Tupolev SB in Soviet Service. Part Eight.

 

The SB continued to serve during World War 2, specially during the siege of Leningrad and the Battle of Moscow, as we've already stated, but it was also, numerically speaking, the most important bomber the VVS had in the Stalingrad region when the Axis forces launched their offensive against the Caucasus in June 1942. 

The SB in all its variants served, in some sectors, in the night bomber role well until 1943, even if they were being replaced by either the Tupolev Tu-2 or the Petlyakov Pe-2 when they became available. The SBs were also used in other secondary roles by the VVS like supply-dropping, glider-towing, training and transport in the Far East until the end of the war in 1945.

Sources:

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

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

Tupolev SB in Soviet Service. Part Seven.

 

The SB continued to serve during World War 2, specially during the siege of Leningrad and the Battle of Moscow, as we've already stated, but it was also, numerically speaking, the most important bomber the VVS had in the Stalingrad region when the Axis forces launched their offensive against the Caucasus in June 1942. 

The SB in all its variants served, in some sectors, in the night bomber role well until 1943, even if they were being replaced by either the Tupolev Tu-2 or the Petlyakov Pe-2 when they became available. The SBs were also used in other secondary roles by the VVS like supply-dropping, glider-towing, training and transport in the Far East until the end of the war in 1945.

Sources:

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

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

Tupolev SB in Soviet Service. Part Three.

 

The Tupolev SB was Soviet's main bomber during the Winter War. During this conflict, ranging from late November 1939 until until mid March 1940, the VVS deployed more than 3.000 aircraft to defeat the Finns who had only 145 aircraft in their ranks.
As we said, the Tupolev SB was VVS' main bomber and it flew the first Soviet attack against Finnish soil, which was an attack against Helsinki, the Finnish capital city. As the winter was really harsh, many Tupolev SB 2M-100As were equipped with skis and some few of them were equipped with the, back then, experimental MV-3 rear turret. The RS-132 unguided rocket was also tested in this conflict as six Tupolev SB 2M-100As were fitted with rocket launching equipment on the wings. These rockets were mainly used against ground targets.
As the war progressed on, with a furious Finnish resistance, many Tupolev SB of various types were captured by the Finnish who repaired them and push them into service with the Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force). 
The war ended on 13th March 1940 with the Finnish agreeing to yield a buffer zone to the Soviets. However, casualties on the VVS side were enormous, estimated at a number between 700 and 900 aircraft, half of them bombers. 

The Tupolev USB was the trainer variant of the regular SB which came out almost two years after the first SB rolled out of the factory in 1936. It was based on a SB 2M-100A and was built at GAZ (State Aircraft Factory) 22 at Fili, Moscow. The whole nose section was remodelled to install a second open cockpit for the instructor. The step was relocated from the front to the rear of the starboard nose. A windshield was installed for the instructor's compartment but no canopy was provided. Instructor's cockpit had similar controls to those in the pupil's cockpit, however, they were automatically disconnected when the instructor took command. In spite of the importance of communication between the instructor and the pupil, the USB lacked an intercom. The instructor accessed his cockpit using a ladder placed through the open ventral hatch doors.
The USB prototype underwent State Acceptance Trials between 11 and 16 March 1938. During those tests it was equipped with non-retractable ski undercarriage. GAZ 22 at Fili completed just a few USB, as most of them were converted in the field from existing Tupolev SB of every kind. 

Sources:

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

2nd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_SB
3rd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War

Tupolev SB in Finnish service. Part two.

 

The Finnish Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force) assigned the 16 SB purchased from Germany (see our previous post for details) to the three flights of Lentolaivue 6 (Flying Squadron - LeLv.6) based at Nummela. Those SBs were employed in bomber, reconnaissance and anti-submarine patrols all over the Gulf of Finland. 

The Soviet coastal submarine M-95 was sunk by SB-1 flown by Lt. Virtanen east of Suursaari on 28th May 1942. On the next 14th July, many Finnish SBs attacked with depth charges a surfaced Soviet submarine off the Finnish town of Pellinki (east of Helsinki). Lelv.6 claimed it was a Shchuka-class submarine, Shch-317, to be more precise. On 14th October 1942, SB-1 destroyed Shch-302. 

The Ilmavoimat did not lose any of their SBs to Soviet fighters or anti-air fire, however six SB 2M-103s were destroyed in accidents or technical failures. During Continuation War, three Soviet submarines were sunk by SBs and many other were damaged. Additionally, one merchant ship and four other small vessels were also sunk by Finnish SBs.

