Why DB-3f is counted as one of the old types on 22 June 41?

[Juha]

Hello
I wonder if someone can give a logical explanation why usually when in books the material situation of Soviet AF is given at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa only Pe-2, Il-2, LaGG-3, MiG-3 and Yak-1 are counted as new types and others as old types?

I can understand that I-15, I-15bis/I-152, R-5, R-Z and so on are described as old.

But IMHO it’s a bit more difficult to understand why newer versions of SB (production terminated IIRC in late 1940) and I-16 (production terminated in spring 1941, and at least M-63 powered versions were not so bad fighters after all) or I-153, which was accepted in large scale production c. Oct. 1938, initial deliveries in late spring 1939, in 1940 got more powerful engine and production not stopped until in 1941.

And I cannot understand no other reason than that they were not successes in service in that that the following planes are not included in list of new a/c:Yak-2, first flight in 1939, Yak-4, first flight in 1940 and still in production on 22 June 41 and Su-2, accepted in series production in Jan. 1940 and still in production on 22 June 1941.

And most astonishing thing is that DB-3f (later Il-4) , the mainstay of ADD (Soviet long-range bomber force) throughout the war and which stayed in production into 1945, is not included in the new a/c list and so is at least implicatively counted as an old type. There were some 1’100 of these bombers in strength on 22 June 1941. If one compare the production history of DB-3/DB-3f and He-111, it’s remarkable how similar they were in timing from first acceptance to service through major redesign (He-111P/H and DB-3f) to the end of production. And if one compares the specifications of DB-3f and Jumo-211 engined He 111 Hs they are remarkably similar. I think the only significant difference between them was that He-111H was easier to fly and more manoeuvrable but that doesn’t mean so much when we are comparing bombers.

IMHO this new/old type division was a way to partly explain away the catastrophe of Summer 1941 during Soviet time but why it is still in use?

I think that we all would think it odd if someone would write that LW attacked Soviet Union with xxx Bf 109 Fs and yyy Ju 88 A-4s plus with following old types zzz He-111s, aaa Ju-87 and so on. So why different criteria is in force when we are talking on Soviet AF?

Juha