PE-3 BIS

Pe-3bis
two-seater night fighter version, its armament consisted of a 20 mm ShVAK cannon, a 12.7 mm machine gun, and three 7.62 mm machine guns in the bow; later production aircraft carried two 20 mm ShVAK cannons and three 12.7 mm machine guns; most of these aircraft could carry three 100 kg bombs in the hold and underwing launch racks for eight RS-82 rockets. 300 units built
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The Petliakov Pe-3 was the long-range heavy fighter version of the successful Petlyakov Pe-2 tactical bomber. The Soviets decided to follow the same path in its development as the Germans had previously taken with the Ju 88 and the British with the Mosquito. Some sources indicate that work on the high-altitude prototype VI-100, from which both the Pe-2 and Pe-3 were developed, was carried out by engineer Vladimir Petliakov from mid-1938 onwards. [​1]
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At the beginning of 1941, a heavy fighter version, modified from the Pe-2 tactical bomber, was given the designation Pe-3. It was a two-seater aircraft (as opposed to the bomber, which was a three-seater), in which the gunner sat with his back to the pilot to repel possible approaches from astern. The bomb bay was replaced by a larger fuel capacity. Only 23 Pe-3s were built before the German invasion began, and production was completed during the summer of 1941 when each Pe-3 aircraft remaining on the production line was modified to the Pe-3bis version before leaving the assembly lines. Around 1,300 units were built across all versions, especially the night fighter version.

It made its first flight on August 7, 1941, with S.I. Sofronova at the controls.

Based on this aircraft, the Pe-2R variant was developed with larger fuel tanks to enable long-range photographic reconnaissance. The Pe-3, meanwhile, was used mainly as a fighter-bomber or reconnaissance aircraft, missions in which it performed well.
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