Petlyakov Pe-3

Petlyakov Pe-3
The first prototype of the Pe-3bis
Role	Heavy fighter, Night fighter Type of aircraft
Manufacturer	Petlyakov
Designer	Vladimir Petlyakov
First flight	7 August 1941
Introduction	1941
Retired	1945
Primary users	VVS Naval Aviation Finnish Air Force
Produced	1941–1944
Number built	360
Developed from	Petlyakov Pe-2

The Petlyakov Pe-3 was the long-range heavy fighter version of the successful Petlyakov Pe-2 high-speed dive bomber used by the Soviet Union during World War II.

Its design and use followed a comparable path to those taken by the German Luftwaffe with the Junkers Ju 88 and the British Royal Air Force with the De Havilland Mosquito. The Soviets realized the need for a night fighter after the first night bombing of Moscow during Operation Barbarossa. The Petlyakov Pe-2 was selected for modification as the most suitable aircraft available.

It was initially used for daylight ground attack missions during the Battle of Moscow, but this proved to be costly since the aircraft was unarmored. Armor and additional guns were retrofitted to the existing aircraft to make it more effective, but the evacuation of the sole factory building the Pe-3 in October 1941 limited the number of aircraft available and many units of the Soviet Air Forces flying the Pe-3 were either disbanded or converted to other aircraft. Although production was stopped and restarted several times, the aircraft remained in service throughout World War II. Most of the later production runs were given to reconnaissance units.