While the hoped-for top speed was not attained, the aircraft's handling was an improvement on the SB, and the dive-bombing adaptations worked very well. The results of the NII-VVS tests were encouraging. In December, the NKAP redesignated the aircraft to incorporate Arkhangelsky's name. Initially designated SB-RK, factory testing of two prototypes commenced in October 1940, and the following month, an example was delivered to the Soviet NII-VVS for evaluation. The engine cooling system was moved inside the wings, with air inlets on the leading edges and exits on the underwings. Dive brakes were added to allow for the type's new role. The major airframe changes made on the Ar-2 were streamlining of the engine nacelles (which now housed engines with around 15% greater power), completely new outer wing panels of greater span and taper, and a new, glazed nose. The Ar-2 was therefore a greater departure from the Tupolev design, in the hopes of creating an aircraft that could attain a speed of 600 km/h (374 mph) at 6,500 m (21,300 ft), and incorporate the newly developed PB-3 bombsight to give dive-bombing capability. In early 1940, Arkhangelsky had worked on a refined SB, designated Arkhangelsky MMN', but this had proved disappointing, with performance no better than the original SB. The Ar-2 represented a final attempt to extend the useful lifespan of the SB design which had first flown in 1934. During Tupolev's absence, he was authorised to append his name to the SB variants that were in the pipeline when he took over. The design bureau's name (Cyrillic: Архангельский) is transliterated in many ways in English sources, in a variety of combinations of Arch-, Arkh-, -sky, -ski, -skii, -skij).Īlexander Arkhangelsky was already second in command at the Tupolev OKB when Andrei Tupolev was imprisoned in one of Stalin's purges. Its design was a refinement of the earlier Russian Tupolev SB. The Arkhangelsky Ar-2 was a Soviet dive-bomber used in small numbers during World War II.
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