Editing Petlyakov Pe-8 (section)

===Wartime use===
When [[Operation Barbarossa]] began on 22 June 1941, only the 2nd Squadron of the 14th Heavy Bomber Regiment (''Tyazholy Bombardirovochnyy Avia Polk''—TBAP), based at [[Boryspil International Airport|Boryspil]]<ref name=14t>{{cite web|url=http://allaces.ru/cgi-bin/s2.cgi/sssr/struct/p/bap14.dat|script-title=ru:14-й тяжелый бомбардировочный авиационный полк 14-й авиационный полк дальнего действия 11-й гвардейский Сталинский Краснознаменный авиационный полк дальнего действия 11-й гвардейский бомбардировочный Сталинский Краснознаменный авиационный полк|date=7 July 2008|publisher=allaces.ru|language=ru|access-date=16 December 2009}}</ref> was equipped with Pe-8s, but was not ready for combat.<ref name="ADD">{{cite web|url=http://ilpilot.narod.ru/vvs_tsifra/gl_3/3.118.html|script-title=ru:Качественный состав боевых самолетов Дальней авиации на важнейшие даты Великой Отечественной войны 1941–1945 гг.|publisher=ilpilot.narod.ru|language=ru|access-date=30 October 2009}}</ref><ref>Gordon (2008), p. 395</ref> Two of its nine Pe-8s were destroyed by German air strikes shortly after the war began, before the Pe-8s were withdrawn out of reach of German bombers to Kazan. [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] ordered that the squadron be reformed into a regiment, and that it strike targets deep inside German territory. Theoretically, this tactic would boost Soviet morale by demonstrating the vulnerability of the enemy.  The squadron was re-designated on 29 June as the 412th TBAP and began training for long-range missions.<ref name=14t/> On or about 27 July it was again renamed, this time as the 432nd TBAP.<ref name="432ap">{{cite web|url=http://allaces.ru/cgi-bin/s2.cgi/sssr/struct/p/bap432.dat|script-title=ru:412-й тяжелый бомбардировочный авиационный полк 432-й тяжелый бардировочный авиационный полк 746-й отдельный авиационный полк дальнего действия 25-й гвардейский авиационный Орловский полк дальнего действия 25-й гвардейский бомбардировочный Орловский авиационный полк|publisher=allaces.ru|date=10 October 2009|language=ru|access-date=16 December 2009}}</ref> On the evening of 10 August, eight M-40-engined Pe-8s of the 432nd TBAP, accompanied by [[Yermolaev Yer-2]]s of the 420th Long-Range Bomber Aviation Regiment (DBAP), attempted to bomb [[Berlin]] from Pushkino Airfield near [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]]. One heavily loaded Pe-8 crashed immediately upon take off, after it lost an engine. Only four managed to reach Berlin, or its outskirts, and of those, only two returned to their base. The others landed elsewhere or crash-landed in [[Finland]] and [[Estonia]]. The aircraft of the commander of the 81st Long-Range Bomber Division, [[Combrig]] [[Mikhail Vodopianov]], to which both regiments belonged, was attacked mistakenly by [[Polikarpov I-16]]s from [[Soviet Naval Aviation]] over the [[Baltic Sea]] and lost an engine; later, before he could reach Berlin, German [[Anti-aircraft warfare|flak]] punctured a fuel tank. He crash-landed his aircraft in southern Estonia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geroi.apifarm.ru/doc/first/34/1|script-title=ru:Водопьянов Михаил Васильевич|language=ru|access-date=24 October 2009|publisher=Heroes of the Soviet Union 1934–1941|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091124094717/http://www.geroi.apifarm.ru/doc/first/34/1|archive-date=24 November 2009}}</ref> Five more Pe-8s were lost during the operation, largely due to the unreliability of the M-40s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bergstrom|first=Christer|title=Barbarossa—The Air Battle: July–December 1941|publisher=Midland|location=Hersham, Surrey|year=2007|page=53|isbn=978-1-85780-270-2}}</ref> Seven Pe-8s were lost during the month of August alone, rendering the regiment ineffective. During this period, the surviving aircraft were re-equipped with AM-35As, which gave them a shorter range, but a more reliable engine.<ref name=g96>Gordon (2008), p. 396</ref>

