The Tupolev Tu-2 was a twin-engined Soviet high-speed daylight and frontline bomber aircraft used during World War II. The Tu-2 was tailored to meet a requirement for a high-speed bomber or dive-bomber, with a large internal bomb load and speed similar to that of a single-seat fighter. Designed to challenge the German Junkers Ju 88, the Tu-2 proved comparable and was produced in torpedo, interceptor and reconnaissance versions. The Tu-2 was an effective combat aircraft and it played a key role in the final offensives of the Red Army.
Tupolev Tu-2
Tupolev Tu-2S at China Aviation Museum, Beijing
Tupolev Tu-2 at the War Eagles Air Museum, NM, USA
Andrei Nikolayevich Tupolev was a Russian and later Soviet aeronautical engineer known for his pioneering aircraft designs as the director of the Tupolev Design Bureau.
Tupolev in 1944
The Beginning by Tatyana Ivanova, depicting Tupolev (in cherry-coloured kosovorotka shirt), Nikolay Zhukovsky, and other Russian aviation pioneers at Khodynka Field, preparing the ITU monoplane for a test flight in 1911.
Tupolev (right) with the crew of the ANT-25 aircraft at the Shchyolkovo airfield in 1936. Photo by Mikhail Kalashnikov.
Russian strategic bomber Tupolev Tu-160 named after Andrei Nikolayevich Tupolev
