Russian reconnaissance aircraft

I'm wondering why the Soviet military aviation of the Second World War seems so poor in high-performance scouts like the dedicated versions of the major Western fighters (for example: Spitfire PR). It seems that throughout the war slow and antiquated planes remained in operation (R.5, R.10, Po.2); the only version I can find of a more modern and faster airplane is the Pe-2R, built, however, in a few specimens.

Thanks for any help.

greybeard said:

I'm wondering why the Soviet military aviation of the Second World War seems so poor in high-performance scouts like the dedicated versions of the major Western fighters (for example: Spitfire PR). It seems that throughout the war slow and antiquated planes remained in operation (R.5, R.10, Po.2); the only version I can find of a more modern and faster airplane is the Pe-2R, built, however, in a few specimens.

Thanks for any help.

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IIRC they rigged up Yaks with cameras.

Actually most of the soviet WW2 planes could be the scaut aircraft. No matter of what kind the plane was. Usually the letter "P" ( in latin alphabet it is "R") means the "разведчик" - reconnaissance . Therefore you may find Tu-2R, Il-2KR, Yak-9R but also Il-4TK, R-12 Yak-7B. Also the MiG-3 and La-7 could be the scaut plane. Over seas Russians used the " kорабельные самолеты-разведчики" - flying boats: MBR-2, MDR-6, KOR-1 and KOR-2 ( Be-4). Just to give some examples..

greybeard said:

I'm wondering why the Soviet military aviation of the Second World War seems so poor in high-performance scouts like the dedicated versions of the major Western fighters (for example: Spitfire PR). It seems that throughout the war slow and antiquated planes remained in operation (R.5, R.10, Po.2); the only version I can find of a more modern and faster airplane is the Pe-2R, built, however, in a few specimens.

Thanks for any help.

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The Russians also used some A-20s for reconnaissance missions.

Russian fighters were smaller than the Spitfire leaving less room for fuel, the wooden construction also meant less interior volume for a given wing size and the M-105 engine was often a step behind the DB601 instead of equal/superior to it.

greybeard said:

I'm wondering why the Soviet military aviation of the Second World War seems so poor in high-performance scouts like the dedicated versions of the major Western fighters (for example: Spitfire PR). It seems that throughout the war slow and antiquated planes remained in operation (R.5, R.10, Po.2); the only version I can find of a more modern and faster airplane is the Pe-2R, built, however, in a few specimens.

Thanks for any help.

Click to expand...

I have wondered that myself, for many years. When I build models of military aircraft, my main "Theme" is photo-reconnaissance aircraft. Since they are not a popular subject among the world's plastic model kit manufacturers (Not as "glamorous" as a fighter ace), I have to try to convert an existing fighter, bomber or cargo aircraft model into its recce version. And since recce aircraft detailed info is hard to come by, that makes my job harder. Over the years, I have found enough info on types like the Pe-2R, Yak-7R, Yak-9R to attempt to start on them, but finding information on their markings is nigh on impossible. And I am not going to start on a model conversion until I am sure I have all the needed data to accurately build it. One type or recce aircraft that doesn't really interest me is the plane where the backseater has a handheld camera to point out a window or stick over the side.
Larry

To be honest , the Yak-7R is not the official name. It was the Yak-7UTI adapted to the AFA-IM camera installation in 1941. However at the end of 1943 Russian started trials for recce Yak-7B ( aircraft no.1440 ) with the same camera installed in the back cockpit. It is said there were about 350 planes of the Yak-7B recce variant made. But a part of them was used only as the scaut planes though..

Thank you all for your ideas and information. I now know that the VVS actually used diffusely dedicated variants of its fighters as reconnaissance aircraft, like its Western counterparts.

Larry, I believe you hit the mark with regard to neglect of aerial reconnaissance: it is the basic reason for the existence of military aviation (as transport is for civil aviation), but it does not fascinate as much as combat plane and the bombing.

It is curious that the use of aircraft like the Yak-7R seems to have left no trace: in the only site I found on the subject they are not mentioned.

I believe quite a few Pe-3 produced later in the war were used almost exclusively (and with some success) for recon, the wiki mentions 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 40th "Separate reconnaissance" or "Separate Long-Range Reconnaissance" regiments.

The Pe-2 (see Pe-2R and the postwar 715th Independent Reconnaissance Squadron) and Tu-2 (see Tu-2DB, Tu-2F, Tu-2R and post-war Tu-6) already mentioned were also used sometimes for recon, successfully.

The early war Kharkiv KhAI-5 was used for recon though I think most were quickly shot down.

Lots of the various Soviet biplane utility aircraft like the R-5, R-Z and Po-2 were used for recon.

There were some Yer-2 used in that role as well for ultra long range missions.

greybeard said:

I'm wondering why the Soviet military aviation of the Second World War seems so poor in high-performance scouts like the dedicated versions of the major Western fighters (for example: Spitfire PR). It seems that throughout the war slow and antiquated planes remained in operation (R.5, R.10, Po.2); the only version I can find of a more modern and faster airplane is the Pe-2R, built, however, in a few specimens.

Thanks for any help.

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Interesting topic.
In my opinion, the main reason was the change of priorities dictated by the overall strategy of the Soviet leadership.
There was certainly some interest in development of long range and high altitude recon aircraft in 1930s. ANT-25 and ANT-37 projects come to mind. Also BOK family by Chizhevskiy.
But then the focus shifted to the attempts of bridging the fighters gap which became apparent since the start of WWII and to the tasks of close air support. Specialised reconnaissance a/c development was left for the "second tier" designers as Kocherigin, Neiman, etc. The designers were good but they lacked technical and financial support and attention of Party and military brass.
When German-Soviet war began, most of the efforts were concentrated (once again) on the fighters and on the close air support "shturmoviks". Probably RKKA (Army) was not interested as well as there were other more pressing issues in 1941-1943. And when Red Army began to advance, there was no real long range bomber force and interdiction operations were conducted in areas just behind the enemy lines... so why to bother with anything but existing Pe-2R/Pe-3, some Yaks and lend leased Spits, etc.
Just to note that there were other categories somewhat "neglected" as well: night fighters, artillery spotters, liaison, heavy bombers, sea planes, long range escort, etc.. Demand was partly met by lend leased equipment in some categories, but not everywhere.

greybeard said:

I'm wondering why the Soviet military aviation of the Second World War seems so poor in high-performance scouts like the dedicated versions of the major Western fighters (for example: Spitfire PR). It seems that throughout the war slow and antiquated planes remained in operation (R.5, R.10, Po.2); the only version I can find of a more modern and faster airplane is the Pe-2R, built, however, in a few specimens.

Thanks for any help.

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A-20 Havocs were successful as long-range reconnaissance aircraft. At least one photographed Athens!

The Douglas A-20 Havoc/Boston in Soviet Service