FlyPast – August 2018

GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR TUPOLEV TU-2

285th Bomber Aviation Division

(BAD) – which was mainly

equipped with Pe-2s – the Tu-2s

seeing heavy action, normally

carrying FAB-500 and FAB-1000

high-explosive bombs.

From late 1942 and into

1943, Tu-2s attacked German

airfields, including Smolensk and

Zaporozhye, in occupied Ukraine.

Carried out at 1,300ft with FAB-

100 bombs, the strike on the latter

produced excellent results, with 18

enemy aircraft claimed as destroyed

on the ground.

An April 1943 report assessing

the combat experience of the Tu-2

from December 4, 1942 to January

4, 1943 revealed that Tu-2s flew 46

sorties on the Kalinin Front and 39

on the Southwestern Front. Of the

total, 23 were deemed unsuccessful

due to engine problems, bad

weather, bomb failures, aircrew

errors and other issues.

Nine Tupolevs were

lost or damaged: five

had crash-landed,

two were lost over

Soviet territory

and two failed to return. Five of the

aircraft were repaired and re-entered

service, so just four were ultimately

deemed irrecoverable.

REBORN TU-2S

The Tu-2 was generally well liked

by pilots and crew who found

it fast, robust, powerful and

capable. The main problem was

the unreliability of the

Above

Torpedo-carrying Tu-2S in

three-colour camoufl age.

Unusually for a Soviet

aircraft, it has no tactical

number. ALL MICHAL SEKULA

Below
The fi rst production ‘103V’
at GAZ.166, Omsk, Siberia,
in spring 1942. VIKTOR
KULIKOV COLLECTION

106 FLYPAST August 2018