The Man Who Ruined the Soviet Warplane Industry

War is Boring ^ | September 5, 2016 | TOM COOPER

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Maybe yes, maybe no - but it is beside the point that Hitler was completely sold on the Calais theory, and on the conceit that the American Army had mobilized to Soviet levels of manpower with which to attack there. If Rommel rather than Hitler had been in overall charge, D-Day would have been an even more desperate gamble than in fact it was, even without advanced deployment of more forces.

Eisenhower et. al. were sweating bullets over the weather forecast, and if they had known that the Germans had an additional division of forces in Normandy they would have probably delayed - and possibly ultimately abandoned - D-Day. And if the Germans had had Hillary-scale leakage of classified information coming to them - rather than quite the reverse - they would’ve had enough additional divisions in Normandy to make an attempted opposed landing there utterly unthinkable. Quite simply, “too hard."

[Svartalfiar]

The question is “Why did Tolkachev do it?” Surely, it wasn’t simply for the money.

Motivated by the persecution of his wife’s parents under Joseph Stalin and disappointed in the communist government, Tolkachev established ties to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in Moscow

[zot]

Thanks for the ping. Tolkachev was an anti-communist hero. I wonder if we caught the Soviet spy in the United States who revealed him.

[Reily]

If it was in the 1980s it was likely Ames that gave him up.

[AppyPappy]

We had another alternative that was successful. It would have split Hitler’s forces in France.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Dragoon

[sport]

Or Jimmy Carter. I would not put it past either of them.

[zot]

If it was in the 1980s it was likely Ames that gave him up.

Thanks. Yes, it could have been Ames.

[BobL]

“Hopefully we don’t rely on the hubris of the past instead of the reality of today...”

Do you mean that we cannot just sit on our asses for 2 generations and expect the rest of the world to do the same?

You do realize that there’s a HUGE BUNCH of Cold Warriors on this site ready to follow Obama and Hillary into World War 3 against Russia. They WILL NOT appreciate your comment.

[infowarrior]

In 1991, U.S. air power overwhelmed the Iraqi air force in a matter of three days. After flying just a few defensive missions, the Iraqi air force— a well-equipped air arm shaped and seasoned by eight years of bitter war with Iran — was all but grounded and subsequently evacuated its most precious aircraft to Iran.

Mr. Cooper is full of it here. Much of the Iraqi Air Force was sitting on the tarmac at Riyadh International Airport during the Iran-Iraq war, How can your air forces be 'shaped and seasoned', when its materiel assets are sitting in the 'custody' of a third party?

How do I know this to be a fact? Simple, in 1981 I was working at Riyadh International, and had some of those same Iraqi Air Force planes, with Iraqi Air Force markings, parked right next to the hangar I was working out of.

So, go peddle your Bravo-Sierra elsewhere Cooper, I *know* better...

the infowarrior

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Interesting link. The fact remains that it would have been impossible to successfully invade France anywhere - no matter how many thrusts you tried - if the Germans knew when and where those thrusts would strike, in advance. An opposed landing is difficult; an expected opposed landing is impossible without a tremendous advantage in numbers/materiel.

[sukhoi-30mki]

Iraqi assets may well have deployed to other countries, but Iraq had the largest air force in the region, leading up to the Kuwait War. Was even half the Iraqi Air Force in Saudi Arabia? Highly unlikely, since we are talking of at least 400 aircraft/helicopters. That’s a huge logistical operation. And the fact is that the Iraqi Air Force was active in the Iran-Iraq war. If a large number of Iraqi assets were in the KSA, the Iranians wouldn’t have hesitated to strike the KSA, like they attacked tankers.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/air-force-equipment.htm

[Mark17]

Only a month later, U.S. Air Force F-111Fs bombed three carefully-selected targets in Tripoli

Despite fierce resistance from Libyan air defenses, the Americans lost only one of their fighter-bombers.

The memorial service, and the missing man formation fly by, for the lost F-111, was held at Travis AFB, California, in 1986. I was the supervisor on duty in the control tower, during the fly by. It was solemn and impressive.

[Gamecock]

Thanks for sharing.
Military memorial events always put a lump in my throat.