Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book describes the story of Russian aviation, and by extension, aerospace, is nearly co-extensive with the twentieth century. Russian-designed aircraft, especially in the mass production of military airplanes, have been simple and rugged, austerely equipped with instrumentation, and seemingly inattentive to creature comforts or pilot safety. Russian design differed from that in the West in carrying the large turbo-prop to much greater extremes as a long-range reconnaissance bomber. Russia and then the Soviet Union were by choice isolated societies with great suspicions of Westerners, the patterns of aviation development within the country have mirrored those outside. The Army and the Air Service were split over grand-strategic and tactical uses of air power, while Mitchells sinking of anchored battleships aroused the US Navy.