ABSTRACT
In the 1920s, Soviet Air Force theorists were approaching consensus around several basic issues. Key amongst these were that the air force existed to support the ground war, and that it would be small: both in absolute terms, and smaller than its likely enemies. With the advent of the first Five-Year Plan one of these key assumptions became void. The Soviet Air Force underwent massive expansion in numbers in the early 1930s. Unsurprisingly, the debate over large or small air forces suddenly came to a close, and a large air force well supported by heavy industry was soon a fundamental assumption.
