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Sukhoi Su-2 — History, Specs & Stories

Sukhoi Su-2 Soviet WWII single-engine light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft
Aircraft Museum › Light Bomber › Su-2

Sukhoi Su-2
Pavel Sukhoi’s first aircraft

A rugged Soviet light bomber thrown into the fire of 1941 — the first machine ever to carry the Sukhoi name, and the aircraft in which the only woman to ram an enemy plane made her last flight.

1937First flight · as the ANT-51/BB-1
~910Aircraft built · to 1942
~460 km/hTop speed · Shvetsov M-88B
600 kgMaximum bomb load
Photo: SDASM Archives · no known copyright restrictions
RoleLight bomber & short-range reconnaissanceEraWWII · 1937–1942Двигатель1 × Shvetsov M-88B radialOriginUSSR · SukhoiStatusRetired · none airworthyWant to fly a real fighter jet yourself?
История

Pavel Sukhoi’s first aircraft, forged for a war it could not survive

The Sukhoi Su-2 was born of a Stalin-era competition. In 1936 the Soviet leadership issued a requirement — code-named “Ivanov” — for a simple, mass-producible multi-role aircraft that could bomb, scout and support the army. Several design teams answered. The winning entry came from a brigade led by Pavel Sukhoi, then working inside Andrei Tupolev’s design organisation, which is why the prototype first flew under the Tupolev designation ANT-51, in the hands of test pilot Mikhail Gromov, on 25 August 1937.

Ordered into production as the BB-1 (blizhniy bombardirovshchik, “short-range bomber”), it was renamed the Su-2 in 1940 under a new system that used the chief designer’s initials — making it the very first production aircraft to bear the Sukhoi name. It was a clean, low-wing monoplane of mixed construction: a plywood-skinned wooden fuselage married to metal wings, powered by an air-cooled radial and crewed by two, a pilot and a navigator who doubled as rear gunner. On paper it was thoroughly modern for the late 1930s.

Then came 22 June 1941. When Germany invaded, only around a hundred Su-2s were in front-line service, and they were committed immediately to daylight bombing — often without fighter escort, against an enemy with air superiority. Losses were severe. The aircraft itself was sound and notably rugged, able to bring damaged crews home, but the tactical situation was hopeless. By 1942 it was being withdrawn from bombing and shifted to reconnaissance and artillery-spotting, roles in which it served usefully until worn out and superseded by the Il-2, Pe-2 and Tu-2. Barely 900-odd were built, and today not a single complete original survives.

A sound aeroplane handed an impossible task: daylight bombing, in 1941, without fighters overhead.The Su-2 in Barbarossa — a good design in the wrong war
01The Sukhoi Su-2’s origins: how Stalin’s “Ivanov” contest launched the Sukhoi name

The “Ivanov” requirement of 1936 — reportedly named after Stalin’s own telegraph pseudonym — asked Soviet designers for a rugged, easily-built aircraft able to switch between light bombing, reconnaissance and ground attack. Sukhoi’s brigade, operating under Tupolev, produced the ANT-51, and it won. When the Soviet designation system was reorganised in 1940 to credit the lead designer, the BB-1 became the Su-2. It is easy to overlook, but this modest bomber is the ancestor of one of the most famous names in combat aviation: every Su-27, Su-34 and Su-57 traces its designation lineage back to this two-seat machine of 1937.

Design & Engineering

What makes the Su-2 special

01

A wood-and-metal airframe built to be mass-produced

The Su-2 used mixed construction: a semi-monocoque fuselage of wooden formers and plywood skin, mated to metal (largely duralumin) wings with fabric-covered control surfaces. The layout was deliberately simple, reflecting the “Ivanov” brief for an aircraft that ordinary factories could turn out in quantity. The crew sat behind roughly 9 mm of armour, and the undercarriage retracted — advanced touches for a Soviet type of the late 1930s.

