As strange as this statement may look, the controversial doctrine of Douai played the first role in the emergence of the branch of heavy fighters. It was Monsieur Douet that the inhabitants of Soviet, German, Japanese and English cities owe the massive bombing, since it was Douai who developed the theory of massive bombing of cities with the aim of intimidation.
And the armada of bombers demanded protection. For in the mid-30s, before the appearance of "super-fortresses" capable of waving off any fighter, it had not yet reached, and the desire of the same Hitler to bring the British to their knees was quite palpable.
But the opportunities for escorting bombers were not enough, to put it mildly. So heavy machines began to appear, capable, first of all, of flying far and hitting the enemy not at the expense of maneuver and speed, it is clear that lighter single-engine aircraft were superior to their twin-engine counterparts. The calculation was made on the fact that in the vacated bow part it would be possible to place a strong battery capable of neutralizing the advantage of the attackers.
In addition, twin-engine aircraft had a longer range or flight time, and if the first became not entirely relevant during the war, the second came in handy, and the majority of twin-engine escort fighters were retrained, for the most part, into night fighters.
But this is a completely different story, and we will begin our excursion into the hangar with twin-engine fighters from the beginning of World War II.
1. Messerschmitt Bf-110. Germany
About this plane, you can only say that the first is always more difficult. In fact, the 110th became the first of a group of twin-engine fighters with all the consequences that come out of this.
If the predecessor and donor in terms of some nodes, the Bf-109 fighter, received excellent advertising in Spain, then with the Bf-110 it was the opposite: everyone heard about it, but no one saw it. Here is such a paradox, but the Luftwaffe was not at all going to fly a fighter, but planned exclusively for itself.
The 110th received the baptism of fire in the "Battle of Britain". Groups of "hunters" from airfields in France were to accompany the bombers, sweeping away everything in their path. So, at least, Goering planned.
The reality turned out to be more sad, in principle, like many of the plans of the Reichsmarschall, it actually burned into a blue flame. And most of the 110s were destroyed by the more maneuverable Spitfires, although it is worth noting that the Hurricane also turned out to be a very tough nut to crack for the Messerschmitt, although it was inferior to the German in speed.
As a result, the aircraft, created for the escort of bombers, itself demanded protection from fighters.
After an outright failure in the “Battle of England,” the 110th was declared an unsuccessful machine, unable to cope with the tasks assigned to it.
We agree that the car was not without flaws, but on the whole it was a very outstanding aircraft. Perhaps even the best in its category. And the very mediocre successes in 1940 were mainly due to the fact that the Luftwaffe did not manage to correctly define and set tasks for the Bf-110, which under no circumstances could win superiority in the skies of England in the fight against single-engine fighters of the Royal Air force.
Then there was Poland. In battles with not the most modern Polish fighters, the 110th proved to be quite normal. However, the Bf-110 showed itself much more luxuriously in battles with the British "Wellingtons", which began "reciprocal friendly" visits to Germany. After Poland, the Bf-110 fought in Norway, France, Africa, on the Eastern Front (very limited).
In general, the plane flew off the entire war, "from bell to bell." The last 110s were released in March 1945. True, after 1943, they fought mainly in the air defense forces as a night fighter. But that's a completely different story.
2. Bristol Beaufighter I. Great Britain
This is generally one of the most successful combat aircraft used by any of the participants in the Second World War. Moreover, not the result of systematic developments, but the fruit of improvisation, and very free. Almost jazz.
But this improvisation turned out to be a very versatile machine, which, like the Bf-109, fought the entire war in all theaters that could be invented for a British machine, from Britain itself to the islands in the Pacific Ocean. The only place where the Beaufighters did not fight was the Eastern Front.
So I said the word "improvisation". In fact, everything was like this: there was a very mediocre bomber "Blenheim".
There will be a separate story about him, this unfortunate bomber is worthy of talking about him. But the car was so-so. Very so-so. Which led, quite obviously, to an attempt to make at least "something" out of "so-so".
Something is a heavy fighter. "Beaufighter" is just a conversion of "Blenheim" into a fighter, using developments on another aircraft - "Beasley". The Bristol Bisley is just the first step towards converting a bomber into a fighter, rather unfortunate. So much so that Beasley was stripped of its name and named Blenheim IV.
