Tupolev SB Katiuska 1/72 Scale Model

Soviet SB-2 M-100A - This is a model of a medium bomber that flew against Finland in the 1939-1940 Winter War. The SB first saw combat in 1936 when Stalin began providing them to the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, where it earned the nickname Katiuska. The SB was designed as a high-speed bomber, and when it entered service it was the fastest bomber in the world. Stalin started sending SBs to the Chinese in 1937 to help them fight the invading Japanese. That same year, he started selling an export variant, called the B-71, to Czechoslovakia. After the Germans occupied western Czechoslovakia in 1939, they sold the Czech B-71s they captured to Bulgaria, where they saw action for several years. After the Germans attacked the Soviet Union in 1941, they sold the SBs they captured to Finland. The Finns turned the SBs they had acquired from the Germans, along with SBs they had captured themselves, against the Soviets. By the end of 1943 the SB was retired from Soviet combat service, as the new Petlyakov Pe-2 and Tupolev Tu-2 bombers became readily available.

More Photos: Left, Right, Top, Front Angle Right, Front Angle Left, Rear Angle Right, Rear Angle Left

Aircraft of the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939, Gerald Howson

Barbarossa: The Air Battle July-December 1941, Christer Bergstrom

Black Cross/Red Star: The Air War Over the Eastern Front, Volume 1, Operation Barbarossa, Christer Bergstrom

Black Cross/Red Star; The Air War Over the Eastern Front: Resurgence, January - June 1942, Christer Bergstrom

Finnish Air Force 1939-1945, Kalevi Keskinen

In the Skies of Europe: Air Forces Allied to the Luftwaffe 1939-1945, John Cochrane

Soviet Combat Aircraft of the Second World War: Twin-Engined Fighters, Attack Aircraft and Bombers, Yefim Gordon

Spanish Civil War Air Forces, Christopher Shores

Stopped at Stalingrad; The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East, 1942-1943, Joel Hayward

Tupolev SB-2 in Action, Hans-Heiri Stapfer