02

The Shvetsov M-88B radial

Production Su-2s were built around the air-cooled Shvetsov M-88B two-row radial of roughly 1,000 hp class (higher at rated altitude), after earlier prototypes tried the M-62 and M-87. It gave a top speed commonly cited between ~455 and 486 km/h — respectable for 1940, but soon eclipsed as the war accelerated engine development on all sides.

03

Modest guns, real bombs, a vulnerable gunner

Defensive and offensive armament centred on the rifle-calibre 7.62 mm ShKAS machine gun — several fixed in the wings plus one or two on flexible mounts for the navigator/gunner. It carried around 400 kg of bombs normally and up to 600 kg, and could sling RS-82/RS-132 rockets. Rugged though it was, a single rear gun was never enough against massed Bf 109s in 1941.

02The Sukhoi Su-2’s construction: wood, metal and the logic of mass production

Soviet industry in the late 1930s was short of light alloys and skilled labour, so mixed wood-and-metal construction was a pragmatic norm. The Su-2’s plywood-covered wooden fuselage was cheap and easy to build and repair, while the metal wing carried the loads and the retractable gear. The trade-off was weight and, in a wooden structure, vulnerability to fire and weather. It was a sensible design for its moment — but the moment passed quickly once cannon-armed fighters and purpose-built attack aircraft such as the Il-2 arrived.

03The Sukhoi Su-2’s firepower: modest guns, a lone gunner and heavy 1941 losses

The Su-2 was a light day-bomber, not a fighter, and its armament reflects that. Rifle-calibre ShKAS guns hit hard for their weight but lacked the reach and punch of the 20 mm cannon German fighters carried. With a single navigator-gunner covering the rear, an unescorted Su-2 formation attacked in daylight was desperately exposed. Contemporary Soviet accounts record entire flights being cut down; the aircraft’s ruggedness saved some crews, but the loss rate in the opening months of the war was punishing and drove the type out of the bombing role by 1942.

Технические данные

Sukhoi Su-2 full specifications

Airframe & Performance

Экипаж
2 (pilot, navigator/gunner)
Длина
~10.25 m
Размах крыльев
14.30 m
Высота
~3.9 m
Max takeoff weight
~4,345–4,700 kg (sources vary)
Max speed
~455–486 km/h (M-88B)
Служебный потолок
~8,400–8,900 m
Диапазон
~1,100 km
First flight
25 August 1937 (as ANT-51)

Powerplant, Armament & Cost

Двигатель
1 × Shvetsov M-88B radial
Power
~1,000 hp class (higher at altitude)
Guns
4–6 × 7.62 mm ShKAS (fixed + flexible)
Bomb load
~400 kg normal · up to 600 kg
Rockets
RS-82 / RS-132 (optional)
Built
~910 (approx. 893–910), to 1942
Unit cost
No reliable public figure
Cost per flight hour
No reliable public figure exists
04The Sukhoi Su-2’s operating costs: why no reliable price exists

The Su-2 was a wartime Soviet state product, built to plan rather than sold on any market, so there is no reliable unit cost and no credible cost-per-flight-hour figure for it in the open record. Soviet aircraft of this era were costed internally in roubles under a command economy, in terms that do not translate cleanly into comparable dollar prices. Any specific cost figure you may see attached to a Su-2 should be treated as a guess rather than a sourced number.

Timeline

From Stalin’s contest to a vanished type

1936

The “Ivanov” requirement

The Soviet leadership calls for a simple, mass-producible multi-role aircraft; Sukhoi’s brigade, working under Tupolev, takes up the challenge.

1937

First flight

The prototype ANT-51 flies on 25 August, piloted by Mikhail Gromov.

1940

Becomes the Su-2

Ordered into production as the BB-1, the design is renamed Su-2 — the first production aircraft to carry the Sukhoi name.

Jun 1941

Thrown into Barbarossa

About 100 Su-2s are in service when Germany invades. They fly daylight bombing missions and take heavy losses; one is even downed by future ace Alexander Pokryshkin in a friendly-fire error on day one.

