12. The Bomber Designed in a Gulag
With 11,427 planes rolling out of the factories, the Pe-2 was the Soviet Union’s most-produced twin-engine aircraft of WWII. A fast, maneuverable, and resilient airplane, it performed functions similar to the better-known British Mosquito. Versatile, the Pe-2 proved itself in a variety of tasks: in addition to their main role as light bombers, Pe-2s were also successful in reconnaissance, heavy fighter, and night fighter assignments. The plane, which was quite advanced for its day, was initially designed in prison as a fighter by the aeronautical engineer Vladimir Petlyakov, who had been swept into the gulag during Stalin’s purges and was highly motivated to earn a pardon.
Prototypes flew in late 1939, and Petlyakov and his design team got to see their plane from the roof of their prison as it flew for the crowds outside during the 1940 May Day parade. However, the Red Air Force changed its mind after seeing the German Blitzkrieg, and decided that it had a greater need for dive bombers. So it ordered Petylakov to change his design from a fighter to a dive bomber, and gave him a mere 45 days to get it done. Getting out of the gulag was a great motivator, so Petlyakov worked his tail off to get it done and turned in the new design as requested. That seems to have warmed the cockles of Stalin’s heart, because the Soviet dictator was so pleased that he ordered Petlyakov freed.
