The pawn is not the queen
On December 22 falls the start date of the flight tests of another famous Soviet aircraft, more precisely, its predecessor. On this day, the 1939 of the year for the first time took off the high-altitude twin-engine fighter, the VI-100, also known as the "weaving" designed by the Spetstekhotdel (abbreviated as STO, hence the digital machine index) of the NKVD, in which the imprisoned "enemies of the people" worked under the direction of the pest and saboteur "V.M. Petlyakova. To provide high-altitude and raise the working ceiling to 12 kilometers, the car was equipped with pressure cabins and turbo-compressors.
The prototype fighter VI-100. In exact accordance with the "theory of Tupolev" - a beautiful car.
In the spring of 1940, the views of the Soviet leadership on the future war changed. The bosses decided that a long-range high-altitude interceptor would not be needed on it, but it would need a high-speed diving bomber in large quantities. Petlyakov was given the command to urgently remake the car, and they took only six weeks to work. To simplify and reduce the cost of construction, the turbocompressors and pressurized cabs were required to be abandoned, which is why the ceiling of the car fell from 12200 to 8700 meters, but it was considered sufficient for a divemaker. However, there were no reliable and reliable turbochargers in the USSR anyway.
In June 1940, the aircraft under the new index PB-100, subsequently replaced by the Pe-2, was adopted and put into mass production at the Moscow aircraft plant No. 22. It was produced throughout the war, first in Moscow, and then in Kazan, becoming the most massive Soviet bomber, despite a number of serious shortcomings that reduced its effectiveness. In my opinion, betting on this car turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes of the Red Army command in the field of development aviation, and this error has not been fixed.
Pe-2 in all respects, except for a small advantage in maximum speed, lost to the Arkhangelsk Ar-2 bomber. But it was precisely this small advantage that was the decisive argument in favor of the Petlyakov machine, despite the shorter flight range, lower ceiling, lower bomb load and much higher piloting complexity compared to the Ap 2. Sometimes it seems that the then Soviet "leaders" in relation to aviation (and not only that) had a kind of "speed fetishism." It was believed that a faster car is anyway better slower, and no matter what price this advantage is bought.
The "weave" and the Pe-2 have a higher speed than the Ap-2, the speed was ensured by the use of a special laminated wing profile, which has less aerodynamic resistance, but at the same time has the worst aerodynamic quality at low speeds, which made the aircraft very dangerous takeoff and landing. Especially if a pilot was sitting in the cockpit of no higher than average. “Pawns” often fought during the landing approach, and only the most experienced pilots were allowed to take off with a maximum bomb load of one ton. The rest took only 500-600 kg, which was a ridiculously low value for a twin-engine bomber. In this case, the Ap-2 standard bomb load was one and a half tons.
Pe-2 on tests reached the speed of 540 km / h, Ap-2 - 512 km / h. This difference looks good in the TTX tables, however, in practice it didn’t matter, because the maximum mass speed of the German fighter Bf.109F at the start of the war reached 620 km / h, and that of Bf.1942G that appeared in 109 year - 640 km / h Thus, both of them without any problems caught up with both the "arch" and the "pawn".
The Pe-2 looks even less advantageous against the background of Tupolev's Tu-2 front bomber that appeared a little later, with which the “pawn” was fundamentally losing in all respects, which was why it was removed from production immediately after the end of the war. 2 continued to be produced and remained in the ranks for another five years. However, during the war "pawns" nashtampovali more than 11 thousands, and the Tu-2 - just 800. And this, in general, is not at all happy.
Pe-2 model 1941 of the year on the ski chassis.
Pe-2 model 1942 of the year (Pe-2FT) in winter and summer camouflage.
The prototype fighter VI-100. In exact accordance with the "theory of Tupolev" - a beautiful car.
In the spring of 1940, the views of the Soviet leadership on the future war changed. The bosses decided that a long-range high-altitude interceptor would not be needed on it, but it would need a high-speed diving bomber in large quantities. Petlyakov was given the command to urgently remake the car, and they took only six weeks to work. To simplify and reduce the cost of construction, the turbocompressors and pressurized cabs were required to be abandoned, which is why the ceiling of the car fell from 12200 to 8700 meters, but it was considered sufficient for a divemaker. However, there were no reliable and reliable turbochargers in the USSR anyway.
In June 1940, the aircraft under the new index PB-100, subsequently replaced by the Pe-2, was adopted and put into mass production at the Moscow aircraft plant No. 22. It was produced throughout the war, first in Moscow, and then in Kazan, becoming the most massive Soviet bomber, despite a number of serious shortcomings that reduced its effectiveness. In my opinion, betting on this car turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes of the Red Army command in the field of development aviation, and this error has not been fixed.
Pe-2 in all respects, except for a small advantage in maximum speed, lost to the Arkhangelsk Ar-2 bomber. But it was precisely this small advantage that was the decisive argument in favor of the Petlyakov machine, despite the shorter flight range, lower ceiling, lower bomb load and much higher piloting complexity compared to the Ap 2. Sometimes it seems that the then Soviet "leaders" in relation to aviation (and not only that) had a kind of "speed fetishism." It was believed that a faster car is anyway better slower, and no matter what price this advantage is bought.
The "weave" and the Pe-2 have a higher speed than the Ap-2, the speed was ensured by the use of a special laminated wing profile, which has less aerodynamic resistance, but at the same time has the worst aerodynamic quality at low speeds, which made the aircraft very dangerous takeoff and landing. Especially if a pilot was sitting in the cockpit of no higher than average. “Pawns” often fought during the landing approach, and only the most experienced pilots were allowed to take off with a maximum bomb load of one ton. The rest took only 500-600 kg, which was a ridiculously low value for a twin-engine bomber. In this case, the Ap-2 standard bomb load was one and a half tons.
Pe-2 on tests reached the speed of 540 km / h, Ap-2 - 512 km / h. This difference looks good in the TTX tables, however, in practice it didn’t matter, because the maximum mass speed of the German fighter Bf.109F at the start of the war reached 620 km / h, and that of Bf.1942G that appeared in 109 year - 640 km / h Thus, both of them without any problems caught up with both the "arch" and the "pawn".
The Pe-2 looks even less advantageous against the background of Tupolev's Tu-2 front bomber that appeared a little later, with which the “pawn” was fundamentally losing in all respects, which was why it was removed from production immediately after the end of the war. 2 continued to be produced and remained in the ranks for another five years. However, during the war "pawns" nashtampovali more than 11 thousands, and the Tu-2 - just 800. And this, in general, is not at all happy.
Pe-2 model 1941 of the year on the ski chassis.
Pe-2 model 1942 of the year (Pe-2FT) in winter and summer camouflage.
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