The Beriev Be-2 (originally designated KOR-1) was a two-seat

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

built for the Soviet Navy shortly before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It was designed to replace the Navy's obsolete license-produced Heinkel He 55 aircraft operating from warships and shore bases.

Design and development

The Be-2 was an all-metal

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

floatplane, with two open cockpits in tandem for the pilot and observer. The wings were braced, but designed to be folded back for storage on a warship. The float arrangement consisted of a large central float, with two smaller floats on the wings. The Be-2 was powered by a Shvetsov M-25 radial 9-cylinder air-cooled engine (a copy of the American

Wright R-1820 The Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 is an American radial engine developed by Curtiss-Wright, widely used on aircraft in the 1930s through 1950s. It was produced under license in France as the Hispano-Suiza 9V or Hispano-Wright 9V, and in the Soviet Uni ...

) with a rating of . From the outset, Be-2 design exhibited serious handling difficulties and maintenance problems. However, due to the lack of a suitable alternative, the design was placed into production. A total of around 12 serial aircraft were produced. By June 1941, six KOR-1 were in the Baltic, five were in the Black Sea Fleet Air Force.

Operational history

As problems with stability on the water while taxiing, and with maintenance of the engine were never really resolved, that in practice, the Be-2 was restricted to training and secondary roles, and was more often deployed from land than from warships as originally planned. In addition, delays with updating the Navy's

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

s meant that suitable

catapults A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden release of store ...

were not installed until about

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...

. With the outbreak of war with

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, all attempts to deploy the troublesome aircraft from ships were finally abandoned. During the early years of the war, they served as shore-based reconnaissance and search/rescue aircraft on the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

, and with their float undercarriage replaced by

wheels A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction with axles, allow heavy objects to be ...

, some were pressed into service as strike aircraft during the

Battle of Sevastopol A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

. They were withdrawn from service in 1942.

Operators

; *

Soviet Naval Aviation Soviet Naval Aviation (AV-MF, for ''Авиация военно-морского флота'' in Russian, or ''Aviatsiya voyenno-morskogo flota'', literally "aviation of the military maritime fleet") was the naval aviation arm of the Soviet Na ...

Specifications

Notes

References