{"id":32435175,"date":"2026-11-12T10:30:15","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T09:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/petlyakov-pe-2-peshka-soviet-dive-bomber-sharashka-vi-100\/"},"modified":"2026-11-12T10:30:33","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T09:30:33","slug":"petlyakov-pe-2-peshka-soviet-dive-bomber-sharashka-vi-100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/petlyakov-pe-2-peshka-soviet-dive-bomber-sharashka-vi-100\/","title":{"rendered":"Petlyakov Pe-2: The Prison-Designed Fighter That Became a Bomber"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\n\n<style>\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid 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The charges of sabotage and espionage were invented. Many of his colleagues were shot. Petlyakov was put to work instead.<\/p>\n\n<p>From a prison design bureau, he and his team produced the aircraft that became the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/petlyakov-pe-2\/\">Petlyakov Pe-2<\/a>, the &ldquo;Peshka&rdquo;. It began life as a pressurised high-altitude fighter, was turned into a dive bomber in 45 days, and became the most-produced Soviet twin-engined combat aircraft of the Second World War.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f4f6f9;border:1px solid #e2e7ee;padding:18px 22px;margin:22px 0 26px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:700;color:#0d1117\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:18px\"><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Type:<\/strong> Twin-engined dive bomber, also built as heavy fighter (Pe-3) and reconnaissance aircraft<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Designer:<\/strong> Vladimir Petlyakov, working as a prisoner in an NKVD design bureau<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Origin:<\/strong> VI-100 pressurised high-altitude fighter, first flown December 1939<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Crew:<\/strong> 3<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Engines:<\/strong> 2 &times; Klimov M-105 V-12<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Top speed:<\/strong> About 540 km\/h (early production)<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Bomb load:<\/strong> 600 kg internal; up to 1,000 kg with external racks (early production)<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Built:<\/strong> About 11,430 during the war<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Nickname:<\/strong> Peshka (&ldquo;pawn&rdquo;); NATO name Buck<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Designing behind barbed wire<\/h2>\n\n<p>Stalin&rsquo;s purge reached deep into the aviation industry. Instead of executing every engineer it arrested, the NKVD ran special prisons called <em>sharashkas<\/em>, where valuable prisoners kept designing aircraft under guard. Petlyakov was given charge of a team in one of them, working alongside other imprisoned designers such as Vladimir Myasishchev.<\/p>\n\n<p>His project was known simply as &ldquo;100&rdquo;. Proposed in 1938, it was a twin-engined high-altitude interceptor meant to catch German bombers flying above the reach of ordinary fighters. The VI-100 was advanced for its time: all-metal construction, a pressurised cabin, turbo-superchargers and many electrically operated systems. The prototype first flew in December 1939.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/11\/petlyakov-pe-2ft-polish-army-museum-warsaw.jpg\" alt=\"A Petlyakov Pe-2FT in Polish markings on display at the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A Pe-2FT in Polish markings at the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw. The twin fins, glazed nose and slim nacelles were inherited from the VI-100 high-altitude fighter. Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:PL_MWP_Pe-2FT.JPG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hubert &#346;mietanka \/ Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<p>Then the war in the West changed everything. The Luftwaffe&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/ju-87-stuka\/\">Ju 87 Stuka<\/a> dive bombers had shown in 1939 and 1940 what precise tactical bombing could do, and the Soviet air force wanted its own. At the same time, Soviet experts found that Germany had no serious high-altitude bomber programme under way. The interceptor had lost its target.<\/p>\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Forty-five days to build a bomber<\/h2>\n\n<p>In 1940 Petlyakov&rsquo;s team was ordered to redesign the two-seat fighter as a three-seat dive bomber within 45 days. The pressurisation and the turbo-superchargers went. In came a glazed nose for better downward view, slatted dive brakes under the wings, a fuselage bomb bay and a small bay in the back of each engine nacelle.<\/p>\n\n<p>The redesign worked so well that the aircraft went straight into production without a new prototype. The first production machines were completed in late 1940, and the type took the designation Pe-2. Petlyakov was released from imprisonment in 1940 and received a Stalin Prize in 1941.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fYKSmQT6qlA\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic;margin:0 0 24px\">Dark Skies tells the story of the Pe-2, from Petlyakov&rsquo;s prison design bureau to the front line.<\/p>\n\n<p>The Pe-2 was accepted for service in June 1941, just before Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Its first months were brutal. Poorly trained crews, still unfamiliar with the new aircraft, were thrown into desperate low-level attacks against advancing German columns, where light flak and fighters cut them down.<\/p>\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Peshka finds its feet<\/h2>\n\n<p>By the end of 1941 the Pe-2 began to show what it could do. It was fast for a bomber, agile, and able to dive-bomb with real accuracy. Pilots who had come from older, slower bombers were stunned by it, though the aircraft was also demanding to fly, with a high landing speed and a tendency to bounce on touchdown.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #d32f2f;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><div><em>&ldquo;The Peshka [Pe-2] is an extremely complex machine&hellip; very difficult to land.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Mikhail Mabo<\/strong> &mdash; Soviet Pe-2 pilot, recalling the aircraft (via VVS Air War)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Experienced units learned to use that versatility. According to VVS Air War, a research site on the wartime Soviet air force, the elite 6th Guards Bomber Aviation Division often alternated between dive attacks and level bombing on the same sorties, so that German flak gunners could not settle on one way of aiming at the formations.