Russian Pe-2 Soviet dive bomber with unguided rockets (serie 32) WWII 1/72 UM 102

Russian Pe-2 Soviet dive bomber with unguided rockets (serie 32) WWII
1/72 WWI aircraft scale plastic model kit
Unimodels UM 103

Manufacturer: UM (Ukraine)
Scale: 1/72
Material: Plastic
Paint: Unpainted, Unassembled, Kit do not contain paints and glue.
Condition: New in Box

The Petlyakov Pe-2 (Cyrillic: Петляков Пе-2), nicknamed Peshka (Пешка - "Pawn") was a Soviet dive bomber aircraft used during World War II. It was fast and maneuverable yet durable, and was manufactured in large numbers. Several Communist nations flew the type after the war, when it became known by the NATO reporting name Buck. The Finnish Air Force serial code was PE- and unofficial nickname Pekka-Eemeli.

Finnish Air Force

In 1941, after the outbreak of Continuation War Finland purchased six war booty Pe-2 aircraft from Germany. These arrived at State Aircraft Factory facilities at Härmälä in January 1942, where the airframes were overhauled and given Finnish serial numbers. The seventh Pe-2 was bought from the Germans in January 1944, and it was flown to Finland at the end of the month.

It was initially planned to use these planes as dive bombers in the 1st flight of LeLv 48, which began to receive its aircraft in July 1942, but during the training it was found out that this caused too much strain for the engines. Thus, the role of Pe-2s was changed to fly long-range photographic and visual reconnaissance missions for the Army General Headquarters. These sorties began in late 1942, and were often flown with two 250 kg bombs for harassment bombing and in order to cover the true purpose of missions.

By the time the Soviet Fourth strategic offensive started in June 1944, the secondary bombing role had already ended and the surviving Pe-2s began to be used solely at Karelian Isthmus in escorted (normally by four FiAF Bf-109 Gs) photographic reconnaissance flights in order to find out enemy troop concentrations. These vital missions were flown successfully, allowing artillery and Finnish Air Force and Luftwaffe's Gefechtsverband Kuhlmey's bombers to make their strikes against the formations preparing for attack, which had an important impact on the outcome of the Battle of Tali-Ihantala, where the Soviet advance was halted.

During the Continuation War, three Pe-2s were lost in accidents or technical failures, one was destroyed in bombing of Lappeenranta airfield, one was shot down by Soviet fighters and one went missing in action. In the Lapland War the only remaining machine flew a single reconnaissance sortie in October 1944. On average, the aircraft flew some 94 hours per plane during the war. The sparse usage was due to difficulties with obtaining spare parts.

The Finnish Air Force also operated one Petlyakov Pe-3 (PE-301) that had been captured in 1943.

PE-301 and PE-215 were destroyed when Soviet aircraft bombed the Lappenranta airfield on 2 July 1944. PE-212 went down in 1943, PE-213 was destroyed in an emergency landing in 1942. PE-214 was destroyed in a failed take-off attempt at Härmälä on 21 May 1942. As the Härmälä airfield was quite short, the pilot had to try to lift off with too too low speed, which caused the aircraft to stall and crash, killing the crew. PE-217 managed to shoot down a Soviet fighter in 1944. PE-216 was destroyed in an forced landing in 1944. PE-211 survived the war and was removed from FAF lists in 1946. It was still standing beside the Kauhava airfield in 1952, but further information on its fate are unknown.

Specifications (Petlyakov Pe-2)

General characteristics

• Crew: Three - pilot, gunner, bombardier
• Length: 12.66 m (41 ft 6 in)
• Wingspan: 17.16 m (56 ft 3 in)
• Height: 3.5 m (11 ft 6 in)
• Wing area: 40.5 m² (436 ft²)
• Empty weight: 5,875 kg (12,952 lb)
• Loaded weight: 7,563 kg (16,639 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 8,495 kg (18,728 lb)
• Powerplant: 2× Klimov M-105PF liquid-cooled V-12, 903 kW (1,210 hp) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 580 km/h (360 mph)
• Range: 1,160 km (721 miles)
• Service ceiling: 8,800 m (28,870 ft)
• Rate of climb: 7.2 m/s (1,410 ft/min)
• Wing loading: 186 kg/m² (38 lb/ft²)
• Power/mass: 250 W/kg (0.15 hp/lb)

Armament

• Guns:
  
  • 2x 7.62 mm fixed ShKAS machine guns in the nose, one replaced by a 12.7 mmBerezin UB on later versions.
  • 2x rearward firing 7.62 mm ShKAS.
  • From the middle of 1942 defensive armament included 1 Berezin UB machine gun in the upper bombardier's turret, 1 Berezin UB in gunner's ventral hatch and 1 ShKAS which could be fired by a gunner from port, starboard or upper mountings
  • Some planes were also equipped with DAG-10 launcher, firing AG-2 parachute timed grenades.
• Bombs: 1,600 kg (3,520 lb) of bombs