In late 1941, the Soviet Union received ten North American Mustang Mk. Is from the Royal Air Force. Acquired by the RAF for use as tactical reconnaissance and fighter-bomber in early 1941, the British sent the Mk. Is to the Soviet Union (along with Hawker Hurricanes and Curtis P-40 Warhawks) in late 1941 and early 1942 in an attempt to strengthen the aerial arm of the Soviet military after the major losses suffered by the VVS and VMF (Soviet Air Force and Navy) during Operation Barbarossa. Indeed, on the first day of the war, an estimated 1,200 Soviet aircraft were destroyed by the Luftwaffe, and the aircraft that the VVS had left in its arsenal in the summer of 1941 were mostly obsolete LaGG-3 and I-16 fighters, or I-15 and I-513 biplanes. What is more, due to the fact that the majority of the aviation industry was located in the Western part of the country, the Soviet Union was forced to undergo the herculian task of evacuating hundreds of aviation manufacturing facilities to the other side of the Urals, no small task even in times of peace. Consequently, in late 1941, the Soviet Air Force was in a dire situation, and was in desperate need of fighters to halt the Luftwaffe’s onslaught until the aviation industry could recover from its massive evacuation.

Soviet Mustang Mk. I

Well aware of the situation of its new and unlikely ally, England began sending its own fighters to help bolster the Soviet air arm. As early as August of 1941, RAF squadrons began deliveries of Hawker Hurricanes Mk. II to the Soviet Union (nearly 3,000 would eventually be flown by the VVS and VMF), and even began diverting US-built P-40s to the Eastern Front (2,200 would be delivered from both the UK and the US from 1941-1944). Though both fighters had their drawbacks, deliveries of P-40s and Hawker Hurricanes to the Soviet Union in 1941 helped the VVS and VMF stave off the Luftwaffe until the Soviet aviation industry could get up and running (after the US entered World War II in December, however, the Soviet Union was included in the Lend-Lease Act and eventually went on to receive thousands of US-built aircraft).  Soviet pilots were generally not as enthusiastic about the Hurricanes and P-40s that they received from the RAF in 1941 as they would be about the Bell P-39 Airacobras that they began to fly the following year, but the two types proved to be effective in the hands of skilled Soviet pilots (Boris Safonov scored the majority of his 26 confirmed aerial victories while flying the Hurricane before he was killed in 1942). As part of the UK’s attempts to prop up the Soviet VVS following the disastrous summer of 1941, at a time when the UK itself had an acute shortage of quality aircraft, the decision was made to send a small batch of the RAF’s newest but hitherto untested fighter for evaluation by Soviet engineers: the North American Aviation Mustang Mk. I.

NA-73X prototype. Public domain.

The Mustang, which later received the designation P-51 while in service with the USAAF, would go on to gain notoriety as one of the best fighters of the Second World War. In 1941, however, the Mustang was a brand new aircraft that had not received its baptism of fire. Indeed, the aircraft’s origins were humble, and was only manufactured out of sheer necessity. After being approached by the British Direct Purchase Committee (BDPC) in the Spring of 1940 with a request to build the Curtis P-40 for the RAF under license, North American Aviation suggested building a brand new fighter instead of producing an aircraft that had already shown signs of obsolescence. NAA’s President,  James H. “Dutch” Kindelberger, proposed building a single-engine fighter from the ground up using the same Allison 1710-39 that powered the P-40 (the later  B,C,D, and K variants of the P-51 would be powered by the elegant Packard Merlin engine). Promising superior performance, firepower, and range, Kindelberger persuaded the BDPC to accept NAA’s proposal, despite the fact that, up until this point, the company had never manufactured a combat aircraft from scratch.

On October 26, 1940, the resulting aircraft, designated NA-37X, made its first flight, and the following October, after successfully completing NAA’s test program, the first production example arrived in the UK. RAF pilots were pleased with the new aircraft, which had been christened the Mustang Mk. I, and those who evaluated the US-built aircraft reported it to be faster and more maneuverable than the Spitfire Mk. V up to 15,000 feet (4,500 meters). However, like the P-40 and P-39, the Mustang’s Allison engine, which lacked a two-stage supercharger, meant the aircraft’s performance decrease significantly above 20,000 feet (6,100 meters). Consequently, the RAF used the Mustang Mk. Is primarily for tactical reconnaissance and ground-attack duties.

Soviet Mustang Mk. I. Photo source

The Soviet VVS, on the other hand, did not deem the Mustang fit for operational service on the Eastern Front at any altitude. The first two Mustangs arrived in the Soviet Union on December 16th, 1941, and the tenth (and final) aircraft arrived six months later. However, it wasn’t until June of 1942 that the Mk.I underwent state testing at the State Air Force Research Institute. The test pilot, V.E. Golofastov, reported that though the Mustang’s low-altitude speed was sufficient, it was lower than the Yakovlev Yak-7B’s by 6-30 mph (10-50 km/h). Moreover, Golofatsov noted that the Mk. I’s rate of climb was inferior to that of the Yak-7B and the German Bf-109. The Soviet pilot did, however, admire the Mustang’s armament which consisted of four 12.7 mm and four 7.62 mm Browning M2 machine guns. Nevertheless, the State Air Force Research Institute made it clear that the Bell P-39 Airacobra, of which deliveries from the US had begun several months prior, was a better fit for the VVS.

