Russia’s Unsophisticated Su-15 Was Deadly For a Time
With around 1,300 examples in service at the type’s peak, the twin-engine Su-15 in the late 1970s was the most numerous interceptor in Soviet service.
Here s What You Need to Remember: Given the distances involved, the U.S. Air Force might have struggled to sustain an escort force all the way to the Soviet interior, but Shatrov worried nonetheless. “While F-4s and Su-15s had the same maneuvering characteristics and armament, the F-15 would have proved a far more challenging battle opponent,” he said.
Candid comments by a former Soviet air force interceptor pilot reveal the difficulties the air arm faced in defending Russia’s vast interior from intruding American bombers during the final decades of the Cold War.
Yes, Soviet Russia Once Had a Flying Aircraft Carrier
It was not as impressive as it sounds however.
Key point: Bascially, the Soviets rigged up a bigger plane to carry a smaller plane into battle. Here is how they used it against Hitler.
Since their debut of aerial warfare, air arms have struggled to find ways to extend the range of small, agile fighter aircraft optimized for speed and maneuverability rather than fuel capacity. In modern times, airliner-sized in-flight refueling tankers are a favored, though expensive, solution.
But before inflight refueling began to be widely adopted in the 1950s, no one found quite as creative a solution to this problem as Vladimir Vakhmistrov, who tested nine different Sveno mothership bombers designed to carry ‘parasite’ fighters on their wings and fuselage.