Combat aircraft. MBR-2, Beriev's "barn"

2024 Author: Matthew Elmers | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:49

This rather nondescript airplane - in fact, as many articles about the Soviet seaplane say - is a well-deserved veteran. The past fire, water, ice of all years of the Great Patriotic War.

He was born in the head of the legend of the Soviet seaplane, Georgy Mikhailovich Beriev. A man who not only picked up the work of Grigorovich, the father of Russian naval aviation, but also continued them at the world level.

But it all started with the MBR-2. Marine close scout of the Beriev Design Bureau.

For his debut, Beriev chose the scheme of a single-engine monoplane with a pushing propeller and a two-legged boat. The design was supposed to have good seaworthiness, as well as the ability to take off and land on water in waves up to 0.7 m. The M-27 engine was planned as a power plant.

I must say right away that it worked out with the engine as always, that is, the M-27 was not brought to mind. Therefore, the MBR-2 series went with the M-17 and AM-34. There is nothing to be done, this is a common thing for those years.

In theory, the MBR-2 was supposed to be all-metal, but the state of the industry led to the fact that the plane was made completely wooden. This made life difficult for the designers, but half the way to mass production was facilitated.

And now the long-awaited moment - State tests. The aircraft passed the program of factory and State tests in just 20 days, and even without the usual refinements in such cases.

The car turned out to be very, very good. Easy to operate, stable on water and in flight. The only drawback was the lower speed than on the licensed Savoy-Marchetti S-62В, which was in service with the Navy in the 1930s.

But the MBR-2 was better in all other flight characteristics.

The life of Beriev was somewhat spoiled by Tupolev, who at that time proposed his own project - the MDR-2 all-metal aircraft. But Tupolev's plane did not show outstanding characteristics, and the patriarch was forced to give up. However, undercover intrigues raged on in full, and the issue of launching the MBR-2 into production was never resolved.

And then, by the will of personnel changes, Beriev got into the Design Department of Experimental Aircraft Building (KOSOS) under the direct supervision of Tupolev.

Naturally, these games significantly complicated the serial production of the MBR-2. If not completely reduced to zero. But the plane was saved by the head of TsAGI Kharlamov, who suggested that Beriev develop a passenger version of the MBR-2.

The proposal suited everyone, including Tupolev, who stopped seeing in the passenger MBR-2 a direct competitor to his brainchild.

Well, in the course of the play, when Tupolev's MDR-2 was finally disliked by the military, passenger MBR-2s began to be produced in their original form.

The first military specialty of the MBR-2 was its use as an aircraft-driver of radio-controlled torpedo boats, or, as they were then called, wave control boats. This is how the first military modification appeared: the MBR-2VU.

Multiple tests have shown that a flight lasting 5-6 hours is quite possible to control boats, but the aircraft needs to be improved for these tasks.

Subsequently, already in the Great Patriotic War, there were attempts to use radio-controlled boats, but this really did not work out due to the need for constant fighter cover for control aircraft.

But the MBR-2 became a flying laboratory for testing various communication and external control systems: "Sprut", "Volt-R", "Quartz-3", "Quartz-4", "Topaz-3".

The combat units of the MBR-2 began to arrive in 1934, replacing the Dornier "Val", MBR-4 and S-62bis in the detachments and squadrons that operated the reconnaissance aircraft of the Red Army Air Force. And so slowly, by 1937 the MBR-2 had become the main seaplane of the Soviet naval aviation, and by 1939 it was equipped with units of border troops of coastal and river directions.

By the way, it was with the MBR-2 that the history of aviation of the Northern Fleet began. In 1936, three flying boats became the first naval aircraft in the North. The first flights there began only in the summer of next year, since the hydro-aerodrome in Gryaznaya Bay was prepared only in May 1937.

Thus, by the beginning of the 40s, ICBMs had become very firmly established by naval aviation in all directions, from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea.

A very difficult situation developed: MBR-2 was outdated, and not only outdated, but did it just rapidly. The naval aviation command was not satisfied with the low speed, weak defensive armament and a small bomb load.

But the crews have mastered and appreciated this unhurried, but very easy to operate and reliable car. The MBR-2 had a very good seaworthiness, which made it possible to use it not where possible, but where necessary. Plus, a simple wooden structure made it possible to carry out repairs of almost any degree of complexity directly in the parts.

