Beriev MBR-2

The Beriev MBR-2 was a Soviet multi-purpose flying boat, used chiefly for short-range naval reconnaissance, that entered service with the Soviet Navy in 1935. Its designation abbreviates the Russian for naval short-range reconnaissance aircraft. Georgy Mikhailovich Beriev designed it, and it first flew in 1931 on an imported BMW engine; production aircraft used the licence-built Mikulin M-17 engine, and the improved MBR-2bis, with an enclosed cockpit, a dorsal gun turret and an enlarged tail, stayed in production until 1941. Beriev also adapted the type as the MP-1 airliner and a freighter. About 1,365 were built, nine of them used by foreign countries including Finland and North Korea, and crews sometimes nicknamed it the cow or the barn.