Where did the Beaufort come from then? It's simple. "Beaufort" is "Blenheim", which was assembled under license in Australia. But since the aircraft of the Australian assembly, that is, the "Beaufort", were the first to go into the alteration, hence the name: Beaufort-fighter, "Beaufort fighter". "Beaufighter".
What did the British do in order to get “the same” from “so-so”? It is clear that the bombs have been removed. Then they removed the fuel that moved the bombs. Then they removed two shooters, for a fighter. In fact - minus a ton.
The crew consisted of two people. The first one is understandable, the pilot, but the second … The second crew member had to combine several functions, namely the radio operator, navigator, observer and loader!
The main armament of the Beaufighter was 4 drum-powered Hispano-Suiza cannons! Well, the British did not have others at that time!
And this second crew member in battle had to open a special hatch, stick into the nose of the aircraft and reload the guns in the smoke and powder gases! Manually!
By the way, in the same compartment were placed 4 more machine guns with a caliber of 7, 7-mm, which definitely made the task aerobatics with an admixture of masochism. But when did the tough British guys care about such little things?
But how could it be from the heart to jump out of the eight trunks …
By the way, it suddenly turned out that Beaufighter flies much better than Beaufort and Blenheim! He turned out to be much more maneuverable, which is not surprising, with such a weight distribution and weight reduction.
Then an additional bonus was that it was quite normal to stuff the AI Mk IV radar into the empty hull in the middle of the Beaufighter, which was done. And the Beaufighter became a night fighter long before many of her classmates. True, this radar was, to put it mildly, damp and rather weak in terms of power, so the "Beaufighters" made the main victories without it. But the fact is, Britain in 1940 had a night fighter with a radar.
In general, "Beaufighter" spent the entire war in approximately the same way as it was created, that is, it is not entirely clear, but fun. He fought with German and Japanese bombers, and could buy a German fighter. The Japanese took on maneuverability, but here they were generally out of competition throughout the war. He stormed barges and boats, drove Japanese tanks and infantry in Burma, Thailand, Indonesia.
In general - as it is, the air worker of war. Multifunctional and simple as a drum.
3. Lockheed P-38D Lightning. USA
We salute! The plane is remarkable and remarkable already for the fact that Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the best of the flying writers and the guys who sent Admiral Yamamoto to that world, flew and died on it. Well, and Richard Ira Bong and Thomas McGuire, two of the most productive fighter pilots in the history of American military aviation (40 and 38 wins).
"Lightning" undoubtedly claims to be one of the best combat vehicles of the Second World War. It is very difficult to evaluate and compare, but the car was close to perfection. A lot of technical innovations were implemented in the design of the R-38.
With the combat component it was like this: in Europe and North Africa "Lightning" did not shine at all. Moreover, given that the Americans, unlike the Soviet pilots, never went in four to twenty, the losses were very impressive. On the claimed 2,500 downed German and Italian aircraft, the P-38 pilots lost about 1,800 of their own. Considering the obligatory postscripts, they could have diverged one to one.
But in the Pacific Ocean, the plane "entered". And how! The twin-engine R-38 was not as fast as single-engine aircraft and as maneuverable. Moreover, he had trouble with maneuverability in some modes, which could end in the disruption of the tail.
But it was "Lightning" with its design that simultaneously ensured high firepower, long range and safety of long-distance raids over the sea due to the twin-engine scheme.
The P-38 was still used as a multifunctional aircraft: an interceptor fighter, an escort fighter, a fighter-bomber, a reconnaissance aircraft, and a leader aircraft. There were generally unique upgrades, for example, a smoke screen for ships or an ambulance for the wounded in overhead containers.
The P-38 was the only aircraft produced in the United States throughout the war. This says a lot.
4. IMAM Ro.57. Italy
Mussolini, realizing his ambitious plans, demanded that aircraft manufacturers create a heavy fighter to escort bombers. In addition, the aircraft was supposed to be used as an interceptor and a patrolling fighter, for which single-engine fighters were clearly not suitable in terms of fuel reserves.
As a result, the hero of our short story appeared: IMAM Ro.57.
