by Lucien Zacharoff
In its life-and-death grapple with the Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front, the Red Air Force has done more than smash forever the myth of Nazi invincibility. It has registered tactical and strategic exploits that will shine as long as history of aerial warfare remains of interest to mankind. Indeed, those achievements will outlast preoccupation with military history and will live as long as appreciation of sublime courage and moral stamina endures.
That this Soviet performance in the air is also a reflection of phenomenal aviation advances for years before the outbreak of World War II is quite obvious today. Had the full story of Soviet aerial preparedness been known to us in good time, our own course in world affairs, diplomatic and military, would have been utterly different.
Every now and then a glimmer of truth would come and receive but scant attention. For instance, early in 1940 the first edition of AEROSPHERE had offered details of performance and specifications of the twin-engined Soviet TB-6 bomber. The machine carried a 6,600-pound load of explosives and made 310 miles an hour at 26,240 feet. Nor was it the latest Russian specimen. Among the very few perspicacious commentators to note the significance of the TB-6 revelations was Devon Francis, then Associated Press Aviation Editor, who exclaimed in his review: "Sensational"! Please note that the year was 1940, that America was rushing headlong into the bloody vortex of the global war, and that at that late stage there was no further recognition of Russia aeronautically in our responsible aviation circles.
Over a period of years I strove, unheeded, to tell of the Soviet flying progress, step by step, in the aviation journals, general newspapers and periodicals in America, England and elsewhere, so that our industry, public and authorities might keep intelligently posted and make an informed approach to the grave problems precipitated by the rising tide of fascist imperialism.
But mine remained a small, still voice in the wilderness. There was no respectable seconder to be found for my facts and conclusions. On the contrary, in an overwhelming majority, fellow writers and editors would gang up on me, either through a conspiracy of silence or of ridicule and insinuation that here was a specimen of evil incarnate, alias Red propagandist.
To be sure, there were publishers willing to print the truth about Soviet aviation at least once, though they themselves gave little credence to the stuff, presenting it to the readers as a freakish novelty with no other than flitting entertainment value.
In part, the campaign to minimize and obscure the Soviet Union's aeronautical accomplishments may be attributed to sheer ignorance and insular apathy, but very largely it had far more subtle and sinister implications. Let's glance over them to make sure that in these critical war times and the equally delicate'era of post-war readjustment we may not repeat the same tragic errors of misunderstanding which is apt to hurt us more than anyone else.
Preparing for their drive to conquer the world, the fascist forces of Europe and Asia and their accomplices in our own midst had shown incomparably greater foresight than their intended victims among the nations in realizing that the greatest barrier to the blitz aggression was to be the land of the Soviets. Hence, the Axis fifth columns organized a planetwide program of sowing distrust and destruction of mutual confidence, of respect and collaboration between the future United Nations and their most effective potential ally, the U.S.S.R.
Inasmuch as air. power was such a dominant factor in modern warfare, alien and native Nazis on our soil strained with all their might to belittle the numbers and quality of the hard-hitting, effective Red fighting aircraft and their highly trained, intelligent and loyal crews. As long as the enemy lies enjoyed the status of truth,'Hitler & Co. serenely proceeded in knocking out their victims one by one. For, what was the use of enlisting the Soviet Union as an ally if a few squadrons of Goering's Air Weapon could blast to bits, overnight, all there was to the Red Air Force? Had not Lindbergh said that there was no Russian air force worth taking seriously? Was it not better to appease and do business with the Fuehrer if, within a week after his anti-Russian incursion, he was going to make a triumphant entry into Moscow and sleep in the Kremlin?
Luckily for the cause of the Four Freedoms, the Soviet Government and people knew that compromise with fascism was impossible in the long run either for capitalist democracies or for their own socialist democracy. The Soviets acted accordingly. Their message to the freedom-loving countries of the world was in effect: If we don't hang together, we shall hang separately. The present Soviet Ambassador to the
United States, Maxim Litvinoff, then head of the Foreign Office, spent many pre-war years preaching the gospel of collective security in the League of Nations and everywhere else. Stalin and his associates frankly pleaded with the nations that cherished their national independence to band together for economic sanctions against Mussolini's savagery in Ethiopia. They wanted to curb, in concert with other governments, Japan at the beginning of her depredations in China. Also in vain were the exertions of Ivan Maisky, Soviet Ambassador in London, to induce the democracies to present a united front to the Axis rape of Spain during the Franco rebellion.
Stalin and his people did not confine themselves to diplomatic appeals. Realistically, they went ahead building up their army, navy and air force. With equal realism these master strategists had grasped soon after the armistice of 1918 the fundamental fact, namelv, that in future international conflicts air forces 'would be pre-eminent.
Lacking nothing in the way of strategic raw materials, manpower resources, or enthusiastic recognition of aviation's role in war and peace. Soviet Russia became the world's most air-minded nation, placing flying within the reach of all interested citizens who were qualified mentally and physically. Such vision and pioneering has stood the U.S.S.R. in good stead when faced with the Wehrmacht onslaught in 1941 and since. Will the future historians say that the tangible Russian air-mindedness for a generation before the opening of World War II hostilities was the principal factor in frustrating Hitler's outspoken ambition to have this war determine whether Naziism was to rule all continents and oceans for the next 1,000 vears?
In recalling the status of aviation in the Soviet Union before the war we need only mention that in addition to an enormously advanced industry, air sports, such as parachuting and gliding, were as popular in every corner of the country as baseball is in America. Thanks to the Osoaviakhim, the civilian society for the promotion of aviation and anti-chemical defense, the air is a native element for millions of men and women, boys and girls.
Remember the thrilling landing at the North Pole in May 1937, of a whole group of Soviet transports commanded by Hero of the Soviet Union Vodopyanoff? And the same year two transpolar flights from Moscow to the United States- one by Chkaloff, Bavdukoff and Beliakoff, the other by Gromoff, Yumashev and Danilin, Heroes of the Soviet Union all!
And still the same year- 1937 alone- Soviet airmen registered eighteen different world records with the International Aeronautical Federation, the number for one year in itself constituting a world record.
It is not for the purpose of a comprehensive survey that I am mentioning- some of the Russian flying accomplishments, but in order to remind the American friends of the U.S.S.R. that they are dealing with an aviation power quite adjusted to this age of human flight and consequently not only capable of formidable cooperation with its allies in wartime, but also prepared psychologically and physically to assume a leading part in the peaceful reconstruction of the world when air transportation and other aeronautical activities will come into their own on a scale of which we can now scarcely dream.
A child of the great November Revolution of 1917, Russian aircraft industry started from scratch, tapping the huge resources of Russian inventive genius and other national talents essential to progressive development of aeronautics. Brilliant research combined with far-sighted public-spirited statesmanship, plus strategic concepts and insight worthy of the greatest military captains of history, have endowed the Soviets with splendid planes and engines. A courageous forward-looking people has yielded legions of skilled flying specialists, competent ground crews, keenly interested and actively participating citizenry of all ages and in all walks of life. This is a setup that we in the United States admire and appreciate, especially in its framework of Russia's unsparing devotion to the cause of the United Nations, devotion indelibly written in blood.
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