Wait...did the Russians actually supply pilots along with their planes? I was unaware of them ever interfering that directly in an actual shooting war in the Middle East (before present-day Syria, of course).
Way way jumping the gun here. This isn't really on the horizon, but I've been wondering what kind of icon we should get when/if we graduate one fine day.
On an image search, I found these "History icons":
My personal favorites of these are (in order) the scroll, the spear and Flinstones garb, the boat, and then the Grecian column/building.
I like the scroll best because there really isn't any other SE site (I can think of) that it would be equally appropriate for, and if it misleads any as to expected content, its in a good direction (we do seem to prefer stuff there are written records for).
I like the non-infringing Flinstones icon next best because it makes me chuckle.
@T.E.D. To be clear, Brezhnev did threaten to intervene in Egypt if the ceasefire broke down.
In our timeline, it was preserved.
In an alternate timeline I am working on, it broke down, and after a naval incident near Crete, it made the Yom Kippur War the beginning of World War III.
So, how skilled were Soviet fighter pilots stationed in Bulgaria at the time compared to American and Greek pilots?
@T.E.D.? Just how skilled was a Soviet pilot back in 1973 on average?
@FutureHistorian It looks like in the 70's the most advanced US subs in commission were the Benjamin Franklin Class. Reading up on those will perhaps help with your research.
@FutureHistorian Hmmm, yeah. Not exactly, but still good catch. The page for those is here. They were in commission since 1976. The first wasn't launched until '74 (and presumably was in trails until official commissioning.
But I still say "good catch" because, in my ignorance, I assumed they'd have only one class line of subs, rather that specialized lines for different things. The one I'd given you was for ballistic missile subs. The LA's are/were fast attack subs.
It appears the state-of-the art fast-attack sub line for the early 70's was the Sturgeon class.
If you go to that linked page, click back through the "Preceeded by" links, and take down all the ones that include the year you are interested in with their "In commission" date range, you should be able to build a list. With a bit more research you could perhaps even get an exhaustive list of the actual individual ships in service then.