In general, it is impossible to say that the plane was outstanding. However, like all Italian aircraft of that time, it had very decent aerodynamics and controllability. The engines that were installed on the aircraft were not capable of giving the fighter an outstanding speed. The armament, which consisted of only two 12, 7-mm machine guns, installed in the forward fuselage, pumped up a lot.
In general, the plane turned out to be "on the dump". Especially in terms of weapons. If we compare with classmates, then IMAM Ro.57 was the weakest in this regard in its class. Despite this, Regia Aeronautica was not going to abandon this project and offered IMAM to modify the aircraft.
As a result, in 1941, a modified version of the IMAM Ro.57bis was created, equipped with two 20-mm cannons and brake grilles, which gave the aircraft the ability to drop bombs from a dive. Unfortunately, the power plant remained the same (two Fiat A.74 RC.38s, 840 hp each), which led to a further decrease in flight performance.
This had serious consequences for the fate of the aircraft: the original order for 200 Ro.57 aircraft was revised down to 90 aircraft. It was planned that the production of the Ro.57 would be 50-60 aircraft, but it was already clear that this aircraft was no longer needed: in 1939 it was still a good interceptor with weak armament (two 12, 7-mm machine guns), four years later (from a prototype to mass production), it was already an outdated vehicle, even with armament reinforced to two 20-mm cannons.
The aircraft took part in the hostilities, but due to the frankly weak armament did not show any results. As a result of the fighting, only four Ro.57s survived until Italy's surrender.
5. Potez 630. France
The French did not stay away from the development of twin-engine fighters, and, in principle, went almost in parallel with the Germans. In 1934, the French military decided to develop a multifunctional aircraft that could be used as a fighter leader, from which a group of fighters in battle, a day attack aircraft capable of accompanying bombers, and a night fighter would be radio controlled.
The first car was planned to be three-seater, the second and third - two-seater. In general, the idea of such a flying command post itself was fresh and quite interesting, especially considering that the radars in those years were only at the stage of development and testing.
The main requirements for the aircraft were high (more than 4 hours) flight duration and maneuverability, comparable to single-engine aircraft. Hence, there is a very sharp limitation in weight (up to 3.5 tons) and a rather small selection of motors.
Technologically, it turned out to be a very remarkable and simple plane. The production of one such fighter took only 7,500 man-hours. This is practically as much as the Dewoitine D.520 demanded and almost half as much as on the outdated Moran-Saulnier MS.406.
With regards to the fighting. Like all French aircraft, the Pote 630 fought in all directions of the world simultaneously.
Aircraft of the French Air Force were used in the Battle of France from May to June 1940. In January 1941, they were also used against the Thai troops in Cambodia. In November 1942, aircraft that belonged to the Vichy government at that time fought with British and American aircraft when the Allies landed on the coast of North Africa, and at the same time aircraft belonging to the French Air Force in the African colonies were used against aircraft from Germany and Italy.
How "Pote 630" fought. Hard. In general, a light and maneuverable aircraft with a really long flight time was terribly slow and practically unarmed. At the time of its collapse, France could not resolve the issue of the production of Hispano-Suiza air cannons in the proper volume, therefore the bulk of the Pote-630 was produced in the reconnaissance version, with three machine guns of 7.62 mm machine guns.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery fought on this for some time. And, to be honest, there are few positive reviews in the book "Military Pilot".
Although sometimes it even turned out to shoot down enemy planes, which with the help of not very good MAC.34 machine guns was already a feat.
And the idea of flying command posts was nevertheless implemented, and the 630s in some way replaced modern AWACS aircraft, only in the optical range, through the eyes of an observer-dispatcher. Since the P.630 and P.631 were significantly longer than single-engine fighters in flight duration, it turned out to be used in full.
Sometimes flying command posts tried to attack on their own. And even managed to shoot down German planes, but this was rare.
By and large, apart from reconnaissance missions and adjusting artillery fire, the Pote 630 did not make a big contribution. Too slow and too weak. In addition, there was one more unpleasant moment: the French plane, by the will of fate, was very similar visually to the German Bf 110C. Therefore, the crews of French fighters and reconnaissance planes received from their own, probably more often than from the Germans. They were fired at both from the ground and from fighters, both French and British.
