1606F SOVIET AIRCRAFT TECHNICIAN (WWII)

In the course of the war with the Third Reich, the Soviet Air Force, i.e. the Military Air Force (in Latin, Russian: Wojenno-Wozdusznyje Siły, abbreviated as VVS or WWS), have come a long way from suffering huge losses in the clash with the Luftwaffe in 1941 to assault flights over Berlin in 1945. Undoubtedly, the achievements of the Soviet aviation industry contributed to it, which from June 1941 to May 1945 produced approx. 157 thousand. machines! Like the introduction of new (good or very good) aircraft types to the line in the period 1941-1945, to replace the entire Yakovlev family of planes: Yak-3, Yak-7 or Yak-9. However, the ground handling of these machines and the broadly understood ground handling, compared to German or especially American aviation, was often even primitive. First of all, all types of advanced navigation tools, especially radars, were used on a much smaller scale, which translated into communication and detection of enemy air formations. Incidentally, it can be added that the radars that were in the WWS were often delivered as part of the Lend-and-Lease program from the USA or Great Britain. Secondly, all kinds of technical devices to accelerate and facilitate the work of ground crews were used on a relatively small scale. In the years 1941-1942, due to the great losses in the initial period of the war, there was also a shortage of specialized vehicles (e.g. mobile tanks), which also made ground handling difficult.