Perhaps the most important drawback of the wooden structure of the MBR-2 was the severe need for drying. After the flight, the jetted aircraft had to be rolled ashore and dried.

This was realized in practice on the principle of "who was honored for what." A variety of methods were used: hot sand poured into bags, which was applied to damp parts of the aircraft, electric lamps, hot compressed air or cans of hot water.

Considering the size of the boat, it was still something to do.

In the official (and unofficial) literature, a sort of romantic nickname for the aircraft - "sea gull" is often given. For the standard silver color for those years.

It is difficult to dispute after so many years, but the fact that the "barn" was more widespread is a fact. And even more fair, since it came from the Far North, where flying boats transported any kind of cargo to polar explorers, meteorologists, expeditions. Well, plus a rather angular shape.

In general - the barn, as it is.

The first war for the MBR-2 was the conflict with the Japanese in the area of Lake Khasan in July-August 1938. Pacific flying boats were conducting reconnaissance in the Sea of Japan, on the approaches to Vladivostok and Posiet. Since neither the enemy fleet nor the air force of the enemy took part in the conflict, the crews of the MBR-2 had no combat clashes.

The second war was the Soviet-Finnish one. Or winter.

Since the conditional hydro aerodromes were frozen, this did not interfere with the use of MBR-2. "Ambarchiki" were put on skis and flew quite normally from overland airfields.

The view, of course, is absolutely fantastic.

From the very first days of the war until its end, the crews of the MBR-2 conducted reconnaissance of the mouth of the Gulf of Finland and the northern part of the Baltic Sea. In addition, flying boats were actively involved in the fight against Finnish shipping and in strikes against various coastal targets both day and night.

Let's just say: a rather stupid and stupid use of a slow-speed aircraft with a small bomb load. But an order is an order …

But the main task of the MBR-2 was to rescue the crews of downed aircraft, with which the "barns" coped quite successfully.

There was also a hero - Alexei Antonovich Gubriy, who made 22 sorties to search and rescue the crews of downed aircraft. Gubriy's merits in rescuing the crews were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Of course, the Great Patriotic War became the main field of application of the MBR-2, moreover, from the first day.

The application, let's say, did not differ in intelligence. The annals of history have preserved accounts of such operations as attacks by German destroyers in the Baltic. MBR-2 together with SB and Pe-2 bombers, but operating at lower altitudes (up to 2000 m), carried out bombing, but did not achieve success. They only suffered losses from the anti-aircraft fire of German ships, which could quite easily sink our ships, as happened on July 24, 1941 with the ship "Meridian", which the Germans sank despite attempts to attack our aircraft.

In addition, in the Baltic (and not only there), the MBR-2 was not allowed to operate by enemy fighters. Perhaps only in the Arctic, where the use of German aviation was not permanent, mainly due to the small number.

But if the German fighters met the "barns", then the reprisal was short and brutal. And therefore, from the end of 1941, MBR-2 went to work in the dark. This sometimes bore fruit, for example, on the night of December 5-6, flying boats attacked the port of Liinahamari. The ship "Antje Fritzen" (4330 brt) was damaged by a direct bomb hit.

But there was another role that the MBR-2 played more successfully. During the first phase of World War II, the MBR-2 turned out to be practically the only aircraft that could fight enemy submarines in all seas.

Of course, we are not talking about any search radars. And the "main caliber" of the MBR-2 was PLAB-100 depth charges with very little capabilities, and the Germans did not suffer losses from the actions of the MBR-2, but the damage that several German submarines received forced them to act with greater caution, for example, in the same The White Sea.

MBR-2 were used for anti-submarine cover of allied convoys en route to Soviet ports. From 6 to 13 July 1942 MBR-2 conducted reconnaissance and search for transports of the infamous PQ-17 convoy. Flying boats were active in escorting the largest convoy, PQ-18.

In general, after 1943, the MBR-2 operated exclusively in the Arctic, where the crews of the "barns" could operate relatively safely in the conditions of the polar night.

On the night of January 24-25, 1943, MBR-2 from the 118th ORAP made 22 flights to the port of Kirkeness, dropping 40 FAB-100 and 200 fragmentation AO-2, 5 onto ships in the port.