Sep 1941

Zelenko’s ram

On 12 September, Snr Lt Yekaterina Zelenko rams a German fighter over Ukraine — the only aerial ram ever carried out by a woman.

1942

Withdrawn from bombing

Outclassed as a bomber, the Su-2 shifts to reconnaissance and artillery observation; production ends after roughly 910 aircraft.

1943–44

Last service

Surviving Su-2s soldier on as artillery spotters and hacks before being retired as newer types take over.

Today

No original left

No complete original airframe is known to survive; a reconstructed Su-2 is displayed at the Central Air Force Museum, Monino.

Stories & Eyewitnesses

From the front: twelve Su-2 stories

Origin

Stalin’s “Ivanov” contest

A 1936 requirement for a simple multi-role aircraft launched the design that became the Su-2.

Read the full story
In 1936 the Soviet leadership issued a requirement, code-named “Ivanov,” for a rugged, easily-built aircraft able to bomb, scout and support the army. Reportedly the name echoed one of Stalin’s own telegraph pseudonyms. Several bureaux competed; the winner was a brigade led by Pavel Sukhoi, working inside Tupolev’s organisation. That entry became the ANT-51, then the BB-1, and finally the Su-2.
First flight · 1937

Gromov takes it up

The prototype ANT-51 first flew on 25 August 1937 in the hands of the celebrated test pilot Mikhail Gromov.

Read the full story
The prototype carried the Tupolev “ANT” designation because Sukhoi’s team worked under Andrei Tupolev at the time. On 25 August 1937 the famous long-distance record pilot Mikhail Gromov took it into the air. Early examples were underpowered on the Shvetsov M-62; it was the later M-88B radial that gave the production Su-2 its useful performance.
The name

The first Sukhoi

When the Soviet designation system was reworked in 1940, the BB-1 became the Su-2 — the first aircraft to carry the Sukhoi name.

Read the full story
For its first years the aircraft was the BB-1, for blizhniy bombardirovshchik — “short-range bomber.” In 1940 the USSR switched to naming aircraft after their chief designers, and the BB-1 became the Su-2. It is a small footnote with a huge legacy: this modest two-seater is the direct designation ancestor of every Su-27, Su-34 and Su-57 that followed.
22 June 1941

Shot down by his own side

On the first day of the invasion, a Su-2 was downed by future top ace Alexander Pokryshkin, who did not recognise the new type.

Read the full story
The Su-2 was so new and so secret that Soviet pilots barely knew it. On 22 June 1941, the opening day of Barbarossa, Alexander Pokryshkin — later one of the highest-scoring Allied aces and a three-time Hero of the Soviet Union — mistook a Su-2 for an enemy aircraft and shot it down in a tragic friendly-fire error. The pilot survived; the navigator was killed. It was a grim illustration of the chaos of those first hours.
Barbarossa

Daylight without escort

Committed to unescorted daylight bombing against an enemy with air superiority, Su-2 units suffered severe losses in 1941.

Read the full story
When Germany invaded, only around a hundred Su-2s were in front-line service. They were flung into daylight bombing missions, frequently without fighter escort, against a Luftwaffe that held the sky. The results were predictable and brutal: Soviet accounts record entire flights being cut down. The aircraft was not at fault so much as the impossible tactical position it was placed in.
Toughness

Bringing crews home

For all its vulnerability, the Su-2 earned a reputation as a rugged machine that could absorb damage and still fly.

Read the full story
Crews and historians alike credit the Su-2 with genuine toughness. Its structure could soak up battle damage, and more than a few aircraft nursed their crews back to friendly lines riddled with holes. Ruggedness could not offset the lack of escorts or the rifle-calibre defensive armament, but it meant the type was respected by the men who flew it even as losses mounted.
12 Sep 1941

Zelenko’s taran

Senior Lieutenant Yekaterina Zelenko rammed a German fighter over Ukraine — the only aerial ram ever performed by a woman.

