Petlyakov Pe-8

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petlyakov_Pe-8

The Petlyakov Pe-8 was a Soviet heavy bomber designed before World War II, and
the only four-engine bomber the USSR built during the war. Produced in limited
numbers, it was used to bomb Berlin in August 1941. It was also used for
so-called "morale raids" designed to raise the spirit of the Soviet people by
exposing Axis vulnerabilities. Its primary mission, however, was to attack
German airfields, rail yards and other rear-area facilities at night, although
one was used to fly the People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs (Foreign Minister)
Vyacheslav Molotov from Moscow to the United States in 1942.

Originally designated the TB-7, the aircraft was renamed the Pe-8 after its
primary designer, Vladimir Petlyakov, died in a plane crash in 1942. Supply
problems complicated the aircraft's production and the Pe-8s also had engine
problems. As Soviet morale boosters, they were also high-value targets for the
Luftwaffe's fighter pilots. The loss rate of these aircraft, whether from
mechanical failure, friendly fire, or combat, doubled between 1942 and 1944.

By the end of the war, most of the surviving aircraft had been withdrawn from
combat units. After the war, some were modified as transports for important
officials, and a few others were used in various Soviet testing programs. Some
supported the Soviet Arctic operations until the late 1950s.

The bomber was built mainly of duralumin, with two steel spars in the wings,
although the ailerons were fabric-covered. The pear-shaped monocoque fuselage
required the pilots to sit in tandem, offset to the left. In the prototype,
space for a fifth engine, an auxiliary Klimov M-100, was reserved inside the
fuselage, in a fairing above the wing spars and behind the pilots. It was
intended to drive a supercharger that supplied pressurized air to the Mikulin
AM-34FRN engines, with the installation designated ATsN-2 (Russian: Agregat
tsentral'novo nadduva—Central Supercharging Unit). Subsequent models omitted the
internal engine, and provided seating for a flight engineer and radio operator,
behind and below the pilots. The bombardier sat in the nose and manned a turret
armed with a 20-millimeter (0.79 in) ShVAK cannon that covered a 120° cone
ahead. A prominent chin gondola, nicknamed the 'beard', protruded beneath the
nose. The dorsal gunner sat at the rear of the ATsN fairing with a sliding hood
covering a 7.62-millimeter (0.30 in) ShKAS machine gun and another ShKAS mounted
in a ventral hatch. The tail gunner had a powered turret with a ShVAK and, most
unusually, there were manually operated ShVAK cannon mounted at the rear of each
inner engine nacelle. Crewmen had access to these positions through the wing or
by a trapdoor in the upper wing surface. The large internal bomb bay racks held
up to 4,000 kg (8,800 lb) of bombs; external racks held a single 500-kilogram
(1,100 lb) FAB-500 (Fugasnaya AviaBomba - high explosive bomb) bomb under each
wing.

The arrests of both Tupolev and Petlyakov in October 1937, during the Great
Purge, disrupted the program and the second prototype did not make its first
flight until 26 July 1938. Although this prototype served as the basis for the
series aircraft, further modifications were made to the armament. New weaponry
included a retractable ShVAK in the MV-6 dorsal turret, another ShVAK in a KEB
tail turret and a 12.7-millimeter (0.50 in) Berezin UBT machine gun in each ShU
barbette in each inner engine nacelle, on the underside of the wing covering he
lower rear arc of fire to left and right, respectively. Another fuel tank
further increased the range, and the 'beard' was removed entirely, replaced by a
more streamlined nose. Authorization for production was slow for several
reasons, including the Great Purge, but also due to the scarcity of resources,
and a shortage of workers. Although production facilities in the Kazan Factory
No. 124 were ready as early
as 1937, the order to begin was not given until 1939.