There were no direct hits on the ships, but one bomb exploded near the steamer Rotenfels (7854 brt), which was standing in the roadstead, awaiting unloading. The close burst ignited the hay, which, along with other cargoes, was on board. Despite the measures taken (and the Norwegian fire brigade and 200 Soviet prisoners of war who were ordered to throw the dangerous cargo into the sea were urgently transferred to the "Rotenfels"), the fire could not be extinguished. The Germans, reluctantly, had to sink the ship. Although it was soon lifted, 4,000 tons of cargo were lost, and the ship itself was under repair for a long time.

No kidding, but in 1943 it was the largest victory of the entire Soviet naval aviation. Manufactured by more than humble outdated flying boats.

In 1943-44. the intensity of the struggle on polar communications only intensified. German submarines received significantly more powerful anti-aircraft weapons, and in the confrontation between the MBR-2 with bombs and machine guns and the U-bots with the Fierlings, the latter began to defeat.

Now the "wolves" of Doenitz could well fight off the weakly armed MBR-2. And in general, to be honest, the MBR-2 never became an effective anti-submarine aircraft. First of all, due to the lack of a radar station. Yes, the Allies have a submarine search station in the nomenclature of submarine aircraft in other countries.

Nevertheless, MBR-2 continued to search for and attack enemy submarines, simply because we had no other aircraft. Until the American Catalina appeared in the northern open spaces, a very advanced and formidable weapon.

Nevertheless, the "barns" conducted air and ice reconnaissance in the White Sea, conducted convoys, continued to search for submarines, especially in the areas of Cape Svyatoy Nos and Kanin Nos.

By June 1944, the BVF included 33 MBR-2s, which were used quite intensively, during that year they flew 905 sorties, and in 1945 - another 259.

There were, however, not quite ordinary operations.

In September 1944, the crew of the destroyed British bomber Lancaster, which took part in one of the attacks on the battleship Tirpitz, was evacuated on the MBR-2 in an unusual way.

The bomber fell short of Yagodnik airfield near Arkhangelsk, where it was supposed to refuel on the way back to Britain, and plunged into a swamp near the village of Talagi.

The MBR-2, who flew to the rescue, first dropped the guide by parachute, and then sat down on the nearest lake and there waited for the guide to lead the British to the plane.

And there was a case when the actions of the MBR-2 crew helped to capture colleagues. Flying boat BV-138 made an emergency landing in the area of about. Morzhovets. The crew began to request help by radio, but the work of an unknown radio station only attracted the attention of our sailors. The MBR-2, which flew to that area, found its unlucky colleagues and pointed at the BV-138 the hydrographic vessel "Mogla", the crew of which hijacked the plane and captured the Germans.

But again, such moments could only occur where enemy aircraft did not work. In the Baltic, the Finns and the Germans quite calmly chalked up the MBR-2 practically without straining.

Summing up the results of the use of the MBR-2, it is worth saying the following: the complete non-compliance of the MBR-2 with the requirements for a naval reconnaissance aircraft led to the fact that his career in this capacity ended in the very first months of the war. But as a night bomber and lifeguard, the flying boat was much more successful.

But the most interesting thing is that with the end of the Great Patriotic War the MBR-2 was not over!

In 1946, the aircraft with the least wear were removed from service and sent to North Korea. As whom - a difficult question, with the supply of any information from the DPRK is difficult for us, but the fact is that the planes took part in the war.

By the beginning of the war, the North Koreans had established, at least on the east coast, several hydro bases for the MBR-2, from where they could control coastal waters. It is possible that it was from there that the North Korean MBR-2s carried out night raids, which infuriated the crews of American night fighters, whose radars with great difficulty could detect the engine of the "barn". The rest, as we remember, was all made of wood.

Together with the MBR-2, Po-2 also got to the DPRK, with which the "barns" made a good night duet. "Crazy Chinese alarm clocks" processed the trenches of the leading edge no worse than in the Great Patriotic War, and "Charlie's night coffee grinders" did not allow the minesweepers of the UN Forces to work at night. It can be assumed with great confidence that the "coffee grinders" are just MBR-2.

But the Korean War was the last performance of the MBR-2 and the final of its combat career. By the time of the conclusion of the Ceasefire Agreement in July 1953, not a single MBR-2 remained in the DPRK Air Force.

At the end of the story about the MBR-2, I would like to say that Beriev's car came out peculiar. No speed, no height, no other excellent characteristics. And nevertheless, the "barns" simply pulled service where it was needed.

Truly "air workers of war".