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Yermolayev Yer-2

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The Yermolayev Yer-2 was a long-range bomber designed and produced in the USSR from 1939.

Development

Roberto L. Bartini had designed and built the Stal-7 transport aircraft whilst he was the chief designer at the ZOK NII GVF (Zavod Opytno Konstrooktorskoye Naoochno-Issledovatel'skiy Institoot Grazdahnskovo Vozdooshnovo Flota - factory for special construction at the scientific test institute for civil air fleet). The performance of the Stal-7 was extremely good, particularly in range, and was demonstrated with the capture of several Soviet speed/distance records. During flight trials with maximum all-up weight the prototype crashed on take-off, resulting in the arrest of Bartini and his imprisonment in a Siberian Gulag. The Stal-7 lay un-repaired until Vladimir Yermolaev was appointed as chief designer at OKB-240 ,with the task of transforming the Stal-7 design into a long-range bomber. After repair the Stal-7 carried on with the flight test programme, including a record breaking non-stop flight on 28 August 1939:- Moscow – Sverdlovsk – Sebastopol – Moscow of 5086 km (3,149 miles) at an average speed of 405 km/h (252 mph).

The transformation of the Stal-7 into a bomber aircraft saw fruit in the form of the DB-240, which retained little but the general layout of the Stal-7. The DB-240 was built with a stressed skin, D16, flush-rivetted light-alloy structure, and a 30KhNZA steel tube centre-section. The bomb-bay was housed between the widely spaced main spars in the semi monocoque fuselage. The engine nacelles followed the arrangement of the Stal-7, with the engines forward of the wings at the junction of inner and outer wings, and the main undercarriage legs retracting rearwards into the extended nacelles. Twin fins and rudders at the extremities of the tail-pane gave increased directional stability to improve handling with a single engine failure. The crew consisted of :- Pilot, sitting under the glazed cockpit offset to port, navigator/bomb aimer sat in the gazed nose, radio operator sat below and to starboard of the pilot and the dorsal gunner in a power operated turret. The first DB-240 prototype was authorised in August 1939 and flew for the first time on 14 May 1940, with the second (dubler) completed in September 1940. The second prototype carried out VVS TTT (Voyenno-Vozdooshnyye Seely TTT - Soviet air force tactical/technical requirements) evaluation and flew a round trip Moscow - Omsk – Moscow loaded to represent a bombing sortie dropping 1tonne of bombs on Omsk.

Production as the Yermolayev Yer-2 was very quickly authorised at Voronezh under A.B. Shyenkman, with approx 50 aircraft delivered by 22 June 1941. A second production batch of ca312 Yer-2/ACh-30B aircraft was completed by late 1944. Further development of the aircraft was mostly confined to more powerful engines or diesel engines with very low specific fuel consumption (s.f.c.).

Variants

  • DB-240 – (Dahl'niy Bombardirovshchik – long-range bomber) The first and second prototypes of the Yer-2 series with two 1,050hp M-105 engines, 2 built.
  • Yer-2 – Production long-range bomber version of the Stal-7/DB-240 line with two 1,050hp M-105 engines, ca 360 built.
  • Yer-2/AM-37 – One aircraft re-engined with two 1,380 hp Mikulin AM-37 engines, the fastest of all Yer-2's.
  • Yer-2/M-40F – The first Charomskii diesel powered Yer-2, with modified wings and cleared to carry a 5 tonne maximum bomb-load, 1 converted from Yer-2 with two 1,500hp Ach-30B diesel engines.
  • Yer-2/ACh-30B – Production version of the M-40 diesel engined version. The M-40 was renamed Ach-30B. Performance was excellent despite the poor reliability and rough running of the Charomskii ACh-30B diesel engines. The addition of a co-pilot to the crew led to a symmetrical cockpit extending across the fuselage and a tandem seating offset cockpit, with the side by side arrangement entering production. Trials were completed in December 1943 and first aircraft delivered in February 1944.
  • Yer-2ON (Osobogo Naznachyeniya – special assignment) – Two aircraft from the Yer-2/ACh-30B production line converted with a 12 seat VIP cabin, military equipment removed and long-range fuel tanks in the bomb-bay. A third aircraft converted from a Yer-2 (1941 production) was used for shuttle flights between Irkutsk and Moscow.
  • Yer-2N (Nocitel – carrier) – One aircraft converted as an engine test-bed for captured Argus As014 pulse-jet engines.
  • Yer-2/M-120 – One aircraft re-engined with 1,500hp inverted 'Y' Klimov M-120 engines
  • DB-240/MB-100 – One of the prototype aircraft used as a test-bed for the 3,200hp Dobrotvorskii MB-100 engine.
  • Yer-4 – The final iteration of the Yer-2 series was a 1941 production aircraft re-engined with Ach-30BF engines

Operators

Template:USSR
  • VVS (Voyenno-Vozdooshnyye Seely - Soviet air force)
    • ADD (Aviahtsiya Dahl'nevo Deystviya - long range aviation)
      • 16th Air Army (Yer-2/ACh-30B)
      • 747th BAP (Bombardirovchnyy AviaPolk - bomber regiment) (Yer-2)
      • Novodranov BAP (Bombardirovchnyy AviaPolk - bomber regiment)
      • Gusyev BAP (Bombardirovchnyy AviaPolk - bomber regiment)

Operational History

The Yer-2 and its variants had a limited operational history due to the relatively small production runs, however significant raids were carried out on Berlin and Koenigsberg in 1941 as well as close air support for the Red army in the battle for Berlin.

Specifications (Yer-2/ACh-30B)

File:Jermolajew Jer-2 Riss.jpg
Yer-2 3-view

Template:Aerospecs

See also

Comparable aircraft

Related lists

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Lists relating to aviation
GeneralTimeline of aviation · Aircraft · Aircraft manufacturers · Aircraft engines · Aircraft engine manufacturers · Airports · Airlines
MilitaryAir forces · Aircraft weapons · Missiles · Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) · Experimental aircraft
Notable incidents
and accidents		Military aviation · Airliners · General aviation · Famous aviation-related deaths
RecordsFlight airspeed record · Flight distance record · Flight altitude record · Flight endurance record · Most produced aircraft

References

  • Gunston, Bill. “The Osprey Encyclopaedia of Russian Aircraft 1875 – 1995”. London, Osprey. 1995. ISBN 1 85532 405 9

External links

v • d • e
Lists relating to aviation
GeneralTimeline of aviation · Aircraft · Aircraft manufacturers · Aircraft engines · Aircraft engine manufacturers · Airports · Airlines
MilitaryAir forces · Aircraft weapons · Missiles · Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) · Experimental aircraft
Notable incidents
and accidents		Military aviation · Airliners · General aviation · Famous aviation-related deaths
RecordsFlight airspeed record · Flight distance record · Flight altitude record · Flight endurance record · Most produced aircraft

cs:Jermolajev Jer-2 de:Jermolajew Jer-2 fr:Yermolaïev Yer-2 it:Ermolaev Er-2 pl:Jer-2 ru:Ер-2

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