AG-2 (grenade launcher)

 The AG-2 air grenade is a defensive aviation munition designed to protect the lower part of the rear hemisphere of bombers and attack aircraft. Designer-A. F. Turakhin (1938).

Construction

The grenade is a cast-iron ball weighing 2 kg (hence the AG-2 index), filled with 80 grams of explosives. A brake parachute is attached to the balloon in a cylindrical container. The entire structure is placed in a holder (DAG-5 or DAG-10, depending on the capacity), controlled from the cockpit. At the pilot's signal, the holder throws out a grenade, which leads to the opening of the parachute and activation of the detonator, which was used as a modified UZRG fuse.

Dropped in horizontal flight at a speed of 270 km/h, the grenade at the time of the explosion was 40-55 m lower and 220-280 m behind the carrier. Similarly, the grenade could be used in a dive. The disadvantages of the AG-2 include low efficiency, as well as the likelihood of hitting their aircraft in the link.

Application

It was used on the Il-2 and Pe-2, as well as on Boston A-20G/J bombers

The lower hemisphere of the IL-2 is not shot through by the flight gunner

On March 9, 1943, eight Pe-2 dive bombers from the 241st Bombardment Division bombed enemy concentrations near the Sura River. After dropping bombs from a height of 900-1000 m, the gunner-radio operator of the closing car warned the presenter about the approach of the FW190 four. The Fokkers attacked from below, on a slide after a dive. The navigator of one of the" pawns " Starostin successfully dropped four AG-2 grenades, as a result of which the German fighter caught fire and made an emergency landing.

On December 5 of the same year, a Pe-3bis reconnaissance aircraft belonging to the Guards of Junior Lieutenant Nikolaenko from the 98th Guards separate long-range reconnaissance aviation regiment was attacked by a pair of German Bf109G fighters in the Kazatin area. The navigator of the guard, Senior Lieutenant Yuryev, discovered the enemy in a timely manner, at his command the pilot turned towards the nearest cloud and transferred the car to climb. "Messerschmitts" managed to conduct one attack, but it was successfully repelled by fire from the navigator's upper machine gun and a series of AG-2 grenades. One of the German fighters, which slipped under Nikolaenko's plane after the attack from behind-from above, was damaged by AG-2 fragments and went down towards the airfield.

No less successfully used grenades crews of the 453rd bomber regiment, armed with A-20G aircraft. In early May 1944, the 1st squadron of the regiment under the cover of "Aerocobr" bombed the railway station. When turning around after the bombing, the group stretched out and was attacked by German fighters from below-from the side. At the command of the comesk, the navigators dropped AG-2 grenades in a single salvo. As a result, one of the attacking Bf109s was shot down.

Recognition of the very positive results of the use of AG-2 air grenades can be considered the instruction of the chief engineer of long-range aviation, Lieutenant General IAS Markov. In July 1944, he ordered the technical staff of the units to mount one DAG-10 holder on all Il-4, Li-2, B-25 and Pe-8