23. This Designer Handled the Pressure of a 45-Day Deadline by the NKVD to Come Up With a Great Dive Bomber, Or Else
Vladimir Petlyakov and his team were promised a pardon if they designed a successful airplane for the Red Air Force. Realizing what would happen if they failed to do so, they burned the midnight oil and let their creative juices flow. However, Soviet experience in the 1939-1940 Winter War against Finland, and more importantly the example set by Germans during their 1940 blitzkrieg through Western Europe, led to a change of plans. Impressed by the Luftwaffe’s performance, the Red Air Force decided that it had a greater need for dive bombers than it did for a high altitude fighter.
So Petlyakov was ordered to redesign his fighter, and make it a dive bomber instead. He was given 45 to do so… or else. Once again, Petlyakov demonstrated an extraordinary ability to handle pressure and delivered. The resultant redesigned Petlyakov Pe-2 bomber was highly advanced for its day. Prototypes flew in late 1939, and Petlyakov and his design team got to see their plane from the roof of their prison as it flew during the 1941 May Day parade. At peak production, Pe-2s comprised 75% of Soviet twin-engine bombers during WWII.