Newer Russian aircraft, such as the swift MiG-3 fighter and the
excellent Sturmovik ground-attack airplane, were in some ways superior
to their German counterparts. But these aircraft were just entering
service in spring 1941, and many units had a mixture of old and new
equipment. Transition training to qualify the pilots to fly the new
aircraft proceeded at a snail's pace because Red Air Force commanders
feared that any training accidents would lead to their arrest for
"sabotage." On 12 April 1941, Timoshenko and Zhukov complained to
Stalin that training accidents were destroying two or three aircraft
each day and demanded the removal of several senior air force
officers. At the time of the German attack, many Soviet fighter pilots
in the forward area had as few as four hours' experience in their
aircraft. The changeover to new equipment was so confused that
numerous Soviet pilots had not become familiar with the appearance of
new Soviet bombers and erroneously fired on their own aircraft on 22
June.
When Titans Clashed-David M. Glantz Jonathan M. House
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