Sukhoi Su-8 (DDBSh)

[Milocat 4,857]

Developed concurrently with the unsuccessful Su-6 attack aircraft, the Sukhoi Su-8 was meant to be a very heavily-armed and armored attack aircraft that packed a greater punch than the Su-6 and was able to strike targets deep behind enemy lines.  It was of mixed construction, with a metal forward fuselage, inner wings, and tail surfaces, but wooden outer wings and rear fuselage.  Heavy armor was concentrated around the cockpit, engines, fuel tanks, and oil coolers, offering excellent protection to critical systems.  The Su-8 packed a powerful punch, with space for four 37mm or 45mm cannons in an underfuselage gunpod.  The gunpod could fire straight ahead or depressed by 10 degrees for easier strafing of ground targets, as controlled by the pilot.  A modified armament setup in the gunpod of two cannons and two 12.7mm machine guns was also possible.  In addition to the gunpod, the Su-8 was also armed with eight 7.62mm ShKAS machine guns in the wings for softer targets and could carry up to 1,400 kg of bombs and rockets.  Defensive armament consisted of a single 12.7mm machine gun in a dorsal turret and a single 7.62mm ShKAS in a ventral mount.  

 

Although design work began in 1942, the prototype was not test-flown until 1944 due to a shortage of the powerful Shvestov M-71 engines used to power the aircraft.  The prototype successfully passed its flight tests, and reportedly had excellent performance compared to many other overweight attack aircraft.  Nevertheless the program was cancelled as an aircraft with the range of the Su-8 was no longer required.  Germany was on the retreat and few targets lay beyond the effective range of the Soviet Union's swarms of Il-2s.  Another reason the type was not put into production was because doing so would likely disrupt the production of tried and proven successful designs, which was considered unacceptable.  Sadly, only two prototypes of the Su-8 were ever built, and neither survives today.

 

The Su-8 would be an amazing addition to War Thunder, operating much like a Soviet Hs 129 with improved flying characteristics.  This plane would be a beast in air, tank, and naval battles.  

 

Specifications: 

Engines:  Two Shvestov M-71F 14-cylinder radial engines, 2,200 hp each

Length:  13.58m

Wingspan:  20.5m

Height:  5.09m

Empty Weight:  9,168 kg (20,212 lb)

Loaded Weight:  12,413 kg (27,366 lb)

Maximum Speed:  552 kmh (343 mph)

Crew:  2 (Pilot, Gunner)

Armament:  Four 37mm Nudelman N-37 cannons (100 rpg) or four 45mm Nudelman-Suranov NS-45 cannons (50 rpg), OR two 37mm or 45mm cannons with 50 or 100 rpg and two 12.7mm Berezin UB machine guns (400 rpg) in underfuselage pod, eight 7.62mm ShKAS machine guns (2,400 rpg supposedly but I'm suspicious of that number) in the wings, one 12.7mm Berezin UB machine gun in a dorsal turret (unknown rounds), one 7.62mm ShKAS machine gun in flexible ventral mount (500 rounds)

Bombload:  Up to 1,400 kg of bombs, OR 600 kg of bombs stored internally and six  PC 82 or ROFS-132 rockets, OR ten rockets

Number Built:  2

 

Images:  

Spoiler

http://www.airwar.ru/image/idop/aww2/su8/su8-1.jpg 

http://www.airwar.ru/image/idop/aww2/su8/su8-2.jpg 

http://www.airwar.ru/image/idop/aww2/su8/su8-1.gif 

http://www.airwar.ru/image/idop/aww2/su8/su8-2.gif 

http://www.airwar.ru/image/idop/aww2/su8/su8-c1.jpg 

 

Sources:  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-8 

http://worldatwar.net/chandelle/v3/v3n2/su-8.html 

http://www.aviastar.org/air/russia/su-8.php 

https://airpages.ru/eng/ru/su8.shtml 

http://www.airwar.ru/enc/aww2/su8.html

Edited July 4, 2021 by Milocat

[ItssLuBu 1,803]

Approved and open for discussion. 

[Milocat 4,857]

1 hour ago, ItssLuBu said:

Approved and open for discussion. 

 

Thank you!  

[TheNexonRegime 429]

This is interesting! What appears to be more customization than the Il-2s is a big plus for me. +1

[stuka2689 314]

4x37mm And 1,400kg bomb load? YES

+1

Edited July 4, 2021 by police2689

[hom3er 154]

been waiting for this to be added for ages +1

 

wasn't this suggested before? can't find the old post but could have sworn that there was one...

 

anyway, I want my "more dakka" plane, and I want it now 

[Milocat 4,857]

12 hours ago, hom3er said:

been waiting for this to be added for ages +1

 

wasn't this suggested before? can't find the old post but could have sworn that there was one...

 

anyway, I want my "more dakka" plane, and I want it now 

 

It's possible it was suggested before.  A couple years ago the mods purged all suggestions made before I think June 2016.  A lot of the suggestions I've made since then are re-suggesting things that got wiped.

[TheNexonRegime 429]

It has made it into the battlepass.

[toto-5977@psn 4]

Gaijin 

Suggested last year and available in the battlepass. Gaijin, there are 2016 vehicles that take the dust.

Edited January 21, 2022 by toto-5977@psn

[Solarmod 1,204]

Congrats on yet another suggestion being added friend! Now if only my suggestions would be added at any point aside from the one that was a fairly obvious guess...

[Milocat 4,857]

On 21/01/2022 at 13:30, toto-5977@psn said:

Gaijin 

Suggested last year and available in the battlepass. Gaijin, there are 2016 vehicles that take the dust.

 

To be fair, given how this suggestion was never passed to the devs I somehow doubt that me writing it was the thing that spurred them to action in adding the Su-8.  

[toto-5977@psn 4]

16 hours ago, Milocat said:

 

To be fair, given how this suggestion was never passed to the devs I somehow doubt that me writing it was the thing that spurred them to action in adding the Su-8.  

 Yes ok, have fun

Edited January 26, 2022 by toto-5977@psn

[Milocat 4,857]

Move to Implemented?  

[TheNexonRegime 429]

@leroyonly Implemented into the battlepass.

[leroyonly 4,311]

19 minutes ago, TheNexonRegime said:

@leroyonly Implemented into the battlepass.

100% correct!

 

As the Su-8 has been implemented with Battle Pass: Season VI,

 

Moved to Implemented Suggestions.