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On Tue, 12 May 2020 08:25:02 -0700, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
On Tuesday, May 12, 2020 at 7:14:59 AM UTC-7, wrote: ... I DO NOT think it was a perfect kit...there maybe have been defects in the factory assembly of wings (maybe curing rates? maybe molds, I don't exactly know). I toured the Aviastroitel factory in Moscow in 1999, when the AC-4 was being produced. All the structure was formed in a former Soviet aircraft factory outside Moscow, and then brought to Aviastroitel for finishing, completion and testing. All the structure was of good quality, but required a lot of finishing. So it could just be that a lot of finishing is required and those are the "defects" mentioned. After visiting Schleicher and Schempp-Hirth, the visit to Aviastroitel was fascinating. The Russians do an amazing job with very little. I have traveled in Eastern Block countries. I was always amazed and how well the Russians lived on so little! Could be their education level was very high, they are extremely strong people. Interesting place, it has been 20 years but I valued my time getting to know these people. As for the glider, I have no comment. I've also travelled in the old Eastern Block (Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia as was), mainly for free flight model competitions. I met Russian and Ukrainian model fliers there and at World and European Championships between 1975 and 2003. Drank a certain amount of vodka with them too. Fine fellows with a sharp, ironic sense of humour. I remember a fairly liquid session with Alex Andriukov (he moved to the US and joined the Macready organisation when the USSR broke up). We were comparing cities, as you do, and we were amazed at the low cost of public transport in Kiev. Alex just grinned and said "In USSR we have a saying 'State pretends to pay us and we pretend to work'". Most of them spoke good, idiomatic English and had obviously had a very good education. While the USSR existed their education system was free through to PhD if you were good enough, and they had a free night school system available for those who dropped out at the minimum school leaving age and then, a few years later, realised that they really needed some qualifications. -- Martin | martin at Gregorie | gregorie dot org |
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