<\/p>\n\n<p>The cost was still high. Pe-2s were daylight bombers, often flown by young crews, and German fighters took a steady toll even late in the war. The gunners suffered most: the ventral gun had a narrow field of fire, and the belt of the heavy machine gun was prone to jam when fired at extreme angles.<\/p>\n\n<p>Crews also complained, rightly, that defensive armament was too weak and that the navigator and gunner were badly protected. The design was improved steadily throughout the war in consultation with front-line units: heavier 12.7 mm machine guns, better turrets, more armour and more powerful Klimov engines.<\/p>\n\n<p>Petlyakov did not see most of it. On 12 January 1942 he was killed when the Pe-2 carrying him to Moscow crashed near Arzamas. Development continued under other designers, Myasishchev among them, and the factories kept turning out Peshkas in enormous numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/11\/pe-2-crew-black-sea-fleet-40th-bomber-regiment-crimea-1944.jpg\" alt=\"Three Soviet airmen in parachute harnesses in front of a Pe-2 dive bomber inscribed with a slogan, Crimea, May 1944\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A Pe-2 crew of the Black Sea Fleet&rsquo;s 40th Bomber Aviation Regiment after a combat mission in Crimea, May 1944: pilot, navigator and gunner-radio operator, the type&rsquo;s standard crew of three. Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:%D0%AD%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%B6_%D0%BF%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%80%D1%83%D1%8E%D1%89%D0%B5%D0%B3%D0%BE_%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B1%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%89%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%9Fe-2_%C2%AB%D0%97%D0%B0_%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE_%D0%A1%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0%C2%BB_%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B1%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BE%D1%87%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE_%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%A7%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE_%D1%84%D0%BB%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%B0_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%B5_%D0%B2%D1%8B%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown photographer \/ Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Women at the controls<\/h2>\n\n<p>The Pe-2 was the mount of one of the most remarkable units of the war. The 587th Bomber Aviation Regiment, founded by Marina Raskova as one of three Soviet women&rsquo;s aviation regiments and later renamed the 125th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment, flew the Pe-2 in combat. It flew 1,134 missions and dropped more than 980 tons of bombs, and five of its members became Heroes of the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><div><em>&ldquo;The Pe-2 is a predator, a very beautiful and fast machine, but also very difficult.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Galina Brok-Beltsova<\/strong> &mdash; Navigator, 125th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment (via VVS Air War)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p>The airframe also proved adaptable. The Pe-3 turned the bomber back into a heavy fighter, bringing the design full circle to where it had started. The Pe-2R carried cameras for reconnaissance. In June 1944, Pe-2 crews were among the Soviet airmen who met American bomber crews at Poltava during the Operation Frantic shuttle missions.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/11\/petlyakov-pe-2-poltava-operation-frantic-1944.jpg\" alt=\"Soviet airmen and an American sergeant in front of a Petlyakov Pe-2 at Poltava in June 1944\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Soviet pilots and ground crew with an American sergeant of the 99th Bomb Group in front of a Pe-2 at Poltava in June 1944, during the first Italy-to-Russia shuttle raid. Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Petlyakov_Pe-2_at_Poltava,_Russia.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">U.S. Air Force photo \/ Wikimedia Commons, public domain<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Eleven thousand Peshkas<\/h2>\n\n<p>Around 11,430 Pe-2s were built during the war. Only Germany&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/ju-88\/\">Junkers Ju 88<\/a> and Britain&rsquo;s Vickers Wellington were built in greater numbers among twin-engined combat aircraft of the conflict, which makes the Pe-2 the most-produced Soviet twin-engined combat aircraft of the war and the backbone of its light bomber force.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DrZvt--KNOU\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic;margin:0 0 24px\">A documentary on how the VI-100 fighter became the Soviet Union&rsquo;s most important wartime bomber.<\/p>\n\n<p>After 1945 the Peshka served on with Soviet-aligned air forces including those of Czechoslovakia and Poland, and NATO gave it the reporting name &ldquo;Buck&rdquo;. A handful survive today, among them examples in the Polish Army Museum in Warsaw and the Central Air Force Museum at Monino.<\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lTMpfycImEs\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic;margin:0 0 24px\">Archive footage of Soviet Pe-2s in action during the Second World War.<\/p>\n\n<p>Petlyakov&rsquo;s other famous design, the four-engined <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/pe-8\/\">Pe-8<\/a> heavy bomber, was built only in small numbers. The Pe-2 was his real legacy: a fighter conceived in a prison, rebuilt as a bomber against the clock, and flown by men and women who called it the little pawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sources: VVS Air War, Royal Air Force Museum, Polish Army Museum, Central Air Force Museum Monino, Dark Skies<\/em><\/p>\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\n\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\n\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\n<p class=\"mf-photo-credits\" data-no-translation style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;font-style:italic;margin:6px 0 18px\">Header photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:%D0%AD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%8F_%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%85_%D0%B1%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B1%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%89%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2_%D0%9F%D0%B5-2_%D0%B2_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B5_%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%B4_%D0%9A%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%BC_%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%88%D0%B5%D0%B9%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BC_2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Grigory Chertov (TASS) \/ Wikimedia Commons, public domain<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\n\n\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>What was the Petlyakov Pe-2?