[MindBender26]

> The reason for this was because they were never able to master the technology of a multi line telephone!

Actually, no. Stalin forbade multi line phones as bourgeois, and it has lingered.

The West thought we were so hot because the Mig 25 had vacuum tubes... only to learn they were immune to EMP problems that would have destroyed our transistor equipped aircraft.

Russian stuff is crude and not pretty, from rifles to aircraft, but it's usually rugged and it works, especially in low intensity and surprise engagements. Ever see their Izamrid night vision system binoculars. One eye is "starlight," the other is thermal. Great stuff.

[klpt]

Designed by Igor Sikorsky (1889-1972) and flown by him for the first time on May 13, 1913, the Bolshoi or Grand became the first four engine airplane to fly.