Aviators Affair

The Aviators Affair was a 1946 purge of the Soviet air force and the Soviet aircraft industry following accusations that, during World War II, Soviet fighter planes had been of poor quality. It resulted in the arrests and sentencing of about fifteen Soviet senior officers and officials, and was one of the series of similar purges of Soviet military in the aftermath of World War II through which Stalin reaffirmed his control over the country, eliminating or weakening internal rivals.

Background

The complaint about Soviet fighter planes being of lower quality than Western ones (including by Stalin's son Vasily Stalin) might have some grounds in reality. == Victims ==

Victims

). While Zhukov himself would survive this incident with a demotion, the People's Commissar of the Aviation Industry (Minister of Aviation Industry) Aleksey Shakhurin, the Commander of the Air Force and chief marshal of aviation Alexander Novikov, the Chief Engineer of the Air Force and a number (estimated as fifteen Notable military victims of related purges of Soviet military included generals Grigory Kulik (arrested in 1946 and executed in 1950) and Vasily Gordov (arrested in 1947 and also executed in 1950). == Aftermath ==

Aftermath

The event has been described as temporarily decapitating the Soviet air force. who himself would be purged in the early 1950s, accused, among others, of misconduct during the Aviators Affair. Many victims of the Aviators Affair were rehabilitated during the De-Stalinization period of the 1950s. In subsequent historiography, the event has been described as a purge, and the case, as fabricated. == See also ==

Source: Wikipedia ↗

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