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what is it?
The Beriev Be-2 (originally designated KOR-1) was a two-seat reconnaissance seaplane built for the Soviet Navy shortly before World War II. It was designed to replace the Navy's obsolete license-produced Heinkel He 55 aircraft operating from warships and shore bases.
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · biplane · 11 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 90 years ago, in 1936.
- Top speed is 1.9× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 11 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
- Range of 1,000 km: 6× Amsterdam to Brussels.
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1936-09-04
- introduced
- 1938
- retired
- 1941
- status
- retired
- number built
- 13
- role
- reconnaissance seaplane
- origin
- 🇷🇺 Soviet Union
- makers
- Beriev, Taganrog aviation
- engines
- 1× Shvetsov M-25A radial engine / R-1820
- length
- 8.7 m
- wingspan
- 11 m
- height
- 3.8 m
- max take-off weight
- 2,686 kg
- top speed
- 245 km/h
- range
- 1,000 km
- ceiling
- 6,600 m
- wings
- biplane
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q820622, Wikipedia: Beriev Be-2 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.