1944 “Ded Moroz (Father Frost) at New Year’s
The fearsome one makes his rounds,
So that the entire fascist scum
Might vanish forever.” #ww2 #wwii #easternfront

OTD in 1933, the TsKB-12, which would later be produced as the Polikarpov I-16, made its first flight #aviationhistory #sovietaviation #aviation #russianaviation

OTD in 1913, the Sikorsky S-22 Ilya Muromets, the world’s first four-engine bomber, made its first flight #aviation #aviationhistory #ww1 #russianplane

I have a thing for odd-ball aircraft, and this one might be my favorite: the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-8 Utka (duck). Ultimately, only a single prototype was built, and it was used as the MiG bureau's communications/liaison aircraft for many years. #russianaircraft #sovietaviation #aviation #MiG

A winterized Yakovlev Yak-1 in 1941. Its use was more widespread than any other winterized Soviet fighter, with 830 examples given the modification in the winter of 1941/1942. #SovietAviation #WWII #EasternFront #avgeek #RussianAircraft #yak1 #militaryhistory

open.substack.com/pub/kinville...

Some political signs from my time in Venezuela in 2009 during the referendum to abolish presidential term limits. This was while Hugo Chavez was still alive and Maduro was his Vice President. The amendment ultimately passed.

Of the roughly 15,000 British and US aircraft delivered to the USSR during WW2, twelve Armstrong Whitworth Albemarles were ferried to Moscow in 1943. The transfer of aircraft ultimately proved a fiasco for a variety of logistical reasons.