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In 1937, legendary engineer was arrested during Stalin’s Great Purge for allegedly delaying design work. While imprisoned in a sharashka (a secret laboratory within the Gulag system), he was ordered to design a high-altitude heavy fighter called the VI-100 .

: It was so fast that it could often outrun German Messerschmitts, a rare feat for a bomber. In 1937, legendary engineer was arrested during Stalin’s

The Pe-2 entered service in 1941 and quickly became the backbone of the Soviet Air Force. It was incredibly versatile: The Pe-2 entered service in 1941 and quickly

The story of the , famously nicknamed the " Peshka " (Pawn), is one of the most remarkable tales of aviation history, beginning not in a high-tech lab, but inside a Soviet prison. The Prison Design Bureau beginning not in a high-tech lab

: Its handling allowed pilots to be exceptionally accurate, with some famously able to "plant a bomb down a chimney stack".