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

[Geoff]

> 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


It makes me wonder how much further advanced the US would be if Jeffersons 
view of the Constitution had survived intact.