Eventually when the Red Army launched an offensive against Karelia in June 1944, Finland was prompted to sign an armistice on 4th September 1944, giving way to the Lapland War (1944-1945) to drive out Germans from Finland. The Finnish overpainted the yellow identification bars on wing and fuselage. During this war a total of 84 anti-submarine sorties were flown by Lelv.6's SBs over the Gulf of Finland but they did not damage nor sink any German U-boat. No Finnish SB was lost during the Lapland War and, on 1st April 1945 the roundels were changed from the Finnish swastika to the white-blue-white roundel of the Ilmavoimat. Those markings were applied to any surviving SB. After the war they served either as trainers or were kept in storage depots until late 1940s when they were phased out.

Going back to the Winter War, among the eight SB 2M-103 captured by the Finns, there was a late production machine which, after being refurbished, received the code of SB-8. This bomber was selected to be converted into trainer, similar to the Tupolev USB. 

This SB-8 machine was different from other SBs in having the landing light in the right wing's leading edge. Its conversion was completed on 25th January 1943 and was assigned to Täydennyslentolaivue 17 (TLelv.17 - Advanced Training Squadron) at the town of Luonetjärvi, in Central Finland on 19th February. This trainer was later re-assigned to Pommituslentolaivue 46 (PLelv.46 - Bomber Squadron) based at Luonetjärvi too. It was later assigned to Lelv.45. On 24th February 1945 it was put in storage after having flown 268 hours with Ilmavoimat.

Sources:

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

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

3rd https://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/sb/tapani/finnish/finnish-number.htm

4th https://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/sb/tapani/usb/usb.htm

Tupolev SB & Avia B-71 in service with Poland and Slovakia.

 

The Tupolev SB was a high-speed, twin-engined three-seat Soviet monoplane bomber which flew for the first time in 1934. It was also built under license in Czechoslovakia under the denomination of Avia B-71. It was mainly used by the USSR, but there were some foreign users as well, among them, the following ones:

• Poland: During World War 2 some Polish pilots in the USSR were trained with the Tupolev USB (the dual-control trainer variant). These pilots belonged to the 9th Group stationed at Buguruslan, in Chkalov oblast (nowadays Orenburg oblast). Just after the war, five USB trainers were delivered to the Aviation Officers School at Deblin, in the Lublin Voivodeship, to serve as trainers. In 1947 they were re-engined with M-105 engines. This change required a redesign of the exhaust collector system, while different propellers with more ogival spinners were also installed. Three of the five USB served with the Wojska Lotnicze (Polish Air Force)  at the Aviation Officers School until August 1949. This marked the longest use of the Tupolev USB outside the USSR, than any other country.
  
  
• Slovakia: When Germany invaded Czechoslovakia in March 1939, the state was split into the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and the independent Slovak Republic. The Slovenské vzdusné zbrane ( SVZ - Slovak Air Force) had a total of 300 aircraft, among them three Avia B-71. 
  Just before the annexation, one B-71 had to perform a forced landing in the Slovakian part of Czechoslovakia, where it remained well after the split. Hungarian troops occupied the Carpatho-Ukraine region (Ruthenia) and looked to expand their borders in southern Slovakia. This soon led to various clashes which eventually escalated into the Slovak-Hungarian War of late March 1939 in the context of which, on 24th March ten Magyar Királyi Honvéd Legiero (MKHL - Royal Hungarian Air Force) Junkers Ju.86K-2 bombers attacked the airfield of Spisská Nová Ves, in the Kosicé region. This raid damaged one B-71 stationed there.
  The B-71 that force landed in Slovakia before the German occupation, was repaired during the spring of 1939 and received SVZ codes and the blue V3 registration. It was also fitted with German radio equipment, a direction finding loop antenna and an antenna mast mounted on the upper fuselage behind the cockpit. Two additional rack antennas were also fitted to the lower rear fuselage with the original retractable antenna being retained. Both balance weights were also removed from the lower right wing.
  On 18th April 1943 five Slovak airmen scaped to neutral Turkey in the blue V3 B-71. Sergeant Anton Vanko took off from Trencianske Biskupice airbase, close to the town of Trencin, in western Slovakia. Aboard the B-71 were Privates First Class J.Koman, J. Bzoch, L.Slezak and L.Pollak. The B-71 flew from Trencianske Biskupice to Kestanelik, in the Çanakkale province of Turkey, where they were interned for a brief period of time. The five Slovak airmen then travelled to England via North Africa, where they joined the various Czechoslovak Royal Air Force's (RAF) squadrons. Vanko became a Supermarine Spitfire pilot at the No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron at RAF Bradwell Bay, in Essex. Unfortunately he was killed in a take off accident on 8th December 1944.

Sources:

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

2nd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_SB
3rd https://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/sb/tapani/b-71/czech%2Bslovak/czech%2Bslovak.htm