Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankieS
Stalin tasked Tuppavare with cloning the Stirling and Soviet industry was to produce 47 copies of the aircraft in just two years. The three Stirlings were flown to Moscow and delivered into Tuppavare OKB. One Stirling was fully dismantled, down to the smallest bolt, the second was used for flight tests and training, and the third one was left as a standard for cross-reference.
FrankieS
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This cannot be correct
By the time the single Sterling arrived to USSR nobody wanted it. It had departed from UK
in Feb 1945 and arrived via Iraq in March. (SOC by RAF in March 1945)
It was more or less dumped into the hands of the Polar Aviation Division and when a British mission
arrived to help with the introduction during the Spring 1946 it was finally taken into service,
but little used.
What was Tuppaware OKB? Never heard of it. Why would anyone build 47 useless Sterlings postwar?
Makes no sense what so ever.
Cheers
Stig