[ARC5] OT - Soviets aren't stupid, (Was TU-4 vs. B-29 Radio Sets)

[Leslie Smith]

On Thu, Nov 29, 2012, at 4:04, Mike Morrow wrote:
> > There are stories of how even repair patches to cover battle damage on the
> > impounded B-29s were copied... as well as the interior paint job.  Seems the
> > factory had run out of green chromate primer, and painted part of the inside
> > of one B-29 with white lead.  Supposedly the insides of Tu-4s were 
> > green-and-white, as a result.

> 
> Yes, those stories have been around forever.  I don't believe a bit of
> it.  The Soviets were not stupid, regardless of the desire of many in the USA to
> believe that mythology.
> 
> Mike / KK5F

Yes, Mike.  
I would like to change your "were not" to "are not" stupid.  I once
worked with a marine engineer who spent some time in Africa working on
Russian-built locos.  He told me that at first appearance the Russian
locos appeared primative.  After working on them he had great respect
for the design.  Every aspect of maintenance had been considered, and a
Russian-built loco would last forever.    The Russians, my friend said,
were very clever.

The same appears in other designs.  The T-34 was superior to the German
Panzer Mk I to Mk 4, and when the Germans produced the super-heavy
Tigers the Russians had already countered with the JS-II.   At 2/3 the
weight the JS-II can (or could) take a direct hit from a Tiger at 800m
(and survive).    That's impressive.  Then (on the small scale) there
was the Russian PPSh-41 machine pistol (or sub-machine gun); this was
the second most-used machine pistol used by the German army.    Search
for PPSh-41 using Wikipedia.  In the first photograph you will see a
German soldier sitting in the ruins of Stalingrad - cradling a Russian
PPSh-41 machine pistol.  In the second photo you see a German soldier
surrendering to a Russian - who carries as PPSh-41.

The Soviet (or Communist) system has flaws - the same flaws as we see in
the democratic system.  This is that we humans always grab power, use it
for our own end, and won't give it up.   The genius of the democratic
system is a recognition of this tendancy.  The democratic solution is a
system that sees (or puts) power in the ballot box.  To date the ballot
box has always won over human nature, but I'm not sure it always will. 
I'm OT, but I felt your observation that "Soviets are not stupid"
deserves some support.  

Les

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