 km | 4,700 km | 5,460 km | 5,600 km | |
| Time to climb to 5 km | k. A. | 20.0 min | 14.6 min | 16.2 min | 15.0 min | |
| Take-off run | k. A. | 450 m | k. A. | |||
| Landing runway | k. A. | 550 m | k. A. | |||
| Armament | see "Technical Description" | a 20 mm SchWAK cannon in the rear stand (200 shells) a 20 mm SchWAK cannon in the rear stand (200 shells) each one 12.7 mm MG BR in the motor gondola stand (each 220 cartridges) one 7.62 mm Twin machine gun SchKAS in the bow (650 cartridges each) |
||||
| Max. Bomb load | k. A. | 4,000 kg | 5,000 kg | 6,000 kg | ||
| crew | 11 (2 pilots, 5 gunner, 1 radio operator, 1 bombardier, 1 mechanic, 1 navigator). The crew size could vary between 10 and 12. See "Crew" | |||||
Source:
literature
- М. А. Маслов: " Летающие крепости " Сталина. Бомбардировщик Пе-8 . Коллекция Яуза ЭКСМО, Moscow 2009, ISBN 978-5-699-36247-9 .
- В. Г. Ригмант: Тяжёлый Бомбардировщик Пе-8 (ТБ-7) . В виде брошюры в Авиаколлекция, June 2010.
- Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber . Brandenburgisches Verlagshaus, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-89488-048-1 .
- Olaf Groehler : History of the Air War 1910 to 1980 . Military Publishing House of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin 1981, p. 326 .
- Olaf Groehler: Petlyakov Pe-8 (TB-7) . In: Legendary Airplanes . Military publishing house of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-327-00863-9 .
- Ulrich Unger: With the Pe-8 across the Atlantic . In: Wolfgang Sellenthin (Ed.): Fliegerkalender der DDR 1983 . Military Publishing House of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin 1982, p. 95-109 .
- Wilfried Copenhagen : Soviet bomb planes . Transpress, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-344-00391-7 .
- Wolfgang Sellenthin: Type show - four-engined bombers of the Second World War . In: Aviator Calendar of the GDR 1976 . Military Publishing House of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin 1975, p. 194/195 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, p. 8.
- ↑ М. А. Маслов: "Летающие крепости" Сталина. Бомбардировщик Пе-8. 2009, p. 11.
- ^ Wilfried Copenhagen: Soviet bomb planes. 1989, p. 140.
- ↑ М. А. Маслов: "Летающие крепости" Сталина. Бомбардировщик Пе-8. 2009, p. 36.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, p. 102.
- ↑ М. А. Маслов: "Летающие крепости" Сталина. Бомбардировщик Пе-8. 2009, p. 91.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, pp. 143-146.
- ↑ according to Olaf Groehler: Geschichte des Luftkriegs 1910 to 1980. Military publishing house of the German Democratic Republic, Berlin 1981, p. 326 only 79 pieces were built.
- ^ Olaf Groehler : Legendary aircraft: Petlyakov TB-7 . In: Aviator Calendar of the GDR 1980 . Berlin 1979, p. 68.
- ↑ Der Tag M. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1995 (original title: День "М", translated by Hans Jaeger), ISBN 3-608-91676-8 .
- ↑ Ulrich Unger: The long-range bomber Pe-8 in historical speculations. In Flieger Revue 7/1994. Pp. 36-41.
- ^ Bergstrom, Christer (2007). Kursk — The Air Battle: July 1943. Hersham, Surrey: Classic Publications. ISBN 1-90322-388-1 .
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, p. 34.
- ↑ Peter Korrell: TB-3 - The story of a bomber. 1987, p. 133.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, pp. 60-61.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, pp. 143-148.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, p. 212.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, pp. 25-26.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, p. 36.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, pp. 37-38.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, pp. 43-44.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, p. 43.
- ↑ М. А. Маслов: "Летающие крепости" Сталина. Бомбардировщик Пе-8. 2009, p. 53.
- ↑ М. А. Маслов: "Летающие крепости" Сталина. Бомбардировщик Пе-8. 2009, pp. 55-56.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, pp. 54-56.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, p. 62.
- ↑ М. А. Маслов: "Летающие крепости" Сталина. Бомбардировщик Пе-8. 2009, pp. 71-82.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, p. 104.
- ^ Bergstrom, Christer (2007). Kursk — The Air Battle: July 1943. Hersham, Surrey: Classic Publications. ISBN 1-90322-388-1 , p. 111.
- ↑ М. А. Маслов: "Летающие крепости" Сталина. Бомбардировщик Пе-8. 2009, p. 107.
- ↑ М. А. Маслов: "Летающие крепости" Сталина. Бомбардировщик Пе-8. 2009, pp. 97-98.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, p. 132.
- ↑ М. А. Маслов: "Летающие крепости" Сталина. Бомбардировщик Пе-8. 2009, p. 109.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, p. 136.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, p. 148.
- ↑ М. А. Маслов: "Летающие крепости" Сталина. Бомбардировщик Пе-8. 2009, p. 97.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, p. 163.
- ↑ М. А. Маслов: "Летающие крепости" Сталина. Бомбардировщик Пе-8. 2009, p. 112.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, p. 181.
- ↑ М. А. Маслов: "Летающие крепости" Сталина. Бомбардировщик Пе-8. 2009, p. 120.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, p. 28.
- ↑ Report on the monument near Lapinjärvi on the website www.airforce.ru (Russian)
- ↑ М. А. Маслов: "Летающие крепости" Сталина. Бомбардировщик Пе-8. 2009, p. 55.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, pp. 59-60.
- ↑ М. А. Маслов: "Летающие крепости" Сталина. Бомбардировщик Пе-8. 2009, pp. 124-125.
- ^ Ulrich Unger: Pe-8 - The Soviet long-range bomber. 1993, p. 146.
