M-82 became a good engine rather in late 1943 (or even in 1944). So, you know nothing about the I-185/Su-6. The I-185 was tested on the front, both versions - with M-71 and M-82 - were found far superior to ALL fighters including the German ones on the front. Comprehensive tests of the Su-6 revealed its complete superiority over the IL-10 in all respects, the aircraft was recommended for mass production, and Sukhoi was awarded a state prize for it.
I find this amusing. They produced precisely 4 x I-185, and 10 x I-180. They had a series of crashes with the prototypes, one of which killed a famous test pilot, Valery Chkalov on the I-180, and another pilot was killed flying the I-185..
They produced 3 x Su-6. Again, no effect on the outcome of the war. They basically cancelled it because of problems with the M-71 engine.
Personally I tend to agree that a single-engined dive bomber is a better answer for CAS missions than the slow heavily armed attack plane, but it's really off in the realm of theoretical and nothing to do with what actually happened during the war, as an assessment of the Soviet air forces real capabilities.
??? It was difficult to use Pe-2 as a dive bomber. That was the reason.
All other roles except the level bomber one were rather negligible. "Some units" is absolutely insufficient for a plane initially designed as a dive bomber.
Please demonstrate it with numbers. What was the typical bomb load for the Ju 88?
No, you misunderstand the nature of dive bombing.
All dive bombers required special training in order to be effective. The closest thing to an exception was the Ju-87 because of it's automatic pull-out, but it too performed much better with experienced crews (compare outcomes from German vs Italian Ju-87 units). Dive bombing was a very challenging role for both pilot and aircraft.
The US SBD dive bomber had a very high lethality in the hands of the US navy (who knew it as "Slow But Deadly", but navy pilots had very good, and very long and intense training regiment. When they made the plane available to marines and (as the A-24) the Army air force, their accuracy went way down and their losses went way up.
The Ju 88, an excellent aircraft overall, was a considerably bigger aircraft than the Pe-2, but also less accurate as a dive bomber. More importantly to the discussion, the Germans found that the Ju-88 wings were taking a set during pull out from high-angle dives (and occasionally failing altogether, resulting in crashes), so they stopped using them as a true dive bomber and in many cases removed the dive brakes from those as well. Quoting from the Wiki:
"As a dive bomber, the Ju 88 was capable of pinpoint deliveries of heavy loads; however, despite all the modifications, dive bombing still proved too stressful for the airframe, and in 1943, tactics were changed so that bombs were delivered from a shallower, 45° diving angle."
The 45 degree, shallow dive bombing angle was similar to that used by fighter-bombers, and while better than level bombing, it was nowhere near the accuracy of the high-angle dive bombing.
The US A-36, a dive bomber variant of the P-51, also had to be taken out of service for the same reason.
Poor pilot training was a major problem for the Soviet armed forces in general, and the Soviet air forces in particular (and, lets be real, for many if not most Allied units in many Theaters during the first year to two years of the war depending on the specific region,
and for many German and Japanese units in the last two years of the war, which tends to be forgotten in discussions about the Russian front especially), but the Pe-2 proved to be a remarkable aircraft with capabilities that were exceptional by the standards of the war. It was also continuously improved. It proved to be a very capable type, in the hands of a good pilot, which is about the best you can say for any WW2 aircraft. It's gradual replacement, the Tu-2 was apparently even better.
If you are claiming that
most Pe-2 units removed their dive brakes or never performed dive bombing, enough that it invalidates the dive-bombing capabilities of the type, then please provide a list of all the Pe-2 units showing which ones were never used as dive bombers.
The 37mm guns could only penetrate the armor of medium tanks from short ranges, which required special piloting experience. Even the most experienced pilots started firing from greater distances in tests - i.e., in the absence of anti-aircraft fire. The VYA cannons could only penetrate the upper armor, which required a stable dive at an angle of 30-40°, which Il could not do. The accuracy of cannon fire was extremely low, which was revealed already in the tests, and then confirmed at the front. Based on the operational results, it was recognized that aviation was the most inefficient instrument for fighting tanks. A very detailed description of attempts to use Ils against tanke can be found in a book by Rastrenin ("Attack aircraft (Shturmoviks) of The Red Army", 2008).The situation was corrected only by PTABs, which were really effective when used correctly.
For this purpose it was not necessary to equip Il-2 with 37-mm cannons that significantly reduced its flight performance.
Before you try to make any theory just read the studies based on documents. You can find there, how big was the probability to hit a vehicle using cannon. You will save a lot of time for both yourself and others. Only PTABs made possible to destroy German armored vehicles with non-zero efficiency.
Who's interested in what you think? Your opinion should be substantiated with references to reliable sources. I referred to the study that cited the documents.
We have discussed and analyzed this exact study in great detail in other discussions on this forum. You can find this if you are really interested, we have experts on ballistics here who brought out a lot of useful data. I think you are a little bit too ready to dismiss the vulnerability of the large number of light-armored vehicles, including the earlier medium tanks and self propelled guns, to the basic 23mm gun. Larger tanks required bomb strikes or rockets, which were also used.
I'm personally I shudder to even consider what you are thinking. We don't know each other, speculation is fruitless (and to be honest, a little creepy). I'm only answering your post for the benefit of others reading the thread, but I do note that for someone who repeatedly insists on hard data, numbers and statistics, you rely on personal insults over and over.
The Cernavodă raid demonstrated the capabilities of the obsolete fighters as diving bombers/CAS aircraft. The Soviets underestimated it. They had even better candidate for this purpose - I-207.
And yet, the Soviets made very good use of I-153 and I-16 in this exact role, not just as (shallow angle) dive bombers but also attacking with rockets from as early as 1941.
The Italians used the CR.42 for a similar role in North Africa, (though they didn't have rockets). The Americans even put bazookas on the wings of L-4 "grasshoppers". The Japanese were using the KI-30 in a similar role.
This example demonstrates something quite contrary.
Four hits after the suppression of the most of flaks (only two hits from the first wave with 11 Pe-2s, then two more from the next wave). And ZERO hits from 30(!!!!) Pe-2s from the first strike. It is rather absolutely disappointing result.
It just demonstrates that Pe-2 were not able to use large caliber bombs from dive!
Please demonstrate it with numbers..
Summary: you continue to spread misleading information that completely misrepresents the real situation of the Soviet Air Force.
Ok well, let's cut through the BS, shall we?
Top level dive bombing accuracy is represented by the Japanese Aichi D3A dive bomber on 5 April 1942. 53 x D3A bombers attacked HMS Cornwall and hit HMS Dorsetshire 28 times, with 15 near misses. The Ju-87 was also very accurate, such as in January 1941 when 30 Stukas achieved six hits on the HMS Illustrious. The SBD was also extremely accurate. For example at Midway, 16 x SBDs from USS Yorktown attacked the IJN carrier Sōryū scoring 3 direct hits with 454 kg bombs.
The Ju-88, the closest comparable aircraft to the Pe-2 (one of the world's only other effective twin engined dive bombers) was much more hit and miss. Both figuratively and literally.
For example, during Operation Pedestal, one of the most important cnvoy battles in the Med, 3-15 August, 1942.
On Aug 13, 1942, 26 x Ju 88 attacked the fleet scoring
one hit on SS Waimarama, and a near-miss on the Ohio.
Then 16 Ju-87 and 8 Bf 110 attacked, scoring
no hits.
Later, on the seventh raid of the day, 35 x Ju 88 and 13 Ju 88 attacked 'force X', a group of RN warships. There were
no hits, and one near miss on HMS Kenya.
These are by no means outlier examples.