Downed Russian high-speed bomber SB-2 during the initial period of the Great Patriotic War (June 22, 1941 – May 9, 1945) of the Soviet Union. Color photograph from the Eastern Front of World War II.
It can be said without exaggeration that the SB-2 was an outstanding aircraft for its time, which had a significant impact on the development of military aviation. He became the ancestor of a whole class of bombers, distinguished by high flight speed and operating in the front zone in close cooperation with ground forces and the navy. Aircraft of this class became the main striking force of the future front-line bomber aviation.
The design of the SB-2 began in 1933, when Tupolev’s design bureau was tasked with developing a bomber with a maximum flight speed of 330 km/h. A. N. Tupolev, based on the technical capabilities of the aircraft industry of that time and taking into account the prospects for the development of aviation, believed that a bomber could and should have a speed of at least 400 km/h. Therefore, in the brigade of A. A. Arkhangelsky, where the design of the new bomber was carried out, work was carried out in parallel immediately on two versions of the aircraft, which received the factory designation ANT-40. The first, which had to meet the requirements of the Red Army Air Force, was equipped with two licensed air-cooled motors Wright “Cyclone” F-3.
The second version of the SB-2 bomber was developed for more powerful French liquid-cooled engines “Hispano-Suiza 12U”, which were planned to be produced under license under the designation M-100.