Despite the fact that the Mk.I did not impress Soviet pilots and engineers during state tests, three Mustangs were sent to the 3rd Air Army on the Kalinin Front for combat trials in the fall of 1942. Two aircraft were flown by the 5th Guards Fighter Regiment, which at the time was equipped with LaGG-3s. Among those who flew the Mustangs was Hero of the Soviet Union V.A. Zaytsev (34 aerial victories) and future Hero of the Soviet Union V.I. Popkov (41 victories). In his memoirs, Popkov gave the Mustangs a negative review. According to him, although the aircraft’s speed was sufficient, “it was heavy, like iron”. The Soviet ace also noted that the Mk.I’s maneuverability left much to be desired, and its rate of climb was poor compared to other fighters available at the time. Another five Mustangs were sent to the 6th Reserve Brigade near Ivanovo where they were used to help convert Soviet pilots to US-built aircraft, and the other two found their way to the Air Force Academy and the Central AeroHydrodynamic Institute. Although the Luftwaffe claimed that two Soviet P-51s were shot down over Karelia in late 1943, the VVS never used its Mustangs in combat, and the German pilots more than likely misidentified the aircraft that were shot down.

The RAF did have a certain degree of success with the Allison-powered Mustangs, but it was not until North American Aircraft produced the P-51B and P-51C variants that the Mustang became the dominant aircraft of World War II. Powered by the elegant Packard (Rolls Royce) Merlin engine, the B & C variants transformed the air war over Western Europe as a whole. With its two 75 US gal (280 liter) external drop tanks, the Merlin-powered P-51B/C was introduced as a bomber escort with a combat radius of 750 miles (1,210 km), which allowed bombers to retain their escorts deep into German territory. An additional 85 US gal (320 liter) fuel tank was later installed aft of the pilot’s seat, which improved the fighter’s range even more. The Mustang continued to improve with the D and K models, which were, in many historians’ opinions, the best fighters of the Second World War. The P-51D/K featured two 110 US gal (416 liter ) drop tanks, which increased the Mustang’s combat range to an astounding 1,000 mi (1,609 km).

While the P-51 undoubtedly had a tremendous impact on the USAAF & RAF’s Combined Bomber Offensive in Western Europe, it is important to bear in mind the differences of the air war fought on the Eastern Front, where dogfights were typically conducted at low altitudes since the VVS focused on providing close air support to Red Army ground troops, and in the West, where fighters fought off German Bf-109s and Fw-190s that attempted to intercept strategic bombers at high altitudes (10,000 meters/33,000 feet or above). Moreover, the Soviet Air Force operated primarily from forward airstrips, which were often times located only several minutes from Axis-held encampments, which in turn meant range was not nearly as crucial for Soviet fighters as it was for those in the West. Indeed, one of the Soviet Union’s best domestically-built fighters of the war, the Yakovlev Yak-3, had a combat range of only 325 km (203 miles). 

Soviet Yak-9s and US B-17s during Operation Frantic. Public domain.

The VVS did acquire a number of P-51Ds that were left behind following following Operation Frantic, a series of shuttle bombing operations in 1944 in which US aircraft used Soviet airfields to hit Axis targets in Southern and Eastern Europe. Though full flight tests were not conducted on the war-weary P-51Ds, several Soviet pilots flew the aircraft, and reported that the Merlin-powered Mustang was inferior to the Yak-3, Yak-9, and La-5FN at low and medium altitudes, but was superior above 5,000 meters (16,000 feet). Soviet engineers showed little interest in examining the P-51’s technology, unlike the B-29, which the Tupolev Design Bureau would later reverse engineer to create the Tu-4 strategic bomber after the war.

Although the Mustang went on to become a game changer in the air war over Western Europe, when Soviet test pilots evaluated their ten Allison-powered Mk.Is in 1942, it was determined that Soviet-built aircraft and the Bell P-39 Airacobra were more well-suited for the VVS and VMF. Indeed, two other types that are considered to be among the best fighters of World War II in the West, the Republic P-47 and the Supermarine Spitfire, were both flown operationally by Soviet forces, but were deemed to be inferior to the Yak-3, Yak-9, La-5FN, and P-39 while in combat over the Eastern Front. Even though the Allison-powered Mustang was well-liked by RAF pilots and USAAF pilots who flew the A-36 dive-bomber variant of the Mustang, it was not fated to have an impact on the Eastern Front.

-Patrick Kinville 

Sources:

1. V.P. Kotelnikov, G.F. Petrov, D.A. Sobolev, N.V. Yakubovich, Amerikantsii v Rossii
2. Chorlton, Martin, Allison-Engined P-51 Mustang
   

Soviet Catalina. Photo source

The PBY Catalina is one of the most iconic aircraft of the Second World War, and its contribution to victory both in Europe and the Pacific cannot be understated. From cargo transport and search and rescue operations to anti-submarine warfare, patrol bombing, and convoy escorts, the Catalina could adeptly carry out any task required of it. While it is well-known that Catalinas were active in nearly every major Western Allied operation in World War II, its service record with the Soviet military is often times overlooked. Indeed, although the Soviet Navy only had a handful of license-built Catalinas in their arsenal during the first two years of the war, in 1944, the U.S. began sending a significant number of the rugged and versatile flying boats to the Soviet Pacific, Black, Baltic, and North Sea fleets as part of the Lend-Lease program, and the Red Navy went on to use them with great effect. By the end of the war, the Soviet Union had received more than 150 Catalinas of various types from the U.S. These flying boats would go on to have an outstanding service record with the Soviet military both during the war with Germany and during the Soviet-Japanese War of August 1945.

