Why The Soviets Strapped 88 Machine Guns To A Plane

During World War II, the Soviet Union sought to create an effective ground attack aircraft capable of inflicting severe damage on enemy infantry and vehicle regiments. This effort led to the development of a unique weapons system known as “The Fire Hedgehog.”

The Concept

In 1944, as the Red Army advanced westward, two Soviet weapons designers envisioned a novel weapons package called “The Fire Hedgehog.”

They chose the proven Tupolev Tu-2 light bomber as the platform, repurposing its bomb bay to mount their new system.

Weapons Platform

The Tu-2, which entered service in 1941, was comparable to the American B-26 Marauder. Known for its toughness and reliability, the Tu-2 often provided close air support through strafing missions.

It was armored on the underside, making it suitable for low-level attacks on German positions. The Tu-2 was already well-armed with two forward-firing 20mm cannons and three rear-firing 7.62mm machine guns.

Despite this, designers Nadashkevich and Saveliev believed they could further enhance its lethality against ground targets.

Improving Its Lethality

The designers chose the PPSh-41 submachine gun as the basis for their new system, despite it being an unconventional and questionable choice for aircraft armament.

The PPSh-41, typically used by infantry, had a high firing rate of 900 rounds per minute, nearly twice as fast as other WWII-era submachine guns.

Fire Hedgehog’s Design

The proposed design involved a removable battery of 88 PPSh-41 submachine guns mounted on the underside of the Tu-2. This battery, consisting of eleven rows of eight PPSh-41s, occupied the space that could otherwise hold 3,300 pounds of bombs.

The configuration aimed to increase the Tu-2’s effectiveness against enemy infantry forces. However, only one plane was ever fitted with this system for testing.

Testing and Limitations

The variant equipped with the 88 PPSh-41s, named the Tu-2Sh, required the battery to be hoisted into place by ropes. It could only be aimed using a specially designed sight and fired by a solenoid that activated all guns simultaneously.

Loading the battery took 100 man-hours and was prone to malfunctions due to the complexity of managing 88 guns. Additionally, the battery reduced the Tu-2’s service ceiling to under 800 feet, making it vulnerable to German anti-aircraft weapons. Consequently, the Tu-2Sh was never deployed in combat.

Despite these challenges, the Tu-2Sh could theoretically discharge 6,250 steel-cored incendiary rounds over a 1,800-foot-long and 4-foot-wide area in just four seconds, assuming all 88 guns functioned correctly.