Yermolayev Yer-2

what is it?

The Yermolayev Yer-2 (Russian: Ермолаев Ер-2) was a long-range Soviet medium bomber used during World War II. It was developed from the Bartini Stal-7 prototype airliner before the war. It was used to bomb Berlin from airbases in Estonia after Operation Barbarossa began in 1941. Production was terminated in August 1941 to allow the factory to concentrate on building higher-priority Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack aircraft, but was restarted at the end of 1943 with new, fuel-efficient, Charomskiy ACh-30B aircraft diesel engines.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 piston engines with propellers · 23 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 420 km/htop speed
• range 5,500 kmwithout refuelling
• size 18.6 tmax take-off weight
• built 462made 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 3.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 23 m: about 5 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 3 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🌍Range of 5,500 km: 31× Amsterdam to Brussels.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1940-05-14

introduced

1940

retired

1950

status

retired

number built

462

role

long-range medium bomber

origin

USSR

makers

Voronezh Aircraft Production Association, Irkutsk Aviation Plant

engines

2× Charomskiy ACh-30B / Klimov M-105 / Charomskiy ACh-30

crew

4

length

16.4 m

wingspan

23 m

height

4.8 m

max take-off weight

18.6 t

top speed

420 km/h

range

5,500 km

ceiling

7,200 m

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