CONCLUDING VLADIMIR KOTELNIKOV’S REVIEW OF AIRCRAFT CAPTURED BY THE SOVIET UNION
Me 262A-2 werk nummer 110426 during testing at NII VVS, autumn 1945.
Relentlessly heading west, the Red Army swept decaying German resistance away as it rushed towards Berlin. In the wake of the ground and air forces, special teams of technicians were bent on salvage, not destruction. The technological future of the Soviet Union lay with equipment and personnel that could be captured and moved east for examination, and high on Stalin’s shopping list were examples of the Luftwaffe’s jets.
