Pe-8 No 42107

[James A Pratt III]

I am looking for info on Pe-8 No 42107 red 4 I understand it was with the 746 AP DD in Feb 1943. Any info on missions flown and fate ect?

[HGabor]

Petlyakov Pe-8, c/n: 42107 (Red ‘4’) with AM-35A engines flew the following known missions:

1., September 04/05, 1942 on Tilzit (now Sovetsk, Russia), single plane mission, but instead they hit the area of Memel (now Klaipėda, Lithuania). Pilot Capt. Nikolai Alexandrovich Ishenko (1910-), navigator Gladkii. At 20:30 Moscow time from 5700m they dropped 10 FAB-250TGA bombs and 26.000 leaflets. The bomb blasts ignited two fires, one was large with red flames.

2., September 09/10, 1942 on Königsberg, one of the two deployed Pe-8s between 23:28-23:58, Moscow time from the altitude between 7050-7200m. Dropped 2 FAB-500TGA, 18 FAB-250TGA bombs, 3 SAB-100 flares and 60.000 leaflets. Hits on the central and southern parts of the city center.

Then 4 consecutive sorties:

3., January 27/28, 1943 (4100m) pilot Ishenko, navigator Ragozin.

4., April 11/12, 1943 (3300m), pilot Ishenko, navigator Ragozin.

5., June 02/03, 1943 (1800m), pilot Ishenko, navigator Ragozin.

6., Finally shot down in air combat on September 2, 1943 near Dmitrov(?) with the same Ishenko, Ragozin crew, burst into flames and exploded on the ground. (TsAMO RF)

Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Gabor

[Laurent Rizzotti]

In the Nachtjagd book on Eastern Front (and MTO) by Theo Boiten, there is no victory for NJG on 1-2 or 2-3 September 1943. The first night 5 Nachjäger were used against at least 56 Soviet bombers, the second again 5 night-fighters against an estimated 51 Soviet bombers, both times in the central part of the front. From the terms used, the number of Soviet bombers is probably coming from German reports rather than Soviet sources.

There is this webpage about a 746 AP pilot called Ishenko, probably your guy, but it has nothing on a loss on 2 September 1943: https://warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=6455

[HGabor]

Lacking of German NJG claims on September 2, 1943 is irrelevant as this Pe-8 was lost in a friendly fire incident, downed by a Soviet 183 IAP Yak-7 pilot, Sgt. Ivan Alexandrovich Shelokov. Poor tail gunner, St.Sgt. P. G. Kostin kept firing red flares towards the attacking Soviet fighter, but his signal was not understood on time. The loss of the plane does not mean that the crew was lost, probably they bailed out over own territory and returned to their unit. I have a copy of this Soviet report, so I have no question about it. I really hate that attachments are no longer accepted on this website, but thank God, it still exists!

Gabor