“If only not to fall prisoner.” As the Russian fought with the United States without a Declaration of war
Although the two powers never fought each other openly — and, indeed, were the allies in the most terrible war of the twentieth century, the military of the two countries is not just converge on the battlefield and to the Syrian events.
Korea 1950-1953. War aces
The Korean war became the first hot conflict in the era of the cold war. However, if American troops fought on the side of South Korea officially, the Soviet Union, fear of a global conflict, coded sending its military to the front. In the fighting took part in the pilots and gunners of the 64th fighter air corps of the Soviet Union. The participation of Soviet troops in the conflict was limited to conducting defensive air war and the training of Korean pilots.
We were forbidden to fly over the sea, dominated by the American fleet, was forbidden to approach the front line so that if shot down, not to fall into enemy territory and not get captured. The Americans were aware of all these prohibitions and skillfully they are used — for example, when it became very very hot, their planes left us always in the direction of the sea where we could not pursue them.Eugene Palaeolithic-fighter, hero of the Soviet Union , the second impact as the war, shot down 20 American planes (the first was shot down 21 aircraft Nikolai Sutyagin)
American aircraft dominated the air battles with the Chinese and the Koreans over the corresponding parts of the front, but in the battles with Soviet pilots suffered heavy losses. Especially at the “Alley of MiGs” — the valley of the Yalu river, which was defended by Russian pilots. Thanks to the actions of Soviet aviation, the Americans failed to inflict significant damage to the logistics infrastructure of the North Korean troops. The war dragged on and ended with the signing of the armistice.
During the war Soviet pilots and antiaircraft gunners shot down 1,250 aircraft, but they lost 335 machines. Killed 120 pilots and 68 gunners.
Vietnam 1965-1973. As Soviet soldiers gave Vietnam day rocketeer
The Vietnam war is surrounded by many myths. One of them says that the victory of the Communists in the conflict was impossible without large-scale involvement in the war Soviet troops. Supposedly, based on Vietnamese air force were Soviet pilots. In Russian folklore is firmly established as a “pilot Li si Qing, who skillfully shot down American planes.” And the jungles of Vietnam, according to the variety of American films, was literally swarming Soviet forces — the US military it was hard to admit defeat they inflicted is not equal to the power of the enemy, and ordinary Vietnamese peasants.
Actually directly in battle with the Soviet Union participated only to specialists of air defense troops.
For the first time the Soviet military experts shot down 3 American aircraft on 24 July 1965, releasing only 4 missiles. High precision Vietnamese missile led to the decrease in the activity of American aviation.
All through the war it took about 6 thousand Soviet military specialists. They supplied weapons, trained local soldiers, repairing equipment.
In the South China sea to lead raids of the American air force operated reconnaissance ships of the Pacific fleet. While our military experts was strictly forbidden to participate in battles. They had to wear civilian clothes, and their passports were kept at the Soviet Embassy. The weapons they often were not given.
However, sometimes battle was inevitable, which led to tragicomic situations. Senior test pilot Vasily Boilers during a test flight with my student, Souto Vietnamese captain, was in the air when they caught up with the American F-4 Phantom. As a result of intense combat, the F-4 was shot down. However about the incident, neither the Vietnamese nor the Boilers in the Soviet Union did not report — if in Moscow found out about it, the Soviet pilot could face a penalty for violation of orders not to fight. It was only decades later at a Convention of the veterans of the war story became known.