The Soviet Union began purchasing Catalinas and producing their own under license even before World War II. In 1937, one year after the PBY was introduced in the U.S., the Soviet Union negotiated a contract with Consolidated Aircraft to purchase three PBY-2s (Model 28-2), the right to produce the Catalina in the Soviet Union under license, and engineering support from the American company to help set up the flying boat factory in the city of Taganrog. The three Models 28-2s that arrived in the Soviet Union the following year were the only three PBYs to be powered by Wright Cyclone R-1820-G3 engines, each of which was approximately 200 horsepower less than the usual Pratt and Whitney R-1830s that were put in the majority of Catalinas. The different engines made it easier for Soviet engineers to produce their own license-built PBYs, since the Soviet Shvetsov ASh-62 (M-62) was developed from the Shvetsov M-25, which was a license-built variant of the Wright Cyclone R-1820.

In 1938, a party of 18 American engineers from Consolidated were sent to Taganrog on the Sea of Azov to help set up the Soviet Catalina factory. However, much like the Lisunov Li-2 project, which was a license-built version of the DC-3, technical documents needed to be translated from English to Russian, and, more significantly, Consolidated Aircraft’s imperial measurements had to be converted to the Soviet Union’s metric system, a task that took several months.  Nevertheless, production of the Soviet-built Catalinas began the following January, and the new aircraft were designated GST (Gidrosamolet transportnii, or seaplane transport). By October 1941, when the German military overtook Taganrog where the Soviet Catalina factory had been located, a total of 27 GSTs had been built.

Soviet GST. Photo source

Unfortunately, little is known about the operational service of the majority of GSTs. In June of 1941, 11 Soviet GSTs were in stationed Sevastopol and were in service with the 80th Reconnaissance Squadron of the Black Sea Fleet. In the immediate aftermath of Operation Barbarossa, these flying boats were engaged mostly in reconnoitering enemy installations and naval bases on the Romanian coast and the western Black Sea, where the aircraft encountered stiff opposition. In the fall of 1941, when the Germans began their Crimean campaign, the Black Sea Fleet began using the remaining GSTs for night bombing missions against Axis encampments. As the Wehrmacht began to enclose Sevastopol, the license-built Catalinas were tasked with helping to evacuate important cargo from the city. By the time the GSTs were relocated to the Caucasus after the Crimea had fallen, only five of the Fleet’s 11 Catalinas were remaining. For the next two years, Soviet flying boats would play only a negligible role in the war against Germany, due both to the fact that the decisive battles of 1942 and 1943 were land operations, and to the fact that the Soviet military’s arsenal of flying boats had been severely depleted by the German onslaught of 1941 and early 1942.

Indeed, by June of 1944, the Soviet Navy’s seaplane forces found themselves in a crisis. Of the 859 flying boats of all types that were in the Soviet arsenal at the time of the German invasion, only 271 had survived. What is more, the Soviet aviation industry had only managed to manufacture 39 seaplanes during the up to this point, mostly Che-2s and Be-4s, aircraft which, by 1944, were grossly outdated. At the same time, the Red Army’s switch to a strategic offensive beginning in 1943 signified the need for a large number of modernized flying boats that would be able to perform anti-submarine tasks, transport duties, search and rescue operations, and long-range reconnaissance missions, assignments with which the majority of the remaining 271 seaplanes could not cope.

As early as 1942, Moscow had unsuccessfully requested that the U.S. provide PBY-5A amphibious Catalinas (complete with a retractable landing gear) for use in the North Sea and Pacific fleets. Despite this failed attempt, when Taganrog was liberated in August of 1943, Washington agreed to provide equipment, supplies, and tooling to rebuild the city’s GST factory. In October of 1944, however, the Soviet leadership made the decision to focus the factory’s efforts on a long-range amphibious aircraft project, known as LL-143, which eventually resulted in the Beriev Be-6, an aircraft that ultimately did not make its first flight until 1949.

The Soviet plans to focus on the development of the LL-143 in Taganrog was undoubtedly influenced by Washington’s decision in early 1944 to include the delivery of an initial 30 flying boats to the Soviet Union as part of the IV Lend-Lease Protocol. However, the Catalinas that were to be sent were not the PBY-5A amphibious aircraft that Moscow had requested, but the PBN-1 Nomad, a modified PBY flying boat that was different from its predecessor in several ways, but nevertheless a high quality and versatile aircraft (although it did lack a landing gear). Physically, the PBN-1 did not differ significantly from other PBYs, save for the bow, which was sharpened and extended by 60 cm (two feet), and its tail, which was slightly enlarged and reshaped. However, most importantly, the engineers at the Naval Aircraft Factory managed to increase the size of the flying boat’s fuel tanks, increasing the Nomad’s range by 50%. The PBN-1 also featured upgraded weapons with continuous-feed mechanisms, as well as an improved electrical system. The Soviet Union was finally getting a high quality flying boat that could adeptly play the role required of it.

PBN Nomad drawing. Wings Palette

The first shipment of 24 PBN-1 Nomads arrived in Murmansk for use with the White Sea Fleet in June of 1944, and the second batch, destined for use in the Soviet Pacific Fleet, arrived shortly thereafter. The Black Sea and Baltic Fleets received their U.S.-built flying boats the following month. In many cases, the Nomads were put into operation almost immediately after the feets received them, despite a shortage of Soviet pilots who had been trained to fly the U.S.-built flying boats. To make matters worse, the upgraded PBN-1 reportedly handled differently than the Soviet-built GST, and successfully converting to the new aircraft took time for seasoned pilots. What is more, many airmen who were ordered to fly the Nomad had never before taken off or landed a seaplane of any kind.

