STALIN’S STOPGAP JET FIGHTER

s World War II drew to a close, all the major combatants except the Soviet Union were readying new turbojet-powered fighters for operational use. That state of affairs was unacceptable to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. On April 9, 1945, Stalin, through the Council of People’s Commissars, issued a directive to the Yakovlev Design Bureau to create a jet fighter for the army air force, or (VVS). In the Soviet Union at that time, whatever “the Boss” ordered had to be performed as soon as humanly possible…or