Editing Petlyakov Pe-8 (section)

===Manufacture and supply problems===
Engine supply problems complicated the construction of the aircraft. Production of the ATsN superchargers could not be organized in any systematic way and only the first four Pe-8s were equipped with them. Factory No. 124 shut down its Pe-8 production line at the beginning of 1940 while alternative engines were evaluated. Somewhere in the massive Soviet chain of command, the decision was made to proceed without the superchargers. The unavailability of the Klimov M-100 engine of the ATsN-2 installation required a design change, although this modification allowed a commander and radio operator to be carried in its place.<ref name=g101/> Then, to compound the problem further, the production of AM-34FRNV engines ended in the second half of 1939. Only two or four Pe-8s were equipped with them. Eighteen of the aircraft produced by the end of 1940 were fitted with AM-35A engines.<ref>Gordon (2005), pp. 75–76</ref>

[[File:USSR stamp 989 Pe-8.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|alt=Cancelled stamp illustrating a four-engined monoplane with a bomb between its landing gear. Text on the stamp reads "ПОЧТА СССР / 1 РУБ / Петляков-8 / Тяжелый бомбардировщик"|left|A Soviet stamp that reads "Post USSR / 1 [[Ruble|Rub]] / Petlyakov-8 / Heavy bomber"]]
In 1940, six aircraft without engines were fitted with [[Mikulin AM-35]]A engines, while VVS officials evaluated both the [[Charomskiy ACh-30]] and [[Charomskiy M-40]] [[aircraft Diesel engine]]s. At least nine Pe-8s were fitted with diesel engines in 1941, but neither the ACh-30 nor the M-40 were entirely satisfactory, despite greatly increasing the range of the aircraft. All surviving Pe-8s were re-engined with AM-35As by the end of 1941. Production continued slowly at Factory No. 124; most of the factory's resources were devoted to the higher-priority [[Petlyakov Pe-2]], a successful light bomber. At this time, most of these aircraft, re-designated as the Pe-8 after Petlyakov was killed in a Pe-2 crash on 12 January 1942, were built with out-of-production AM-35A engines.<ref>Gordon (2008), pp. 393–94</ref>

The 1,380-kW (1,850-hp) [[Shvetsov ASh-82]] radial engine was proposed as a replacement to alleviate the shortage of engines and this modification went into production in late 1942. The exhaust arrangements of the ASh-82 were not compatible with the gun turrets in the rear of the engine nacelles and the guns were removed, reducing the aircraft's defensive capability. At the end of 1943, the nose turret was deleted in favor of a manually operated ShKAS machine gun in a more streamlined nose.<ref name=g281>Gunston, ''Osprey Encyclopedia'', p. 281</ref> This version of the aircraft proved to have much the same range as the diesel-engined versions, but reliability was greatly improved. Production of the Pe-8s totaled 93.<ref>Gordon (2008), pp. 395, 398</ref>

The last Pe-8s were completed in 1944 as Pe-8ONs (''Osobovo Naznacheniya''—Special Mission) with Charomskiy ACh-30B engines and a [[Fillet (mechanics)|fillet]] at the base of the vertical stabilizer. These were special VIP transports with a seating capacity of twelve and a cargo capacity of {{convert|1200|kg|sp=us}}.<ref name=g76>Gordon (2005), p. 76</ref> Sources disagree as to whether the armament was removed and, if it was, whether partly or entirely.<ref name=g103>Gunston, ''Tupolev Aircraft'', p. 103</ref>