Country of origin:

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Description:

Military primary trainer

Power Plant:

One 82 kw (110 hp) Shvetsov M-11 five-cylinder radial air-cooled engine

Specifications:

Armament:

One 7.62 mm (0.30 in) ShKAS machine gun; up to 300 kg (661 lb) of light bombs

History:

Considered by many to be one of the, if not the, most produced aircraft of all time, with estimates of aircraft completed ranging from 30,000 to 40,000, the Polikarpov PO-2, also known as the U-2, primary trainer biplane flew for the first time on 7 January 1928.  Built to achieve economy in repair and maintenance in the field, the wings comprised four identical thick-section interchangeable rectangular panels with square tips. Similarly, a common design was used for the ailerons, elevators and rudder.  The result was a cheap-to-build-and-operate biplane which was said to have poor flying characteristics but which was a neat manoeuvrable biplane with a conventional cross-axle undercarriage and open cockpits which met the requirements of the Soviet Air Force at the time.

Although the type was designed for pilot training, the PO-2/U-2 was modified as a light passenger transport, air ambulance, and agricultural aircraft. Production was on a massive scale during World War II to meet the pilot training requirements of the Soviet Air Force following the attack on Russia by Germany, and at this time the aircraft took on a wider role in service, including liaison, light attack, night nuisance raider and propaganda aircraft complete with microphone and loud-speaker system.  Some 23 examples are known to survive, of which about eight are airworthy.

In its early years the type was known as the U-2 but, following the death of the designer, Nikolai Nikolayevich Polikarpov on 30 July 1944, it was re-designated PO-2 in his honour.  Production continued after the war still on a large scale in Poland and the type served with many of the allies of the Soviet. The type is prized amongst antique owners around the world.  At least 35 variants were built, including one with a Siemens Sh 14 radial engine.  Probably one of the most interesting models was the U-2LSh, which was a close-support military model armed with one 7.7 mm (0.303 in) ShKAS machine gun on a ring mounting over the rear cockpit, and racks for 120 kg (264 lb) of bombs, plus rails on the wings for four RS-82 rockets.  In this role it earned the nickname Kukuruznik or ‘cane-cutter’ due to its success in low-level operations against German troops.

In the air-ambulance role the PO-2S-3 could carry two under-wing containers each with a stretcher patient; and a number operated on floats. The RV-23 was a variant built in small numbers with a 530 kw (710 hp) Wright R-1820 f3 Cyclone radial engine. The type is well known for the operations by female pilots on the Eastern Front who formed a group designated to carry out harassment of German troops during the night and who became known as The Night Witches.

In 1941 Soviet leader, Josef Stalin, decreed that three female Air Force Regiments be established, and that they were to be equipped with the Polikarpov PO-2. The pilots were all volunteers and flew without parachutes in order to carry a heavier bomb-load, 250 kg (551 lb) to 300 kg (661 kg) being the norm on sorties.  The 46th was one of these Regiments and its female pilots won 23 Hero of the Soviet Union Medals, flew 24,000 sorties and dropped 3,000 tonnes of bombs during the war.

Each aircraft had a crew of two, and the Regiment comprised 40 crews. Many missions involved bombing Russian villages in German-held territory.  Nearly always flying at night, sometimes they flew ten to twelve missions in a night.  The 46th was the only one of the three Regiments that remained an all female unit, the other two having a few male crews allotted as the war progressed, some female pilots moving on to heavier fighters and bombers.

In early 2001 an example was imported to Omaka, Blenheim, New Zealand.  By August 2002 the fuselage was complete and the engine installed. It was painted in the traditional Russian Army olive green colour scheme of an aircraft of The Night Witches and registration ZK-POZ was reserved.  It was completed in March 2003 and was expected to fly at the 2003 Classic Fighters Display in the Marlborough District at Easter. However, paperwork problems delayed the first test flight until 15 May 2003. Subsequently the aircraft was placed in crates and shipped to the United Kingdom for airshow work, later being sold to an operator at Duxford.  Built in 1944, it seems that this aircraft was obtained by Sussex Spraying Services of Worthing in the United Kingdom as YU-CLJ (c/n 0094) from Yugoslavia in 1990 and the registration G-BSSY was allotted in November that year.

The aircraft spent some time in storage awaiting a rebuild until June 1994, when it was shipped to the USA, where registration N588NB was reserved. Restoration was commenced but little is known about its history in the US until it was shipped to New Zealand. It would thus seem that three of the registrations allotted to it over the years, G-BSSY, N588NB and ZK-POZ were not taken up and only YU-CLJ and its new registration in the United Kingdom have been used.  In 2012 the aircraft was noted with the Shuttleworth collection at Old Warden.

In 2013 a further PO-2 arrived in Christchurch, NZ, this being former Lithuanian aircraft LY-ASZ.  Little is known about this aircraft but it  underwent restoration to airworthiness, becoming ZK-POL (c/n 046) and was registered to Red Star Aviation Trust of Wakefield in May 2019.