Much like in the U.S. and the U.K., the Catalina in the Soviet Union was used to carry out a wide range of tasks, from search and rescue operations to anti-submarine missions and everything in between. Already as early as August 12, just two months after receiving their first batch of flying boats, a PBN Nomad with the Northern Fleet flown by S.M. Rubana came across a German submarine while on a reconnaissance mission. Flying without torpedoes or bombs on this particular day, the Nomad opened fire using its Browning .50 caliber machine guns, forcing the German submarine to dive. By this time, two more Nomads armed with depth charges had arrived, and proceeded to drop their ordnance. The crews of all three PBNs saw a stream of oil rising to the surface, making it the first successful Soviet Catalina attack against a German submarine. The incident appears to have convinced German submarines that the Soviet flying boats posed a threat significant enough to warrant diving when Nomads were in the area. One Catalina pilot, Sergey Pasechnik, recalled that his crew was often tasked with escorting ships of the Soviet Black Fleet. “During convoy escort, we had to carry 16 depth charges on each Catalina,” Pasechnik stated, “but we never had a chance to use them- the German submarines were afraid of us.”

Like in the U.S. Navy, the Soviet Catalinas were primarily responsible for carrying out reconnaissance operations and search and rescue missions, tasks at which the Soviet flying boats excelled. Already in August of 1944, shortly after receiving its first batch of Nomads, the pilots of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet put their flying boats to good use, rescuing two downed Soviet airmen on August 19th and three crew members of a Petlyakov Pe-2 on August 20th.

Photo source

Soviet aircrews were in general enthusiastic about the Catalina, especially its ability to carry out extensive maritime patrol missions without refueling. As one Nomad pilot, Vladimir Zaytsev, recalled, “What can I say about this machine? It was the American-made seaplane that could stay in the air for more than 30 hours without refueling. However, the speed was low, 300-350 kilometers per hour.” The Catalina’s ability to remain aloft for extended periods of time became an award-winning achievement during the war, even for commercial carriers. Indeed, the longest commercial flights in terms of time aloft ever made in the history of aviation were the Qantas flights between Perth and Colombo that took place weekly from June of 1943 through June of 1945 over the Indian Ocean. During these flights, Catalinas traveled a distance of 6,652 km (3,592 miles) non stop, which took 28 to 32 hours.

Paradoxically, it was precisely due to the Catalina’s range and its ability to remain aloft for extended periods that made some Soviet regiments relegate its use to a secondary role, using it only for long-range missions. For example, after being sent to the North Sea Fleet, PBN Nomads flew only 40 anti-submarine sorties through the end of the war, whereas Soviet-built MBR-2s flew 170 such sorties during the same time period. The North Sea Fleet preferred to use the MBR-2s for close-range missions, and only used the Nomads when the Soviet-built MBRS “fell short”.

Nevertheless, other Soviet Fleets used the Consolidated flying boats to their full potential, appreciating many of the characteristics of the aircraft. Nomad crew members were especially enthusiastic about the PBN’s armament, which included three .30 cal (7.62 mm) (two in the nose turret, one in the tail), and two .50 cal (12.7 mm) machine guns (one for each waist gunner), all of which were U.S.-built Browning machine guns. As one Nomad gunner, Sergey Pasechnik, recalled, the Catalinas were “always [armed with] American Browning guns. They were wonderful machine guns that never jammed in all my service. It was a reliable and effective weapon.”

Soviet Catalina crews also appreciated the flying boats’ radar, especially while carrying out night patrol missions, although only 48 of the 107 Nomads were equipped with the apparatus. Pasechnik went on to explain that, “Radar was on in our flying boat constantly. As I said, this radar could operate at a distance of 120 miles. Of course, it was not as powerful as the detection systems that I worked with after the war, but we could easily determine a ship’s location, [and] easily find the shore… Radar significantly helped the pilots, especially during night missions.”

By the German surrender on May 9th, 1945, the Soviet Union had received 107 PBN-1s. Amazingly, none of the Soviet Nomads had been lost in combat, although nine had been lost due technical problems. Deliveries of Catalinas to the Soviet Union, however, did not stop with the capitulation of Germany. Indeed, the Western Allies had been preparing for the Red Army to join the war against Japan for some time before Germany’s surrender, sending a number of Lend-Lease goods that were to be used only against Japan (most notably the P-63 Kingcobra). Starting in the Summer of 1945, the U.S. began ferrying Consolidated’s latest flying boat to the Soviet Union, the amphibious PBY-6A, while at the same time continuing delivery of PBN Nomads. On January 1, 1945, the Soviet Pacific Fleet had 28 flying boats in its arsenal, and by August 9, when the Soviet Union entered the war against Japan, the Pacific Fleet had 71 Catalinas, both PBNs and PBY-6As.

The Soviet Catalinas did see extensive operational actions during the short Soviet-Japanese War of 1945, performing anti-submarine missions, search and rescue operations, and troop transport, among other tasks. Most notably, PBY-6As were used to transport airborne troops during the South Sakhalin Operation (August 11, 1945 – August 25, 1945) and the Kuril Landing Operation (August 18, 1945 – September 1, 1945). One PBN disappeared during the Far East Campaign, accounting for the Soviet Union’s only lost flying boat during the Soviet-Japanese War of 1945. After the war, the Soviet Union gradually replaced the Catalinas with the Beriev Be-6, which was produced between 1949 and 1957, though the U.S.-built flying boats continued to be used by the Red Navy until the mid-1950s.

As was the case with flying boats in service with the U.S. and U.K., the Soviet Catalinas had impressive service records. Often times the unsung hero of the Allied war effort, the PBY Catalina was a rugged and versatile aircraft that could perform a wide range of operations. Though the flying boats were not as popular and elegant as many other aircraft of WWII, they undoubtedly played a vital role in the war effort in all theaters, including the Eastern Front, and deserve to be remembered as such. 