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Petlyakov Pe-2 was a Soviet twin-engined dive bomber of the Second World War with a crew of three. Nicknamed Peshka, meaning pawn, it began as the VI-100 high-altitude fighter and was redesigned as a dive bomber in 1940. It also served as a heavy fighter, the Pe-3, and as a reconnaissance aircraft.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Was the Pe-2 designed in a prison?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes. Vladimir Petlyakov was arrested with Andrei Tupolev in October 1937 on invented charges and put to work in an NKVD prison design bureau known as a sharashka. There his team designed the VI-100 high-altitude fighter that became the Pe-2. Petlyakov was released in 1940 and won a Stalin Prize in 1941.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How many Petlyakov Pe-2s were built?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">About 11,430 Pe-2s were built during the Second World War. Among twin-engined combat aircraft of the war, only the German Junkers Ju 88 and the British Vickers Wellington were produced in greater numbers, making the Pe-2 the most-produced Soviet twin-engined combat aircraft of the conflict.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why was the Pe-2 called Peshka?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Soviet crews called the Pe-2 Peshka, the Russian word for a pawn in chess. Pilots used the nickname affectionately even though the aircraft was demanding to fly, with a high landing speed and a tendency to bounce on touchdown. NATO later gave the type the reporting name Buck.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How did Vladimir Petlyakov die?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Vladimir Petlyakov died on 12 January 1942 when the Pe-2 carrying him to Moscow crashed near Arzamas. He had been travelling from the Kazan aircraft factory, where Pe-2 production was struggling. Development of the Pe-2 continued after his death under other designers, including Vladimir Myasishchev.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Did women fly the Pe-2 in combat?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes. The 587th Bomber Aviation Regiment, founded by Marina Raskova and later renamed the 125th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment, flew the Pe-2 in combat. The women&rsquo;s regiment flew 1,134 missions and dropped more than 980 tons of bombs, and five of its members were made Heroes of the Soviet Union.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What was the Petlyakov Pe-2?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The Petlyakov Pe-2 was a Soviet twin-engined dive bomber of the Second World War with a crew of three. Nicknamed Peshka, meaning pawn, it began as the VI-100 high-altitude fighter and was redesigned as a dive bomber in 1940. It also served as a heavy fighter, the Pe-3, and as a reconnaissance aircraft.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Was the Pe-2 designed in a prison?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes. Vladimir Petlyakov was arrested with Andrei Tupolev in October 1937 on invented charges and put to work in an NKVD prison design bureau known as a sharashka. There his team designed the VI-100 high-altitude fighter that became the Pe-2. Petlyakov was released in 1940 and won a Stalin Prize in 1941.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How many Petlyakov Pe-2s were built?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"About 11,430 Pe-2s were built during the Second World War. Among twin-engined combat aircraft of the war, only the German Junkers Ju 88 and the British Vickers Wellington were produced in greater numbers, making the Pe-2 the most-produced Soviet twin-engined combat aircraft of the conflict.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why was the Pe-2 called Peshka?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Soviet crews called the Pe-2 Peshka, the Russian word for a pawn in chess. Pilots used the nickname affectionately even though the aircraft was demanding to fly, with a high landing speed and a tendency to bounce on touchdown. NATO later gave the type the reporting name Buck.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How did Vladimir Petlyakov die?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Vladimir Petlyakov died on 12 January 1942 when the Pe-2 carrying him to Moscow crashed near Arzamas. He had been travelling from the Kazan aircraft factory, where Pe-2 production was struggling. 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The women\u2019s regiment flew 1,134 missions and dropped more than 980 tons of bombs, and five of its members were made Heroes of the Soviet Union.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/marina-raskova-rodina-flight-1938-taiga-survival\/\">Marina Raskova and the Rodina: Ten Days Alone in the Taiga<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/molotov-pe-8-flight-washington-1942-endel-puusepp\/\">Molotov&rsquo;s Bomber: The 1942 Pe-8 Flight to Washington<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/tupolev-tu-4-stalin-b-29-superfortress-clone\/\">Tupolev Tu-4: Stalin&rsquo;s Bolt-for-Bolt B-29 Superfortress Clone<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/kursk-air-battle-1943-il-2-ptab-ju-87g-hs-129\/\">Kursk Air Battle 1943: Il-2s, Stukas and the Fight Above the Tanks<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n\n\n<!--mfcred1-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Petlyakov Pe-2 was designed in an NKVD prison bureau as a high-altitude fighter, rebuilt as a dive bomber in 45 days, and built more than 11,000 times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":32435045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32435175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Petlyakov Pe-2: The Prison-Designed Soviet Bomber 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