At the time of the formation of the Soviet Union, central Asia was not at all well controlled by the central government. The lifestyle was mostly nomadic with few towns of any size and the border was quite porous. This area bordered Afghanistan, Iran, and China, so was of strategic interest to both Imperial Russia and the newly formed Soviet Union. While Imperial Russia basically left the population in the area to operate as it always had, communist USSR was determined to impose collectivism on people who did not like it nor did they want it, as it basically took food out of their mouths to give to those in the west.

A result of this was an increase in banditry with war lords often in charge of large groups of men who raided towns and other installations. The Soviets put forth efforts to stop this, but it was a slow process as often these groups would disappear into the mountains or across the borders when chased. It was here that aviation came into play and it proved to be fairly effective.

All during the uprisings, the Soviets sent obsolescent and obsolete aircraft types into the region for use for reconnaissance and light bombing. Initially these were types used in WWI, but later were more modern, though still second line aircraft types, such as the Junkers F.13 and Ju.21. These were later supplanted by Soviet designed aircraft like the R.3 and R.5.

During the fairly long insurrection, tactics were changed as the situation warranted. It wasn't until near the end of the conflict that dedicated fighter aircraft were used, which made sense as their opponents had no air power. However, they did lose their fear of aircraft and were somewhat successful in bringing down a few planes with rifle fire.

This is a conflict about which I had never heard anything and as such, it makes for an interesting and informative read. The author has done quite a bit of research and while the whole story is somewhat incomplete due to lack of records, has been able to piece together the history of the conflict. A goodly number of period photos, charts, tables and color profiles makes this a super read. I can, of course, recommend this to you as you'll learn quite a bit about the early use of Soviet military aviation.

July 2024

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