-Patrick Kinville

Sources:

1. V.P. Kotelnikov, G.F. Petrov, D.A. Sobolev, N.V. Yakubovich, Amerikantsii v Rossii
2. Krylia Rodiny no. 9 & 10

Further reading:

1. Mel Crocker, Black Cats and Dumbos: WWII’s Fighting PBYs
2. Louis B. Dorney, US Navy PBY Catalina Units of the Pacific War (Osprey Combat Aircraft, No. 62)

Easily one of the most recognizable aircrafts of the Second World War is the twin-engine C-47 transport plane. In both the European and Pacific theaters, the C-47 Dakota was pivotal to the success of innumerable missions of the Western Allies, and General Dwight D. Eisenhowever, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, called it one of the most vital pieces of military equipment in the war. Although the Soviet Union did fly several U.S.-built C-47 Dakotas, the vast majority of transport aircraft used by the Soviet military were Lisunov Li-2s, license-built versions of the C-47. While similar in form and function to the Dakota, the Li-2 was modified to fit the needs of the Soviet forces on the Eastern Front, which in turn made the license-built aircraft capable of carrying out tasks that its Western counterpart could not.

In June of 1936, the head of the Soviet Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI), N.M. Kharlamov, reached an agreement with the Douglas Aircraft Company to purchase one of the California aircraft manufacturer’s latest fixed-wing, twin-engine commercial aircraft, the DC-3 (which later had the military designation C-47), for $130,000. More significantly for the development of the Soviet aviation industry as a whole, the TsAGI purchased a license to build their own aircraft based on the DC-3 for $207,500, complete with blueprints, technical support, and manufacturing guidance from Douglas. Per the terms of the contract, a Soviet delegation, which included aeronautical engineers Boris Lisunov and Vladimir Myasischev, traveled to the Douglas plant in Santa Monica, CA, where they learned not only how to produce DC-3s, but how to run an efficient and cost-effective aircraft manufacturing facility.

Before the Soviet Union could manufacturer such aircraft, however, several important steps needed to be taken, including the translation of Douglas’ technical documents from English to Russian, and, more significantly, the conversion of the U.S. company’s imperial measurements to the Soviet Union’s metric system, a task which took six months. Meanwhile, as engineers were preparing the technical documents for the production of the twin-engine aircraft, the Soviet Union purchased an additional 18 DC-3s from Douglas, and Soviet authorities began to prepare aircraft factory no. 84 in Khimki, just outside Moscow, to be the production site for the aircraft. Vladimir Myasischev, who had visited the Douglas plant in California, was to head the project in Khimki.

Though Soviet engineers initially hoped to incorporate as few changes as possible to thedesign of the DC-3, by the time the first aircraft made with imported parts rolled out of factory no.84 in November of 1938, almost 1,300 engineering changes had been made to the original Douglas drawings. In addition to converting the measurements from the imperial to the metric system, no small task on its own, numerous modifications had to be executed in order for the aircraft to be able to house the Soviet-built Shvetsov ASh-62 engines, which were a development of the Wright R-1820 Cyclone that had initially been built in the Soviet Union under licence as the Shvetsov M-25. Nevertheless, after a series of trials and errors, the new aircraft passed government tests in 1939, and was designated PS-84 (Passazhirskiy Samolyot 84, or passenger aircraft 84).

The new Soviet-built PS-84 entered commercial service in the summer of 1940. By this time, Aeroflot, the Soviet Civil Air Fleet, had 12 U.S.-built DC-3s in their service, which were used primarily for international flights, and the PS-84s were to be used for longer domestic routes, such as the Moscow-Irkutsk line. Over the next year, factory no. 84 increased its efficiency by leaps and bounds, in part due to the help that had been provided by the Douglas company since 1936, and by October of 1941, four months after the German invasion, aircraft production in Khimki reached its pinnacle, producing 1.5 PS-84s per day. However, due to the Wehrmacht’s rapid advance toward Moscow, the Soviet military leadership, seeing the importance of the PS-84 transport aircraft, put factory no. 84 at the top of the list of aviation factories to be evacuated to the Soviet East. A herculean undertaking even in times of peace, in a period of only two months, the PS-84 factory outside Moscow was successfully evacuated to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The last factory no. 84 aircraft rolled off the assembly line on October 18th, 1941, and the first Tashkent PS-84 was completed less than three months later on January 7th, 1942.

The PS-84s that were produced in Tashkent, however, varied significantly from those that were built in Khimki during the first few months of the war. The Soviet military, receiving aircraft that were designed to carry civilian passengers in comfort, transformed the aircraft to fit the needs of the Eastern Front. As one Soviet technician, Nikolai Sharapov, recalled, “The factory in Tashkent transformed it, the Li-2 [PS-84] aircraft. Lisunov was the chief engineer. He redesigned it… he removed the soft seats… he made the seats of folding metal. He also created another large door: in addition to the passenger door there was added a cargo door. A turret was also added to these plans… and ShKAS machine guns.” Indeed, Soviet ground crews had begun undertaking significant field modifications to the PS-84 as early as September of 1941 in order to make the commercial aircraft more suited for military tasks on the Eastern Front. In particular, due to the fact that 18 of the 51 PS-84s in the Moscow sector had been lost by August, Soviet technicians sought to bolster the defensive capabilities of the converted passenger planes by installing a dorsal turret armed with a 7.62mm ShKAS machine gun and two additional machine guns in the waist of the aircraft.

