Su-2 Ivanov (Sukhoi) ANT-51, BB-1 - Operations
The biography of the Su-2 light bomber can be described as extremely complex. Even before the war, this plane had to go through several steep turns, each of which could have the most fateful effect on the fate of the car. During the Great Patriotic War, the production of Su-2 suffered greatly because of the evacuation of industry to the east and the seizure of the main industrial centers of the country, and after the war this aircraft was undeservedly and permanently forgotten.
Unexpected fame came to Su-2 many years later, when a former employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Soviet Army Rezun fled to the West and soon turned into a “historian Viktor Suvorov”, giving out books one after another in which he tried to prove that Hitler in 1941, he was just ahead of Stalin, who intended to seize the whole of Europe. Su-2 became one of the “proofs” - according to Suvorov-Rezun, this plane was to become one of the most important elements of the “Soviet blitzkrieg”, along with the “highway” tank BT-7.
Why Suvorov chose the Su-2 is not very clear. This aircraft was not only never built in a large series, but was not even planned for mass production. In addition, the cost of production of the Su-2 turned out to be quite high, which also does not confirm Suvorov’s assumptions about the hundreds of thousands of light bombers that were supposed to fall on poor Europe.
The main problem of the Su-2 throughout its entire service was poorly developed engines. Therefore, although the first copies of the BB-1 (as the plane was originally called) were highly appreciated by the testers and the military, it did not take long to establish a serial production of the bomber. When most of the problems were solved, it turned out that now the troops want to see an attack aircraft, or a dive bomber, like the German Ju-87. The redevelopment of the dive bomber at Sukhoi Design Bureau immediately and decisively refused, and the “assault” version clearly lost to the IL-2 that had already appeared.
Even in 1941, on the eve of the war, the Su-2 remained half experimental. The military did not trust him, remembering the fate of the similar British Su-2 Battle bombers in the battle for France in 1940. And only the fighting showed that the Su-2 was generally quite successful, and even a low-vulnerable vehicle. And although this light bomber never went into a large series, it was used throughout the war, being used both for its intended purpose and as a scout and spotter.
Su-2 aeroplanes started to be put into service in the AFRA in the second half of 1940. By the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, as of 22nd June 1941, the fleet of Su-2 aircraft in the Air Forces numbered 213 (West Front, 75; South-West Front, 114; 9th separate army (Odessa Military District), 24). The hostilities up to 1944 involved (according to a number of sources) 14 to 17 short-range bomber regiments, over 12 reconnaissance and spotter squadrons and 18 flights armed with Su-2 aeroplanes.
At various times during the Great Patriotic War, Su-2 aeroplanes were flown by 27 pilots who were awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union, with M.P. Odintsov and G.F. Sivkov being honoured with the title twice.
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