Tupolev SB in Soviet Service. Part Five.

 

Germany launched Operation Barbarossa on 22nd June 1941, by invading the USSR. At that time the Tupolev SB was the most numerous bomber in the VVS, the SB 2M-100A, to be more precise. During the first day of the campaign alone, the Luftwaffe destroyed a total of 1811 Soviet aircraft, many of them SB bombers of all kind. In the year 1941, five years after its combat debut over Spain, the SB was completely obsolete and was an easy target for the Luftwaffe. On that same day, 22nd June, a whole Soviet Air Regiment took off to bomb the city of Königsberg, in East Prussia, but none of them managed to return home.
The SB was being replaced by the Petlyakov Pe-2 when available as it was faster and was much less vulnerable to the Luftwaffe, although it could carry 600 kg (1.323 lbs) less bomb load. Most Tupolev SBs flew at night, as it was harder for the Luftwaffe to intercept the SB. 
Although outdated, Soviets pilots praised flying characteristics of the SB to be far better than those of the Pe-2. During Operation Typhoon, the Battle of Moscow in late 1941 the VVS in Moscow had 28 SBs and only five Pe-2. 
It was during that winter, however, that the SB enjoyed a nimble advantage over German airplanes; thanks to the ski undercarriage many SBs were equipped with, they could operate from snow covered airfields, when Luftwaffe fighters were grounded because of the snowfall. 

 

Sources:

1st Signal Squadron - Aircraft In action 194 - Tupolev SB in Action

2nd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_SB