Tupolev Tu-2
attack bomber

Tupolev Tu-2

Tupolev Tu-2
Type: Attack bomber.
History: The origin of the Tupolev Tu-2 lay in the ANT-58, ANT-59 and ANT-60 light bomber prototypes that came from the design bureau of Andrei N. Tupolev during 1938-40: powered by two 1,400-hp Mikulm AM-37 V-12 engines, the ANT-58 made its first flight on 29 January 1941 with M.P. Vasyakm at the controls. The ANT-60 was re-engined with the big and powerful 1,480-hp M-82 radiais because of the relative unreliability of the AM-37s. The result was the definitive Tu-2 bomber that was to see service with the Red Air Force during the last year of WW2 and well into the 1950s.

Soviet industry was still in a state of upheaval following the terrible years of 1941-42, when the German army struck deep into Belorussia and the Ukraine. The Tu-2 was too complicated an aircraft for the conditions prevailing, and after many months in which the Tu-2 was modified and simplified for the mass production lines, the Tu-2S (Seriinyi, or series) appeared, flying for the first time on 26 August 1943.

Andrei Tupolev was commanded by Stalin to produce a better bomber than the Junkers Ju88 and the resulting Tu-2 proved to be one of the finest wartime aircraft. This is a Tu-2S with broadened ailerons.

A small number of Tu-2s had previously been passed to frontline regiments in September 1942, where their performance, armament and bombload had received general enthusiasm.

By January 1944 the first production Tu-2 and Tu-2S bombers had been passed to the regiments of the Red Air Force, but it was not until June of that year that Tu-2s saw action on a large scale. The sector was the Karelian (Finnish) front in the north where the Red Air Force, under the overall command of General A.A. Novikov, numbered total 757 aircraft. Of the 249 Tu-2 and Petlyakov Pe-2 light bombers in the Soviet order of battle, many came under Colonel IP. Skok's 334th Bomber Air Division which subsequently received a citation for its work.

Reconnaissance work was now being carried out by Tu-2D and Tu-2R aircraft with modified mainplanes, nose glazing, and capacity for vertical and oblique cameras.

Wartime production of the Tupolev Tu-2 and its sub-types amounted to 1,111.

Because of total preoccupation with the existing Pe-2, not many Tu-2 bombers saw action in WW2. This is one in early 1945, when some 1,000 were in use.

As a bomber it did not come into its own until the autumn of 1944. However, as German resistance stiffened on nearing the eastern borders of the Reich Red Air Force bombers, including Tupolev Tu-2s, were called up to attack strongpoints at Kustrin, Konigsberg and other fortified ports and cities.
September 1945 saw many Tu-2s in action against the Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria before the final surrender.

Users: Soviet Union (wartime).

3d model of Tupolev Tu-2.

This 3d model is a current element of the WW2 game WW2 Total. The data for production, movement and combat of the Axis and Allies units are here !