Role
Heavy bomber

National origin
Soviet Union

Manufacturer
Factory No. 124

Designer
Vladimir Petlyakov

First flight
27 December 1936

Introduction
1940

Status
Retired

Primary user
Soviet Air Forces

Produced
1936–1944

Number built
93

When Operation Barbarossa began on 22 June 1941, only the 2nd Squadron of the
14th Heavy Bomber Regiment (Tyazholy Bombardirovochnyy Avia Polk—TBAP), based at
Boryspil was equipped with Pe-8s, but was not ready for combat. Two of its nine
Pe-8s were destroyed by German air strikes shortly after the war began, before
the Pe-8s were withdrawn out of reach of German bombers to Kazan. Stalin ordered
that the squadron be reformed into a regiment, and that it strike targets deep
inside German territory. Theoretically, this tactic would boost Soviet morale by
demonstrating the vulnerability of the enemy. The squadron was re-designated on
29 June as the 412th TBAP and began training for long-range missions. On or
about 27 July it was again renamed, this time as the 432nd TBAP. On the evening
of 10 August, eight M-40-engined Pe-8s of the 432nd TBAP, accompanied by
Yermolaev Yer-2s of the 420th Long-Range Bomber Aviation Regiment (DBAP),
attempted to bomb Berlin from Pushkino Airfield near Leningrad. One heavily
loaded Pe-8 crashed immediately upon take off, after it lost an engine. Only
four managed to reach Berlin, or its outskirts, and of those, only two returned
to their base. The others landed elsewhere or crash-landed in Finland and
Estonia. The aircraft of the commander of the 81st Long-Range Bomber Division,
Combrig Mikhail Vodopianov, to which both regiments belonged, was attacked
mistakenly by Polikarpov I-16s from Soviet Naval Aviation over the Baltic Sea
and lost an engine; later, before he could reach Berlin, German flak punctured a
fuel tank. He crash-landed his aircraft in southern Estonia. Five more Pe-8s
were lost during the operation, largely due to the unreliability of the M-40s.
Seven Pe-8s were lost during the month of August alone, rendering the regiment
ineffective. During this period, the surviving aircraft were re-equipped with
AM-35As, which gave them a shorter range, but a more reliable engine.

Removal from combat

The loss of Pe-8s to all causes—mechanical, combat, friendly fire—had steadily
increased from one aircraft per 103 flights in 1942 to one per 46 sorties in
1944. Despite the losses, production kept pace with need. The number of aircraft
belonging to the 45th DBAD continued to rise; 20 were on hand on 1 January 1944
and 30 on 1 June. The Pe-8s flew 276 sorties in 1944 against such targets as
Helsinki, Tallinn and Pskov. Aviation historian Yefim Gordon maintains that the
Pe-8 flew its last mission on the night of 1–2 August 1944, but the Statistical
Digest of the VVS contradicts this claim, showing 31 Pe-8s assigned to 45th DBAD
on 1 January 1945 and 32 on hand on 10 May 1945. However, during this period the
45th DBAD only had three regiments, none of which used the Pe-8 as their primary
aircraft, so while the 45th DBAD may have had Pe-8s, these may not have been in
use as the primary combat aircraft.

The 890th began to fly Lend-Lease B-25 Mitchells in the spring of 1944 and was
itself re-designated as the 890th Bomber Aviation Regiment on 26 December 1944.
The 362nd APDD was formed in early 1944 with four Pe-8s received from the other
two regiments, but these were returned in the spring of 1944, when the regiment
began to convert to the Lend-Lease Mitchells.

Specifications (Pe-8/AM-35A)

General characteristics
Crew: Eleven
Length: 23.2 m (76 ft ¼ in)
Wingspan: 39.13 m (128 ft 4 in)
Height: 6.20 m (20 ft 4 in)
Wing area: 188.66 m² (2,030.7 ft²)
Empty weight: 18,571 kg (40,941 lb)
Loaded weight: 27,000 kg (59,400 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 35,000 kg (77,000 lb)
Powerplant: 4 × Mikulin AM-35A liquid-cooled V12 engine, 999 kW (1,340 hp) each

Performance
Maximum speed: 443 km/h (275.2 mph)
Range: 3,700 km (2,299 mi)
Service ceiling: 9,300 m (30,504 ft)
Rate of climb: 5.9 m/s (1,154 ft/min)
Wing loading: 143 kg/m² (29 lb/ft²)
Power/mass: 140 W/kg (0.2 hp/lb)

Armament

Guns:
2 x 20-millimeter (0.79 in) ShVAK cannons (dorsal and tail turrets)
2 x 12.7-millimeter (0.50 in) UBT machine guns (engine nacelles)
2 x 7.62-millimeter (0.30 in) ShKAS machine guns (nose turret)

Bombs: Up to 5,000 kg (11,000 lb), including the FAB 5000 5000kg bomb




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Miloch
go Raiders/9ners