Tow Trucks Cemetery
In one of its inside courts, Minsk Wheeled Tractors plant has housed so-to-say “Jurassic park” where thousands of iron giants made back in the times of the Cold War dwell there thus far. Standing out in the open there gradually peeling off and rusting they look quite sadly. It is hardly imaginable that a few decades back these rocket-o-saurs were taking aback anyone who saw them with their hugeness, roar of engines and impressive flotation.
Chernobyl Scrap Metal
Hundreds of pieces of Russian army hardware is left on the small field right near to Chernobyl. All this machinery has participated in Chernobyl accident liquidation and is radioactive from top to toe. Now it dies out under the open skies of deserted Chernobyl. You can get a Google Sat view of it too here.
Fool Your Neighbors
Russia exports a lot of armaments and military equipments to other countries. Some more countries would like to buy it too but their budgets can’t afford them to do this, so Russian engineers have created a full set of fake weaponry for some countries. If you are a military leader of some not-so-rich country you can be as cool as your more wealthy neighbors. It would be just like a real thing for the foreign satellites or spy-planes, just bring it to the place, inflate and you are done.
Street Jet Fighter
So what else can you meet on streets of ex-USSR?
For example in Moldova, the ex Soviet Moldavia, you can see sometimes old jet fighters standing on a pedestrian lane.
And passers-by don’t express much interest in it.
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TU-95 “Bear”
This is the video of one of the biggest Russian bombers TU-95.
It can fly from Moscow to Cuba in Carribean and back without refueling, though in this video there is a scene of it being refueled right in the air.
It was the only bomber deployed by any country to use turbo-prop engines, which provided extraordinarily long endurance at speeds only slightly less than comparable turbojet-powered heavy bombers.
Mi-24, The Flying Crocodile
This is Russian helicopter MI-24, but these particular are from Polish army. Poland during Soviet era was buying a lot of weapons from Soviet Union.
In Russia pilots call it “The Crocodile” because some of it’s form resemble some reptile according to their point of view.
So this Polish pilots decided to go further and drew reptile eyes on their helicopters, so now the crocodile analogy can be seen even more precisely.
Afghanistan, 1983
What’s going now in Afghanistan is not for the first time.
27 years ago Russian army entered Afghanistan to help the Afghani president protect his power against the Islamic forces terrorizing the country.
Russian army stayed there 9 years and 1 months. It was opposed by troops lead by Usama Bin Laden who was that time officially sponsored by USA, in order to prevent a victory of USSR there and not allowing Soviet Union to establish there another regime supported by communists.
During these 9 years more than 14,000 Russian soldiers were killed, half thousand people were captured by the opposing Afghani forces. Practically all of them were forced to turn into Islam. And more than 50,000 Russian soldiers were wounded there and 10,000 of them continued their life as disabled as a result of the war.
But what can be most interesting is that just a few months after the Soviet troops left Afghanistan the radical Islamic movement took over the country again and was just becoming stronger and stronger until the USA troops came into a play. Now, when USA military presence is not high there it has been heard that only center of the country is being controlled by “democratically chosen president”, all the distant regions are again under the rule of radical Islamists. So probably there is no way on turning this country to Western system of good and bad.
On these photos you can see Russian soldiers together with Afghani ones, and some scenes from everyday life in 1983.
Russia From Space
These are photos of some industrial places in Russia from GoogleEarth.
Each one has a description.
Actually this one is without description. Some industrial thing.
Landing On The Red Square
This is the guy who embarassed the Russians and astounded the world, when in 1987 at the age of 19 flew a Cessna 172B undetected all the way from Malmi airport in Helsinki, landing the craft in Moscow’s Red Square.
Mathias Rust (born 1968) is a German pilot who, in 1987, at the age of 19, flew from Hamburg to Moscow, eluding the Soviet air defences and landed in Red Square near the Kremlin.
After leaving Hamburg on May 28 Rust refuelled his Cessna 172B at Helsinki-Malmi Airport. He told air traffic control that he was going to Stockholm, but he turned his plane towards the east. Rust disappeared from the Finnish air space near Sipoo. He headed towards the Baltic coastline and turned towards Moscow. By chance, he flew into the Soviet Union on the national border guard’s holiday, and the lax security that resulted allowed him to fly into Soviet territory unnoticed. I think it was even by chance but the date was chosen by him on purpose because it’s well known that during this holiday every national guardian is drunk no matter he is engaged on his post or resting in the barracks.
Rust flew straight towards Moscow and landed in Red Square. He was arrested immediately by the Soviet authorities. Though on this photo he doesn’t look like immediately arrested, authorities seem like enternained by his deed.
Tank And Zaporozhets
Some Russian military engineers do sometime really weird tests.
Like this one for example. A big T-90 Russian military tank attacks the smallest old Russian car Zaporozhets.
One time was not enough, it takes a second try and smashes it completely.
Engineers seem to be happy.
Watch yourself..
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