Petlyakov Pe-2/Pe-3

[GTX]

Usual deal folks - thread for Petlyakov Pe-2/Pe-3 whiff ideas.

To start, does anyone have any idea if either the Petlyakov Pe-2 or Pe-3 were used in a torpedo bomber role?

Regards,

Greg

[Arc3371]

Not sure but I doubt it as the Il-4 was the main torpedo bomber

[Maverick]

Well, according to Squadron-Signal, they didn't use them, although I think the idea has merit given the Pe-2/3 is a much more agile machine in comparison to the Il-4T.  They'd be more like a Beaufighter with torpedo rather than a Marauder with Torpedo.

Regards,

Mav

[Old Wombat]

Not too bad a concept but I'd be more likely to go the Tu-2.

[Maverick]

The Soviets fielded the Tu-2T, which was a torpedo bomber and the Il-2T, also torpedo equipped, so a whif Pe-2 seems eminently plausible.

Regards,

Mav

[GTX]

Thanks guys - that confirms my checks too.  This might also gain some floats...

[GTX]

Speaking of which, does anyone know a good source for 1/48 Russian WWII aerial torpedoes?

Regards,

Greg

[Geoff]

Gunship conversion similar to A-20.

Post war Finnish SAR a/c with radar pod (which were not allowed by the treaty).

[McGreig]

A quick look through Peter C Smith's "Petlyakov Pe-2" and Khazanov, Kotelnikov and Medved's "Le Petlyakov Pe-2" suggests that, although they seem to have thought of almost  everything else, Petlyakov and Myasishchev never proposed the Pe-2 as a torpedo bomber or floatplane (when used against shipping, the Pe-2 appears to have been flown mostly as a dive bomber).

I like the idea of a float version – and there was a real float version of the Ilyushin DB-3 and a proposed float version of the Tupolev ANT-41 (essentially an enlarged SB)

Some of the more interesting proposals etc developed by Myasishchev (who took over after Petlyakov's death in an air crash in January 1942) include:

A Jumo powered Pe-2 with a bicycle/outrigger style undercarriage (Project only)


A "Paravan" balloon cable cutter, with an open girder structure ahead of the nose to support the cutting cable (a prototype of this was actually built)


Various testbeds – the top one fired an ejection seat from the mid fuselage, the middle was a Polish jet engine testbed and the lower one was a Soviet pulse jet testbed


The proposed heavy fighter version of Myasishchev's improved DB-108 derivative with VK-108 engines (four bladed props and four exhaust stacks). Note the pannier for the twin NS-37 or NS-45 cannon fitted in the enlarged bomb bay (not built – testbed converted from a Pe-2 crashed and project was cancelled).


The Pe-2 was also to be the aircraft of the Free French "Bretagne" bomber squadron which began training in March 1945 but was disbanded at the end of the war without ever becoming operational.

(The drawings come from volume 2 of Ganin, Karpenko and Kolnogorov's "Otechestvennye Bombardirovshchiki" published by Bastion in 2001)

[Pablo1965]

A Pe-2 in a russian Mistel with a Yak-9 above.

[rickshaw]

Speaking of which, does anyone know a good source for 1/48 Russian WWII aerial torpedoes?

Regards,

Greg

Virtually all torpedos are the same, Greg, being derived from or copies of Whitehead's design.  They just vary in size.  As the Russian Navy was heavily influenced by the German one before WWI, I'd suspect you could get away with using a German torpedo.

[GTX]

That was my thinking as well.  The common Soviet WWII Aerial torpedoes were the 450mm 45-36-AN and 45-36-AV torpedoes.  These are obviously both similar in diameter to the common German LT F 5b torpedo.  The Soviet torpedoes are longer though at 18.7 feet (5.7 m) vs 16 ft 11.5 in (5.160 m).  Some of the Japanese aerial torpedoes are closer in length which provides another option.  Either way, some slight tope doe stretching looks to be on the plans.

[GTX]

Another idea might be an anti-tank or anti-ship aircraft with a 76.2mm gun fitted in a pannier.

[Maverick]

I wonder how strong the Pe-2's structure would be and if if could absorb the recoil?  A 45mm weapon might be a better choice, after all the German's did well enough with their 37mm aircraft.

Regards,

Mav

[GTX]

I wonder how strong the Pe-2's structure would be and if if could absorb the recoil?  A 45mm weapon might be a better choice, after all the German's did well enough with their 37mm aircraft.

Regards,

Mav

Bah!!!  Down with this realist thinking!!!