SB (Family)

Description

The Tupolev SB (Скоростной бомбардировщик - high-speed bomber) is a Soviet fast bomber designed by the Tupolev design bureau in the 1930s. It saw significant action in the Spanish Civil War and Second Sino-Japanese War, but by the time of the German invasion, had become outdated. The design was superseded by the more modern Pe-2 and Tu-2 bombers but remained in use throughout the war.

The designation of "SB" was briefly used in mid 1930's, reverting back to names of designers a few years later. The plan was to call any fast bomber an SB, thus there would be an SB-1, SB-2, SB-3, etc. There was a single SB-1 made, and of course the SB-2, but did not continue beyond that. The "M" is for "Motor" version, with M-100, M-103, M-105, etc. suffix, thus nomenclature is either "SB-2", or "SB-2M-100", not "SB-2M"

Vehicles

Rank I

• Ar-2 - Dive bomber variant of the SB, named appended by Alexander Arkhangelsky after Tupolev was imprisoned during the Great Purge
• SB 2M-100
• SB 2M-103
• SB 2M-103U
• SB 2M-103 MV-3
• SB 2M-103U MV-3
• SB 2M-105

Rank II

• SB 2M-103U (China) - Aircraft supplied to China

See also

• DB-3B - Ilyushin bomber that evolved from a competing design to the SB
• Ju 88 (Family)

Tupolev Design Bureau (Ту́полев Опытное конструкторское бюро)
Bombers	TB-3M-17-32 · SB 2M-100 · SB 2M-103 MV-3 · SB 2M-103 · SB 2M-103U · SB 2M-103U MV-3 · SB 2M-105
	Tu-2 · Tu-2S · Tu-2S-44 · Tu-2S-59 · Tu-4
Arkhangelsky Bomber	Ar-2*
Strike Aircraft	Tu-1
Jet Bomber	Tu-14T
Export	␗SB 2M-103U · ␗Tu-2S-44 · ␗Tu-4
	◔Tu-2S-59
	* While Andrei Tupolev was imprisoned, Alexander Arkhangelsky, second in command at Tupolev OKB was able to append his name to the final production series of the SB bomber.