By 1 October 1941, the regiment mustered fourteen Pe-8s after having been replenished by new aircraft from the factory.<ref name="ADD"/> It spent the rest of the year conducting night raids on Berlin, [[Königsberg]], [[Gdańsk|Danzig]] and as well as German-occupied cities in the Soviet Union. The regiment was re-designated as the 746th Separate Long-Range Aviation Regiment ({{langx|ru-Latn|Otdel'nyy Avia Polk Dahl'nevo Deystviya}}—OAPDD) on 3 December.<ref name="432ap"/> No aircraft were reported on hand two days later after this designation, but eleven were on strength on 18 March 1942.<ref name="ADD"/> During the winter of 1941–42, the regiment was assigned the destruction of a railroad  bridge over the [[Volga River]], near [[Tver|Kalinin]]. In April 1942, one aircraft flew diplomatic personnel and mail on a non-stop flight from Moscow to Great Britain.<ref name=g96/> This was a test run for a flight carrying Soviet Foreign Minister [[Vyacheslav Molotov|Molotov]] and his delegation from Moscow to [[London]] and then to [[Washington, D.C.]], and back, for negotiations to open a second front against Nazi Germany (19 May – 13 June 1942). The flight crossed German-controlled airspace on the return trip without incident.<ref name="AI p101">''Air International'', p. 101</ref> From August 1941 to May 1942, the regiment flew 226 [[sortie]]s and dropped {{convert|606|t|ton}} of bombs. In the course of these missions, they lost 14 bombers, five in combat, and the rest from engine malfunction. The regiment received 17 Pe-8s as replacements.<ref name=g96/> Sixteen aircraft were on hand on 1 May 1942, but the number had increased only to seventeen two months later; the regiment was losing aircraft almost as fast as they were being replaced.<ref name="ADD"/>

The 890th Long-Range Aviation Regiment ({{langx|ru-Latn|Avia Polk Dahl'nevo Deystviya}}—APDD) was formed on 15 June 1942<ref name=890ap>{{cite web|url=http://allaces.ru/cgi-bin/s2.cgi/sssr/struct/p/apdd890.dat|script-title=ru:890-й Брянский авиационный полк дальнего действия|date=22 December 2008|publisher=allaces.ru|language=ru|access-date=16 December 2009}}</ref> and both regiments were used to bomb German-held transportation centers of, among others, [[Oryol|Orel]], [[Bryansk]], [[Kursk]] and [[Poltava]]. The pace of activity increased and the regiments flew as many missions in August as they had in the first ten months of the war.<ref name=g97>Gordon (2008), p. 397</ref> By the eve of the Soviet counterattack at [[Stalingrad]], [[Operation Uranus]], on 8 November the regiments had fourteen Pe-8s on hand.<ref name="ADD"/> Under the command of the 45th Long-Range Bomber Aviation Division ({{langx|ru-Latn|Dal'nebombardirovochnaya Aviatsionnaya Diviziya}}—DBAD), they did not participate in the [[Battle of Stalingrad|Stalingrad air attacks]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Berstrom|first=Christer|author2=Dikov, Andrey |author3=Antipov, Vlad |others=Sundin, Claes|title=Black Cross/Red Star: Air War over the Eastern Front|publisher=Eagle Editions|location=Hamilton, MT|year=2006|volume=3: Everything for Stalingrad|isbn=0-9761034-4-3}}</ref>

In 1943, from the division's primary airfield at [[Kratovo, Russia|Kratovo]], southeast of Moscow, the regiments bombed transportation centers, airfields and troop concentrations. The railroad yard at [[Gomel]] was a favorite target and the regiment dropped approximately {{convert|606|t|ton}} of bombs there between February and September 1943. It is not clear if these sorties were made by Pe-8s alone or in combination with other aircraft. In addition, the regiment dropped the first FAB-5000 bomb on Königsberg in April 1943, continuing the pin-prick attacks against targets deep in the German rear.<ref name=g97/> In May 1943, efforts shifted to disrupt the German concentration of forces for the [[Battle of Kursk]]. In one sortie, the 109 bombers of the 45th DBAD struck the rail junction at Orsha during the evening of 4 May, most of which were not Pe-8s; the German High Command reported the destruction of 300 rail wagons and three ammunition trains.<ref>Bergstrom, p. 18</ref>

By 1 July, the regiment had 18 Pe-8s for deployment during the early phase of the Battle of Kursk. The long-range aviation units continued to attack targets in the German rear areas at night, supporting the Soviet ground offensive in the Orel Bulge, called [[Operation Kutuzov]], that began on 12 July. The Germans had transferred the [[nightfighter]]s of the Fourth Group of the 5th Night Fighter Wing (IV./[[Nachtjagdgeschwader 5]]), flying a mix of [[Junkers Ju 88]] and [[Dornier Do 217#Night fighter variants|Dornier Do 217]] aircraft, to counter the Soviet raids near the [[Oryol|Orel]] area. Initially, the night fighters were ineffective against the Soviet raids, until the deployment of their ground [[radar]] "eyes". Once the Germans had use of their radar, after the night of 17–18 July, Soviet losses increased sharply. Although the Germans flew only fourteen sorties that night, they claimed eight kills (of course, throughout the war, night or day, the number of kills ''claimed'' was inevitably significantly higher than the actual number shot down, regardless of nationality or aircraft type). On the night of 20–21 July, Captain ([[Hauptmann]]) [[Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein]], commander of IV./NJG 5,<ref>Bergstrom, p. 111</ref> claimed to have shot down three himself.<ref name="ADD"/> The exhaust plume of the ASh-82 engine may have been a contributing factor; the engines lacked flame dampening exhausts, making their plume visible from a distance.<ref name=g97/> Despite its losses, the 746th was re-designated as the 25th Long-Range Guards Aviation Regiment (GAPDD) on 18 September 1943 in recognition of its achievements.<ref name="432ap"/>