The field modifications undertaken in the autumn of 1941 were incorporated into the production plans at the Tashkent factory in early 1942, with the dorsal turret being upgraded to house a 12.7mm UBT machine gun. Upon relocation of the factory, the aircraft itself received a new designation: the Li-2, named after Boris Lisunov who had taken over as head of the project. “It came [from the factory in Tashkent] as a bomber,” Li-2 pilot Nikolai Syshchikov recalled. “All planes had a high-caliber UBT [12.7mm] in the turret, and two ShKAS [7.62 mm] on the sides. At first there was a nose gun, but then it was removed- it was not necessary, it was not a fighter! The plane was too heavy to roll, to chase and catch [another aircraft] in its sights, so the fixed machine gun was simply removed.” Indeed, even without the nose gun, the single UBT and two ShKAS’ affected the aircraft’s performance, decreasing its top speed by as much as 14-17 km/hr and significantly reducing  its range and rate of climb. Nevertheless, Soviet airmen were willing to trade performance for armament, and Li-2s continued to be manufactured with the three machine guns until production of the military variant of the aircraft ceased.

The PS-84/Li-2 was used primarily as a transport aircraft during the first year of the war, but from the summer of 1942 onwards, it was adapted to to serve as a bomber. By installing hardpoints under the fuselage, the Li-2 was able to carry up to four 250 kg bombs, which were released by the navigator who used a primitive bomb sight set up along the right window. To increase the payload, Li-2 crew members often loaded smaller bombs into the cabin of the aircraft, which they would throw out of the back door while over enemy territory. The lack of accuracy during such missions convinced Soviet military officials to to use the Li-2s as night bombers, as such campaigns did not require precise accuracy. Indeed, the license-built DC-3s were used extensively as night bombers in November and December of 1942 during the Battle of Stalingrad, during which time Soviet forces held only a small strip of land along the west bank of the Volga River. Li-2 bombers would simply fly over the German-occupied territory of Stalingrad, drop their bombs, and return to their airfield to rearm.

While Li-2s certainly were capable of playing various roles, their main mission was to transport soldiers and material all along the 1,200 mile Eastern Front, a task that the Li-2 was more than capable of handling. Much like the C-47 in the west, the Li-2 was responsible for transporting Soviet paratroopers during airborne operations, and they were used in all the major tactical and operational airdrops on the Eastern Front, including Vyazma in 1942 and Desaniki in 1943. One paratrooper, Viktor Markin, remembered jumping out of a Li-2 with his platoon several times, simply stating, “It was a good plane, reliable.”

Li-2 in flight. Source

Li-2s were also tasked with delivering supplies to the front and to Soviet partisans behind enemy lines, as well as evacuating civilians and wounded soldiers. During October-December 1941, while delivering supplies to the besieged city of Leningrad, 30 PS-84s delivered 5,000 tons of goods, while evacuating 50,000 people, including 9,000 wounded soldiers.“And so, therefore, we had to fly all the time,” Nikolai Sharapov explained. “This division provided all the weapons to the front: ammunition, medical supplies, food. And from the front we brought back the badly wounded in these aircraft. At the same time, I had to fly to the front line to the partisans. Our crews would have to fly four times throughout a night to the other side of the front to drop supplies to the partisans. Six or seven times per night we flew to the besieged Leningrad.”

Soviet authorities continued to put emphasis on Li-2 production until the end of the war. After the first Li-2 rolled off the assembly line in Tashkent in January of 1942, a further 422 were produced that year, with production increasing to 618 in 1943 and peaking at 627 in 1944. 458 were built in 1945, but production tailed off considerably after Germany surrendered in May. Commercial Li-2s continued to be built until 1954, and they saw extensive use in the Soviet satellite states through the 1960s. In total, more than 6,000 Li-2s were built, both for military and commercial purposes.

Much like its cousin, the C-47, the Li-2 was a workhorse, known for its toughness and dependability. However, the Soviet-built version was heavily modified to carry out tasks unique to the Eastern Front, and was thus more versatile than the Douglas aircraft, which itself was an extremely functional aircraft. Nevertheless, both the C-47 and Li-2 deserve to be remembered as the workhorses that operated tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure the success of the allied operations that led to the defeat of Germany and Japan.

-Patrick Kinville

Il-4 in flight. Photo source

Often overshadowed by the U.S.-built B-25 Mitchells and A-20 Bostons in western histories, the Soviet-built Ilyushin Il-4 was one of the great bombers on the Eastern Front. With over 5,000 built over the course of the war, the Il-4 was used in a variety of roles, from medium-range and long-range bombers to torpedo bomber. While the twin-engined Ilyushin would not go on the achieve the legendary status of its little brother, the Il-2 Sturmovik, the Il-4 did make a significant contribution to the war, as the VVS had an acute shortage of bombers capable of carrying heavy payloads over vast distances. Despite numerous shortcomings, Soviet bomber crews generally thought the Ilyushin was a tough and quality aircraft. The Soviet military required a dependable twin-engined bomber, and the Il-4 proved to be more than capable.

DB-3. Photo: Wikipedia

The Il-4 evolved from the Ilyushin DB-3 bomber of the 1930s. Immediately following the German invasion in June of 1941, the DB-3 was the only twin-engine bomber that the Soviets had in their arsenal, and in August, it was the DB-3 that carried out the air raid on Berlin that gave Soviet soldiers and citizens a significant morale boost in the midst of a seemingly endless German onslaught. In 1941-1942, the Ilyushin Design Bureau set about radically redesigning the airframe, wings, and fuel system of the outdated bomber. Initially marked for designation as DB-3F (Forsirovannyi or “boosted”), the changes made to the bomber of the 1930s were so significant that in March of 1942, the outcome of the DB-3’s transformation was an entirely new aircraft: the Ilyushin Il-4.

