The Tupolev ANT-37 (or DB-2) was a
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
twin-engined long-range
bomber
A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...
designed and built by the
Tupolev
Tupolev (russian: Ту́полев, ), officially Joint Stock Company Tupolev, is a Russian aerospace and defence company headquartered in Basmanny District, Moscow.
Tupolev is successor to the Soviet Tupolev Design Bureau (OKB-156, design off ...
design bureau,
the design team operating under the guidance of
Pavel Sukhoi
Pavel Osipovich Sukhoi (russian: Па́вел О́сипович Сухо́й; be, Па́вел Во́сіпавіч Сухі́, ''Paviel Vosipavič Suchi''; 2 July 1895 – 15 September 1975) was a Soviet aerospace engineer and aircraft design ...
.
The aircraft did not enter production, but three examples of the type were used for research and record breaking flights.
Design and development
Based on the unbuilt Tupolev ANT-36 (DB-1) single-engined bomber, the ANT-37 was a twin-engined monoplane
of
stressed skin
In mechanical engineering, stressed skin is a type of rigid construction, intermediate between monocoque and a rigid frame with a non-loaded covering. A stressed skin structure has its compression-taking elements localized and its tension-taking ...
,
dural
Dural is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 36 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of Hornsby Shire and The Hills Shire. Dural is part of the Hills District ...
construction,
fitted with a high-aspect-ratio wing
and tailwheel landing gear, the main units retracting into the engine nacelles.
Powered by
Gnome-Rhône 14K radial engines, the prototype first flew on 16 June 1935.
The program suffered a setback when the prototype crashed the following month, after the tail splintered into pieces during flight.
A re-designed second prototype was built, designated as the DB-2D, in an attempt to overcome the design problems encountered during flight testing, particularly with the tail unit.
It was decided not to order the type into production, the
Ilyushin DB-3 being selected for
Soviet Air Force
The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...
service instead.
Despite this, three aircraft were built, designated ANT-37bis (or DB-2B), for research and record breaking purposes. These three aircraft would survive into the 1940s.
Operational history
The first of the three DB-2B aircraft was given the name ''Rodina'' ("Motherland"), and, flown by an all female crew (
Valentina Grizodubova
Valentina Stepanovna Grizodubova (russian: Валенти́на Степа́новна Гризоду́бова, uk, Валентина Степанівна Гризодубова ''Valentyna Stepanivna Hryzodubova''; in Kharkov – 28 April 199 ...
,
Polina Osipenko
Polina Denisovna Osipenko (russian: Полина Денисовна Осипенко, uk, Поліна Денисівна Осипенко, translit=Polina Denysivna Osypenko; 8 October 1907 – 11 May 1939) was a Soviet Union, Soviet military pil ...
, and
Marina Raskova
Marina Mikhaylovna Raskova ( rus, Мари́на Миха́йловна Раско́ва, , mɐˈrʲinə mʲɪˈxajləvnə rɐˈskovə; née Malinina; 28 March 1912 – 4 January 1943) was the first woman in the Soviet Union to achieve the diploma ...
) between 24 and 25 September 1938, it was used to establish a distance record of
before ending in an emergency landing.
This set a world's record for distance flown by a woman crew.
[Soviet Military Review, Issues 1–10; Issue 12.]
Operators
;
*
Aeroflot
PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (russian: ПАО "Аэрофло́т — Росси́йские авиали́нии", ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; russian: Аэрофлот, , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. The ...
Specifications (DB-2)
See also
References
;Notes
Bibliography
*
* Donald, David, ed. ''The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft''. London: Orbis, 1997. .
* Gordon, Yefim and Vladimir Rigmant. ''OKB Tupolev: A History of the Design Bureau and its Aircraft''. Midland, 2006. .
* Higham, Robin, John Greenwood and Von Hardesty. ''Russian Aviation and Air Power in the Twentieth Century''. Routledge, 1998. .
*
External links
{{Soviet bomber-attack designations
1930s Soviet bomber aircraft
ANT-37
Aircraft first flown in 1935
Low-wing aircraft
Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft