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@roadkillcobra@radical.town Polikarpov Po-2 biplanes. These were really maneuverable though outdated and, get this, going at top speeds at their usual altitude meant newer, faster fighters going after them would hit a “stall speed” due to “angle of attack,” so literally they were out flying much better planes!

The thing I *suspect* but don’t know is that the core group of pilots had flown crop dusting before the war, and that’s theoretically why they got assigned the Po-2s.

@Leucrotta @roadkillcobra From the published interviews with veterans, I think most of them learned to fly in glider clubs. Aviation was big in the Soviet Union in the 1930s and the Young Communists ran flying clubs for young people.

@Leucrotta @roadkillcobra (You can find the interviews in “A Dance With Death: Soviet Airwomen in WW2”. I’m not a military history obsessive but it’s fascinating stuff.)

@ghost_bird @roadkillcobra@radical.town oooh, thanks! Holy crapton so that made them *perfect* for what they wound up doing!

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