The new low-wing, twin-engine bomber arrived to the front at around the same time as the U.S.-made B-25s and A-20s, which were sent to the Soviet Union as part of the lend-lease program. The marks given to the Il-4 by Soviet aircrews were initially quite poor when compared to the Mitchells and Bostons. As one Soviet bomber pilot, Rotislav Demidov, succinctly put it, “The Boston is good because it is much easier than the Il-4. The Il-4 is a heavy airplane with inferior maneuverability.”

Il-4 in flight. Source

Nevertheless, Soviet pilots and aircrews gradually grew to admire the strengths of the
twin-engined Ilyushin and were willing to overlook its deficiencies. As Fedor Titov of the728th Regiment recalled, the Il-4 “had weak engines. On takeoff, it was difficult… [but] I was used to it. I then flew the B-25. I didn’t like it as much… maybe it was a little faster, but the Il-4 had a ceiling of 7,800 meters… [up there] all was good!” Another Soviet bomber pilot, Vladimir Pshenko, also thought the Il-4 was a quality aircraft despite its shortcomings. “In terms of piloting, the Il-4 was a very moody airplane. Particularly during takeoff… However, I liked the Il-4. It flew well in both simple and complex conditions. It survived the war.”

The twin-engined Ilyushin was especially championed for its ability to withstand attacks from German fighters and anti-aircraft guns. Soviet mechanic Dmitry Bogdanov explained that “Il-4s were surprisingly tenacious. They had fabric coating, like canvas… After each sortie our equipment managed to patch up [the holes]… the aircraft could be fixed with incredible adaptations.” Soviet bomber pilots also noted that Il-4s were able to withstand significant amounts of combat damage and still fly, often times on only one engine, though this depended on the ability of each individual pilot. An Il-4 could get home on one engine “with difficulties,” Soviet navigator Nikolai Bungin recalled. “On one engine, with good piloting, it could fly to its home airfield. But some could not cope [with only one engine] and landed on reserve airfields, which were closer.”

Ground crew loading a torpedo. Source

Powered by two Tumansky M-88 radial engines, the Il-4 could carry 1,000 kilograms of bombs 1,600 kilometers, and had a maximum payload of 2,600 kilograms. Such specifications caught the attention of the Soviet Navy, so twin-engined Ilyushins were also fitted with equipment enabling it to carry type 45-36 torpedoes. The Red Navy began using the domestically-built bombers extensively in 1943, and by the end of the war, Il-4s would go on to sink more than 50 German ships. The Il-4’s naval service was far from its only accomplishment. Over the course of the war, Soviet DB-3s and Il-4s flew more than 222,000 sorties, dropping 2,000,000 bombs. By May of 1945, 240 pilots, navigators, gunners, and navigators became Heroes of the Soviet Union while flying these bombers.

While western historians tend to focus on the impact of U.S.-built bombers, such as the B-25 and A-20, on the war on the Eastern Front, the Soviet aviation design industry itself was capable of producing a high-quality bomber of its own. Mitchells and Bostons were undoubtedly superb aircraft, and deserve to be remembered as such, but it is fallacious Cold War thinking to believe that the U.S.-built twin-engined aircraft were the only bombers that the VVS and Red Navy had at their disposal. Though lacking the legendary status of its little brother, the Il-2 Sturmovik, the Il-4 was an effective bomber that was wisely used in the roles in which it excelled. The twin-engined Ilyushin deserves to be remembered as the tough and capable bomber that it was. As Sergei Ilyushin himself said in 1943, “In order to fly on a dark night 1500 km into the enemy’s rear, you need to very strongly believe in the reliability of the… aircraft and motor.” The Il-4 proved to be such an aircraft.

-Patrick Kinville

Tu-2 in flight. Source: wio.ru

In October of 1937, at the height of the Great Purges, Andrei Tupolev, one of the pioneers of the Soviet aviation industry and the designer of several Soviet bombers in the 1920s and 1930s, was arrested by the NKVD and charged with espionage, sabotage and aiding the Russian Fascist Party. While in the Gulag prison system, Tupolev would go on to design one of the Soviet Union’s best aircraft of World War Two: The twin-engine Tu-2 dive-bomber. Though Tupolev’s aircraft did not arrive at the front in large numbers until the summer of 1944, in the midst of the Wehrmacht’s retreat westward, the design and construction of the dive-bomber would have a tremendous impact on the Soviet aviation industry as a whole. The experience gained while designing the Tu-2 proved to be instrumental for Tupolev and his team following the Second World War, and its effects can still be felt today, as the Russian Federation’s three main bombers were all designed by the Tupolev Design Bureau: The Tu-95, Tu-22, and Tu-160.

TB-3 designed by Tupolev in the late 1920s. Source: Wikipedia

Tupolev was far from the only aircraft designer to come under suspicion from the NKVD in the late 1930s. In addition to several managers and designers of the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) who were arrested along with Tupolev, including Vladimir Petlyakov who would go on to design the Pe-2, dozens of other prominent figures in the industry were accused of being enemies of the people, including designers at the Experimental Design Bureau, engineers at the Kharkov Aviation Institute, and managers at the Smolensk Aircraft Factory, just to name a few. Many of these individuals were executed in the late 1930s, and none would be rehabilitated until 1954-1955, despite their wartime service.

