GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR TUPOLEV TU-2
When it came to the advance
on Berlin, the Soviets had 7,500
aircraft arrayed against the Germans,
mainly from the 16th and 18th
Vas – the Tu-2s belonging to the
latter. Such was the importance of
this last push of the Great Patriotic
War that Marshal Novikov directly
commanded this vast force.
After the fall of Königsberg,
Tu-2s of the 334th BAD assisted
the 1st Byelorussian Front under
the command of Marshal Georgiy
Zhukov, whom Stalin had
commanded to take Berlin. That
Tu-2s were chosen to participate in
this campaign is an indication of the
high esteem in which the type
was held.
On the first day of the operation –
April 16 – a force of 406 Tu-2s and
Pe-2s attacked, with 133 fighter-
bombers in support. Two regiments
of Tu-2s dropped 97 tons of bombs
in central Berlin, including the
heavily defended Tiergarten. By
May 2 the fighting had ended in
the city, and on the 11th the last
major German forces in the field, in
Bohemia and Moravia, surrendered
to the Red Army
Although the Tu-2s were
durable and could take significant
punishment, there were losses.
Despite escort from Bell P-39‘Kobras’ (Airacobras) and Yakovlev
Yak-9s, in a three-month period the
Germans destroyed ten 334th BAD
Tu-2s and damaged another 14. In
September 1944, M P Vasyakin,
by then a very experienced and
respected pilot, perished in combat
near Tukums in Latvia.
By the end of 1944, 45 Tu-2s had
been lost in combat: 18 in accidents
and 14 written off due to wear
and tear.
The 326th BAD had 94 Tu-2s by
early 1945 and the 334th BAD 111.
Overall there were 278 in service, of
which 264 were operational – 9% of
the total Soviet bomber force. The
type’s airworthiness rate of
95% was impressive for a heavily
utilised warplane.MANCHURIAN
CAMPAIGN
Japan had yet to be defeated
and the Soviets turned to the Far
East in August 1945 for what was
called the Manchurian Strategic
Offensive Operation.
The 113th ‘Red Banner Leningrad’
OBAD had worked up on the Tu-2S
by March 1945, joining the Berlin
assault for just three days before
moving to the Far East, under the
command of the 7th Bomber Corps
(BAK) of the 12th VA, Trans-BaikalFront. The 326th and 334th BADs
became part of the 6th BAK under
General Skok, also under the
12th VA.
Although short-lived, the fighting
in Manchuria was intense. Tupolevs
hit troop concentrations, railway
stations, bridges and airfields at
Hailar, Harbin and Mukden. They
saw action from August 8 until
September 3, 1945, the day after
the official end of World War Two.
Tu-2s of the 113th OBAD, 7th
BAK, flew some 1,600 sorties.
The Tu-2S was also issued to Soviet
Naval Aviation units, such as the
Red Banner Fleet and the Black Sea
Fleet, and continued to serve post-
war, sometimes as torpedo-bombers,
into the mid-1950s.
That same decade, Tupolev
bombers fought with North
Korean and Chinese forces during
the Korean conflict. Assigned the
NATO reporting codename Bat,
Tu-2s also served the air arms of
Poland and Yugoslavia.
Without the success of the Tu-2,
Andrey Tupolev would not have
lived to contribute so much to post-
war Soviet aviation, in the form
of bombers and airliners. For this
reason alone the type must count as
one of the most important Soviet
designs of all time.Below
A pair of Tu-2Ss in fl ight
in 1944. VIKTOR KULIKOV
COLLECTION“Although short-lived, the fi ghting in
Manchuria was intense. Tupolevs
targeted troop concentrations, railway
stations, bridges and airfi elds”
108 FLYPAST August 2018