[Jon A.]

Originally Posted by Sandy G

I have long thought that America & Russia are WAY more alike than we are different. We'd likely be fast friends if we could keep our respective governments locked away where they couldn't keep the people "Stirred Up" at each other. I remember seeing a pic of American & Russian fighter jet jockeys at an airshow not long after the USSR went out of business. There were really no Russians, or Americans, you had a bunch of friendly young guys who ALL had a strong love of their planes & flying, sitting around swapping notes & stories w/each other. If the generals had seen that, they would have likely had purple cows over a Serious Breach of Security, 'cause the Russians were happily sitting in, I think, F-16s, but to me it just looked like a bunch of guys having a blast, talking planes & making friends. Always got a kick as well over the pics of some guy in a TU-95 "Bear D" flashing a "Peace" sign to the guy in the KC-135 tanker who snapped the pic. Always, too, kinda hurt when I'd watch that show "Planes" that showed Soviet fighters & bombers rotting away outside, in a former museum, somewhere outside of Moscow, all most as much as it hurt watching the wings of B-52s being guillotined in the desert...

I always liked the Tupolev TU-95, quite the sight and a real screamer with its four contra-rotating turboprops. Then of course there was the TU-114 airliner version, not quite as sleek-looking with its larger fuselage but still cool.