Read the full story
On 12 September 1941, near Anastasyevka in north-eastern Ukraine, Snr Lt Yekaterina Zelenko was flying a Su-2 on reconnaissance when she was set upon by German Messerschmitts. By the most-repeated account she shot one down, then, out of ammunition, deliberately rammed a second, destroying it and dying in the collision. She remains the only woman known to have carried out an aerial ram, and was made a Hero of the Soviet Union in 1990.
From 1942

The army’s eyes

Withdrawn from bombing, the Su-2 found a second life as a reconnaissance and artillery-observation aircraft.

Read the full story
As it was overtaken by better-armed and better-protected designs, the Su-2 was pulled out of the bombing role and put to work as a scout and artillery spotter. In these tasks its good visibility and reasonable endurance were assets, and dedicated correction squadrons flew it directing Soviet artillery fire well into the war before the surviving airframes were finally worn out.
Dead end

The M-82 and Su-4

Attempts to keep the design competitive with a more powerful M-82 engine led to the Su-4, but the war had moved on.

Read the full story
Sukhoi tried to keep the design relevant by fitting the more powerful Shvetsov M-82 radial, producing the improved Su-4 and re-engined Su-2 variants. The gains were real but modest, and by the time they appeared the Soviet Union had far more capable aircraft — the Il-2 Sturmovik and Pe-2 — pouring off the lines. The Su-2 line was allowed to lapse.
Superseded

Out of production

Roughly 910 Su-2s were built before production ended in 1942, overtaken by the Il-2, Pe-2 and Tu-2.

Read the full story
Production totals are cited between about 893 and 910 aircraft — a small run by Soviet wartime standards. The reason was simple: the USSR needed the armoured Il-2 for ground attack and the fast Pe-2 for dive bombing, and factory capacity was better spent on them. The Su-2 was quietly discontinued, its designer already at work on the fighters that would make his name.
Legacy

The vanished aeroplane

No complete original Su-2 is known to survive anywhere in the world today.

Read the full story
For an aircraft that helped launch one of aviation’s great design bureaux, the Su-2 has left remarkably little behind. Built largely of wood, flown hard and then scrapped, no confirmed complete original airframe is known to exist. This scarcity is part of why authentic photographs of the type are themselves comparatively rare.
Preserved

The Monino reconstruction

A reconstructed Su-2 stands at the Central Air Force Museum at Monino, keeping the shape of the type alive.

Read the full story
The best-known surviving example is the Su-2 displayed at the Central Air Force Museum at Monino, near Moscow. Its provenance is debated — it is generally described as a reconstruction or replica rather than a genuine wartime original — but it preserves the lines of Sukhoi’s first aircraft for visitors, alongside a separate example that has stood at the Sukhoi design bureau itself.
Gallery

The Su-2 in pictures

A Sukhoi Su-2 light bomber Pavel Sukhois first production design.
A Sukhoi Su-2 light bomber — Pavel Sukhoi’s first production design.Photo: SDASM Archives · no known copyright restrictions
A Su-2 crew of a Soviet artillery-correction squadron receives its mission briefing.
A Su-2 crew of a Soviet artillery-correction squadron receives its mission briefing.Photo: Unknown Soviet photographer (I. Meylus collection) · Public domain
A Su-2 crew reports back after a completed sortie the types later reconnaissance role.
A Su-2 crew reports back after a completed sortie — the type’s later reconnaissance role.Photo: Unknown Soviet photographer (I. Meylus collection) · Public domain
A preserved Su-2 displayed at the Sukhoi design bureau in Moscow.
A preserved Su-2 displayed at the Sukhoi design bureau in Moscow.Photo: mos.ru · CC BY 4.0
A Su-2 shot down over Ukraine in 1941, photographed by a German war photographer.
A Su-2 shot down over Ukraine in 1941, photographed by a German war photographer.Photo: Willy Pragher / Staatsarchiv Freiburg · CC BY 4.0
Watch

The Su-2 in motion

Epic Soviet Documentaries: Sukhoi Su-2 Light Bomber Plane — a short archival profile of the type, its origins in the “Ivanov” programme and its hard war service.