TsKB-29. Photo source: Pokazhu

Tupolev managed to avoid the fate of many of his colleagues, and was sent to the Butirskoi prison, where he spent approximately one year. Shortly after Tupolev’s arrest, Lavrentiy Beria established the Special Technical Department of the NKVD (STO), which was effectively a research and design bureau within the Gulag prison system. In 1938, Tupolev was sent to the newly-established Experimental Design Bureau 29 (TsKB-29), an STO prison camp which focused on aircraft design and production. Accompanied by many of his colleagues who were arrested the previous year, Tupolev was transferred from Butirskoi to the prison camp near Bolshevo – a former labor camp for the homeless – northeast of Moscow. TsKB-29 was comprised of three buildings: the first was the prisoners’ barracks, the second a kitchen, and the third was a work area equipped with desks and drawing boards. The small camp was surrounded by a barbed wire fence and miles of thick forests on all sides.

The NKVD proceeded to split the prisoners into four teams in charge of four separate development projects. The first, officially designated Project 100, sought the development of a twin-engine high-altitude fighter. Led by Vladimir Petlyakov, a colleague of Tupolev’s at TsAGI, Project 100 eventually evolved into the Petlyakov Pe-2 light bomber, which would have a tremendous impact on the War on the Eastern Front. Project 101, headed by Dmitry Tomasevich, was tasked with designing a modern single-engine fighter. Project 102, led by Vladimir Myasischev, was to design a twin-engine high-altitude bomber. The final team, Project 103 and led by Andrei Tupolev, was told to design a four-engine heavy dive bomber.

Project 103 specifically sought the development of a high-altitude long-range four-engine dive bomber that would be able to destroy land-based fortifications, ships, and other heavy targets. The STO envisioned the bomber flying at an altitude of 10,000 meters, which meant the aircraft required a pressurized cabin and powerful high-altitude engines. The Project 103 team members were told the aircraft should be able to dive at an angle of 50-70 degrees at a speed of 900 km/hour. Tupolev’s team, which by April of 1939 had grown to 24 members, were unanimous in their assessment that the design and construction of such an aircraft was virtually impossible. A four-engine dive bomber that had all the characteristics sought after by the STO would be very complex structurally, and extremely difficult to maintain. Project 103 determined that a new twin-engine dive bomber would be able to fit the needs set forth by the STO, but it would be impractical to pursue such a project with more than two engines.

German Stukas. Photo Credit: Wikipedia

In September of 1939, after witnessing the destruction wrought by the Luftwaffe’s Ju-87 Stuka dive-bombers during the German invasion of Poland, the Soviet leadership acknowledged the need to develop medium dive-bombers of their own that would be capable of effectively attacking key ground targets. While at the time Soviet designers were working on what would become the Il-2 Sturmovik ground attack aircraft, which was comparable to the Stuka, Moscow saw the need for a multi-role dive-bomber that had a speed similar to that of German fighters, namely the Bf-109.

In the fall of 1939, Tupolev’s team thus received the order to develop a high-speed, twin-engine dive-bomber that could carrying a heavy bomb load and be capable of operating both during the day and at night. Project 103 quickly turned out designs per the specifications set forth by the STO. Throughout 1940, Tupolev’s team explored different possibilities and combinations that would give the new aircraft the required speed and bomb load. Moscow’s decision to pursue such an aircraft was reaffirmed in 1940 after witnessing the destructive capabilities of Germany’s new twin-engine multi-role aircraft, the Ju-88, during the Battles of France and Britain. Tupolev’s first prototype flew in January of 1941, and after a series of trials and fatal errors, Project 103’s aircraft 103B was accepted for state trials. Powered by two Shvetsov M-82 engines, the new aircraft had a top speed of 528 km/hour, a range of 2,000 km, and could carry a bomb load of 3,000 kg. Armed with two 20mm ShVAK cannons and five 7.62mm machine guns, the new high-speed dive-bomber was well equipped to play a variety of roles.

Tu-2s. Source: Voenneya Literatura

Though Project 103’s aircraft, now designated Tu-2, passed state trials and was officially introduced in March of 1942, the dive-bomber proved too complex for the conditions on the frontline. Nevertheless, a small number of Tu-2s reached the front in 1942, and VVS crews were generally enthusiastic about the armament, speed, and range of the new dive-bomber. After a series of further modifications and the stabilization of the aviation industry following the wholesale evacuation eastwards in 1941-1942, the Tu-2 serial version made its first flight in August of 1943 and was send to forward VVS units. However, it was not until June of 1944 that the VVS received large enough numbers of Tu-2s to have an impact on the Eastern Front. By this time, the Wehrmacht was retreating westwards, and the Western Allies had opened up the second front that Moscow had been requesting for more than two years. Consequently, the impact of the Tu-2 on the outcome of the war was less than some contemporary Soviet aircraft, such as the Il-2 Sturmovik.

While the Tu-2’s ultimate contribution to the victory over Germany was limited due to the fact that it did not arrive in large numbers at the front until 1944, its contribution to the Soviet aircraft industry as a whole cannot be understated. Tupolev would go on to lead the project to reverse-engineer U.S. B-29 Superfortress bombers, resulting in the Soviet Tu-4 heavy bomber that was in service from the late 1940s to the 1960s. Tupolev also spearheaded the Tu-95 bomber project in the 1950s, bombers which are still in use today. Following his death in 1972, the Tupolev Design Bureau continued Andrei’s work designing and producing heavy bombers for the Soviet VVS. The Russian Federation’s supersonic strategic bombers, the Tupolev Design Bureau’s Tu-160, is today one of the most lethal weapons in the VVS’ aresenal. Despite designing the aircraft under the incredibly adverse conditions of a Soviet prison camp, Andrei Tupolev’s team designed a dynamic multi-role aircraft whose impact can still be felt today.

-Patrick Kinville

Tu-160. Source: Army-news.ru