Original Item: Only One Available. PTAB (Russian ПТАБ, short for Противотанковая Авиабомба, "Antitank Aviation Bomb") was a Soviet World War II design of a shaped charge bomb. The bomb was designed within a case of 2.5 kg bomb with real weight of 1.5 kg and 0.62 kg of explosives. The Il-2 ground attack aircraft was capable of carrying 280 PTAB bombs immediately on the bomb-bay folds, or 4x48 in four cassettes. The PTAB 2.5 was capable of penetrating 60 to 70 millimeter tank armor, at the time sufficient for the top-armor of even heavy tanks.

This example is completely INERT and cannot be loaded with an explosive filling, rendering it live again and has a plastic display fuse. This PTAB is in compliance per the BATF guidelines and is not available for export.

Introduced in 1943, the PTABs were widely deployed from Il-2's and also, due to the bomb's very low weight, from Yak-9 fighters, specifically from the internal weapon bay in the Yak-9B (Fighter-Bomber) modification. The Po-2 was also capable of carrying and deploying PTABs.

The number of PTABs dropped in a given time period steadily increased thereafter. By the end of 1943, Soviet records show that 1,171,340 PTABs were dropped. In 1944, the number rose to 5,024,822. In the first four months of 1945, a further 3,242,701 PTABs were used.

The first of the PTAB type bombs, the PTAB-2.5-15 was a HEAT bomb that was the size of a 2.5kg bomb, however only weighed 1.5kg due to most of the inside being hollow, hence the name. The bomb had roughly 620 grams of explosive filler, and could penetrate from 60mm of armor at 90° to 30mm of armor at 30°, however, being a HEAT charge, it requires a direct hit to do damage; although a direct hit would not be very difficult.

This example stands at 13.5” and retains almost all of the original paint and the ПТАБ - 2.5 designator painted in black on the front. The tail fins appear without damage and there are no dents or damage to the main body. The tail fin and cone assembly are still able to be removed to inspect the inside.

This lovely example comes ready to display!