Operations

Where the Su-2 flew

Combat Record

The Su-2’s war in numbers

The Su-2 was a light bomber and scout, not a fighter, and its record is one of sacrifice rather than aerial victories. Committed to unescorted daylight bombing in 1941, it took punishing losses before being pulled back to reconnaissance and artillery observation. Its most famous moment in the air was not a kill but a ram.

~100In front-line service on 22 June 1941
1 of 1Only aerial ram ever flown by a woman — Zelenko, in a Su-2
~910Built — most lost or worn out by war’s end

Compare the combat record of every military aircraft. Figures are best estimates from the sources below.

Questions & Answers

Everything people ask about the Sukhoi Su-2

Can I fly in a Sukhoi Su-2?
No — there are no airworthy Su-2s anywhere, and the type is essentially extinct: no complete original is even known to survive. You can, however, fly in genuine ex-military jets today, from L-39 jet trainers to supersonic fighters — see migflug.com/flights-prices/.
What was the Sukhoi Su-2?
A Soviet single-engine, two-seat light bomber and short-range reconnaissance aircraft of the Second World War. It first flew in 1937 as the ANT-51, entered service as the BB-1, and was renamed the Su-2 in 1940 — Pavel Sukhoi’s first production design.
Who designed the Su-2, and why does the name matter?
It was designed by a brigade led by Pavel Sukhoi, then working under Andrei Tupolev, which is why the prototype flew as the Tupolev ANT-51. It is historically important as the first aircraft to carry the Sukhoi designation — the ancestor of every later Su-27, Su-34 and Su-57.
Was the Su-2 any good?
The design was sound and notably rugged for its day, but it was a light bomber sent into a war that quickly outgrew it. Committed to unescorted daylight bombing in 1941, it suffered heavy losses; it was more successful later in the reconnaissance and artillery-spotting role.
Did a woman really ram an enemy plane in a Su-2?
Yes. On 12 September 1941, near Anastasyevka in Ukraine, Snr Lt Yekaterina Zelenko rammed a German fighter while flying a Su-2, destroying it and dying in the collision. She is recognised as the only woman ever to have performed an aerial ram, and was made a Hero of the Soviet Union in 1990.
How many Su-2s survive today?
No complete original airframe is known to survive. A reconstructed Su-2 is displayed at the Central Air Force Museum at Monino near Moscow, and another example stands at the Sukhoi design bureau; both are best described as reconstructions rather than genuine wartime originals.
Why was the Su-2 retired so quickly?
It was overtaken by better aircraft. The armoured Il-2 Sturmovik and the fast Pe-2 were far better suited to ground attack and dive bombing, so Su-2 production ended in 1942 after roughly 910 aircraft and the survivors were relegated to secondary roles.
The part of the collection you can touch

You can’t fly the Sukhoi Su-2.
These, you can.

Some legends only live in museums — others are fuelled and waiting. MiGFlug has put civilians in real military jet cockpits since 2004.

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Related Aircraft

Continue the tour

The ReplacementIlyushin Il-2 SturmovikThe armoured “flying tank” that took over the ground-attack role the Su-2 could not survive — and the most-produced combat aircraft in history.Read the Il-2 storyThe RivalPetlyakov Pe-2The fast twin-engine dive bomber that, with the Il-2, made the light single-engine Su-2 obsolete on the Eastern Front.Read the Pe-2 storyThe DescendantSukhoi Su-25 FrogfootSukhoi’s modern armoured ground-attack jet — the design bureau the Su-2 founded, decades on and still doing the close-support job.Read the Su-25 story
Sources & Further Reading

Every fact, checked