Sukhoi Su-2

The Sukhoi Su-2 is a Soviet reconnaissance and light bomber aircraft used in the early stages of World War II, and the first airplane designed by Pavel Sukhoi. It grew from a 1936 requirement from Stalin for a multipurpose combat aircraft codenamed Ivanov, which Sukhoi, then working in the Tupolev design bureau, designed as the ANT-51; it flew on 25 August 1937. The Su-2 was of mixed construction, with a wood and plywood fuselage, duralumin and steel wings, retractable taildragger landing gear and 9 mm of armour for the pilot and gunner. A total of 910 were built before production stopped in 1942. It was obsolete and under-armed when the Great Patriotic War began, and its ground-attack squadrons lost some 222 aircraft to the Germans, so from 1942 it was withdrawn from the front line for training and reconnaissance duties.