Operational History
On the night of August 8, 1941 fifteen DB-3T torpedo bombers of the Baltic Fleet dropped the first Soviet bombs on Berlin. From August 11, DB-3Fs of the VVS resumed bombing.
In 1939, 30 DB-3s were supplied to the Republic of China Air Force during the Second Sino-Japanese War and they saw heavy actions against Japanese targets in Wuhan region from their bases in Sichuan (mostly used by the 8th Group), before being replaced by B-24 Liberators in 1943.
Two DB-3s were responsible for shooting down the Finnish civilian Junkers Ju 52 passenger and transport plane Kaleva on June 14, 1940.
The Finns captured five force-landed DB-3Ms during the Winter War and during 1941 they purchased a further six DB-3Ms and four DB-3F/Il-4s from German surplus stocks.
Read more about this topic: Ilyushin DB-3
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