An attempt was made to improve the desperate situation with weapons, and a modification of the Pote R.631 appeared, in which the machine guns were replaced by 20-mm Hispano-Suiza cannons with 90 rounds of ammunition per barrel. The troops received a little more than 200 such aircraft and they could not have any significant impact on the situation in general.
Here, in fairness, it is worth noting that it is not the plane that is to blame, but the mess in the crumbling French army.
6. Petlyakov Pe-3. the USSR
Probably, it is not worth reminding that the "weaving", the prototype of the Pe-2 and Pe-3, was designed precisely as a high-altitude fighter. So the situation ordered that the fighter was temporarily put aside, and a dive bomber converted from it went into production.
With the aim of maximum unification with the serially built Pe-2, it was decided to change only the very minimum of components and assemblies. Only the pressurized cabin and engine nacelles for M-105R engines with turbochargers had to be redesigned. And the high-altitude fighter was ready.
Offensive weapons were placed in the place of the former bomb bay: two ShVAK cannons and two ShKAS machine guns in a single battery. The defensive armament was completely taken from the Pe-2, that is, the 12.7 mm BT machine gun for the upper hemisphere and the ShKAS for the lower one.
In addition, many vehicles were produced as a night fighter, with two searchlights in underwing drop-shaped containers. No confirmation of the effective actions of the Pe-2 equipped with searchlights was found in German documents. However, according to the testimony of our pilots, the Germans often preferred not to seek adventure, falling into the beams of searchlights on planes and leaving, dropping bombs anywhere.
The Pe-3 probably played its main role in the defense of Moscow as a night fighter. German bombers went to Moscow without fighter cover. In these conditions, a fighter with a long flight duration, a strong salvo and a good view, allowing it to detect enemy aircraft, was very useful.
It is worth recalling that everything was very sad with radars.
However, if we compare the technical data of the Pe-3 with the characteristics of the German Bf.110C fighter with the DB601A engines, which is similar in design and purpose, then things seem to be not so rosy.
With practically the same range, flight speed at the ground (445 km / h) and climb time of 5000 m (8, 5-9 min), the Messerschmitt was 1350 kg lighter and had better maneuverability in the horizontal plane (it performed a turn on an altitude of 1000 m in 30 s, and a Pe-3 in 34-35 s).
The 110's armament was also stronger: four 7, 92-mm machine guns and two 20-mm MG / FF cannons against one 20-mm cannon and two 12, 7-mm machine guns on our plane. This configuration provided the Messerschmitt with a mass of a second salvo about one and a half times greater than that of the Pe-3.
The Pe-3 was somewhat faster, but only until the Bf.110E with more powerful DB601E engines began to enter service with the Luftwaffe, and here the German began to dominate.
Many Pe-3s fought as air scouts. The aircraft were armed with aerial cameras AFA-1 or AFA-B and were part of long-range reconnaissance regiments (DRAP). There were five such regiments in the Red Army Air Force.
In addition to working as a night fighter and a reconnaissance aircraft, the Pe-3, as part of various regiments, were engaged in searches and attacks of enemy submarines, delivering assault strikes, and leading aircraft arriving under Lend-Lease through Alaska.
A separate squadron of Pe-3 interceptors with Gneiss-2 radars mounted on them operated near Stalingrad. The aircraft crews carried out the detection and aiming at the enemy transport aircraft of the main fighter forces.
Many Pe-3s ended their service in the Air Force of the Northern Fleet, where they covered the actions of mastheads and torpedo bombers.
By the end of the summer of 1944, in all parts of the Red Army Air Force, no more than 30 copies of Pe-3 of different versions remained on the move. The aircraft were mainly used for visual and photographic reconnaissance.
What can you say in the end? Despite the fact that the twin-engine fighter as such did not take off as a class, nevertheless, the machines became the founders of another class: multi-purpose universal strike aircraft. And despite the fact that after the end of World War II, twin-engine fighters left the arena, their incarnations still work in the sky.
By the way, someone may be surprised by the absence of Japanese fighters here. Everything is in order, the Japanese understood the benefits of these aircraft later than anyone else, and they began to appear towards the end of the war. But these were very worthy machines, so we will definitely return to them, as well as to other twin-engine fighters of the second half of that war.
