The Yer-2 was originally designated DB-240 and used the design of the Stal-7 prototype airliner. Because Roberto Bartini was sent to the Gulag following the crash of the Stal-7 prototype in 1937 on false charges of spying for Italy because of his ethnic background, Vladimir Yermolayev undertook design of the DB-240, hence the plane being called Yer-2. The Yer-2 had the honor of conducting the first VVS air raids on Berlin, in August 1941. Like the Bolkhovitinov DB-A and Ilyushin DB-3/Il-4, the Yer-2 had a long operating range despite having a much shorter span than the TB-3 or Pe-8.