Arkhangelsky Ar-2

what is it?

The Arkhangelsky Ar-2 was a Soviet dive-bomber used in small numbers during World War II. Its design was a refinement of the earlier Soviet Tupolev SB. The design bureau's name (Cyrillic: Архангельский) is transliterated in many ways in English sources, in a variety of combinations of Arch-, Arkh-, -sky, -ski, -skii, -skij).

🔎How to recognise it: 2 engines · 18 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 512 km/htop speed
• range 1,500 kmwithout refuelling
• size 8,150 kgmax take-off weight
• built 200made in total

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 86 years ago, in 1940.
• 🏎️Top speed is 3.9× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 18 m: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🌍Range of 1,500 km: 8× Amsterdam to Brussels.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.2× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

spec sheet

first flight

1940-10

introduced

1940

retired

1944

status

retired

number built

200

role

dive bomber

origin

🇷🇺 Soviet Union

makers

Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center

engines

2× Klimov M-105R piston engine

length

12.5 m

wingspan

18 m

height

3.6 m

max take-off weight

8,150 kg

top speed

512 km/h

range

1,500 km

ceiling

10,500 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.