Dictatorship of the air: aviation culture and the fate of modern Russia

Palmer, Scott W.

Scott W. Palmer

2007

Series

ACLS Fellows’ Publications

ISBN(s)

9780511133121 (E-Book)

Subject

European: Russia & Eastern

Citable Link

The Russian Icarus. Reproduced from Aleksandr Rodnykh, Kratkii ocherk po istorii russkago vozdukhoplavaniia

Figure 1. The Russian Icarus. Reproduced from Aleksandr Rodnykh, Kratkii ocherk po istorii russkago vozdukhoplavaniia

In the second public flight of an airplane in Russia, French aviator Albert Guillaud pilots a Blériot XI monoplane at the Kolomianskoe aerodrome in St. Petersburg, November 1909.

Figure 2. In the second public flight of an airplane in Russia, French aviator Albert Guillaud pilots a Blériot XI monoplane at the Kolomianskoe aerodrome in St. Petersburg, November 1909.

Russian aviators Mikhail Efimov (left) and Lev Matsievich (right) in 1910.

Figure 3. Russian aviators Mikhail Efimov (left) and Lev Matsievich (right) in 1910.

The public funeral of Lev Matsievich in St. Petersburg, 28 September 1910.

Figure 4. The public funeral of Lev Matsievich in St. Petersburg, 28 September 1910.

Villagers greet a passing aviator during the St. Petersburg–Moscow air race, July 1911.

Figure 5. Villagers greet a passing aviator during the St. Petersburg–Moscow air race, July 1911.

The Dux airplane factory in Moscow, circa 1915.

Figure 6. The Dux airplane factory in Moscow, circa 1915.

Igor Sikorsky’s Russian Warrior, 1913.

Figure 7. Igor Sikorsky’s Russian Warrior, 1913.

Igor Sikorsky’s Il’ia Muromets, circa 1914.

Figure 8. Igor Sikorsky’s Il’ia Muromets, circa 1914.

Inside the cabin of the Il’ia Muromets.

Figure 9. Inside the cabin of the Il’ia Muromets.

“The War in the Air.” Poster, 1915.

Figure 10. “The War in the Air.” Poster, 1915.

“The Heroic Exploit and Death of the Celebrated Flier Captain P. N. Nesterov.” Poster, 1915.

Figure 11. “The Heroic Exploit and Death of the Celebrated Flier Captain P. N. Nesterov.” Poster, 1915.

Russian aviators demonstrate early bombardment techniques, 1915.

Figure 12. Russian aviators demonstrate early bombardment techniques, 1915.

Photo: The David King Collection, London.

Yuri P. Annenkov, Trotsky, 1923. Oil on canvas. Location unkown.

Figure 13. Yuri P. Annenkov, Trotsky, 1923. Oil on canvas. Location unkown.

“Citizen! The Society of Friends of the Air Fleet calls you to its ranks! Come and enroll as a member of the Society!” Poster, 1923. Private collection.

Figure 14. “Citizen! The Society of Friends of the Air Fleet calls you to its ranks! Come and enroll as a member of the Society!” Poster, 1923. Private collection.

An early air-minded display sponsored by the Society of Friends of the Air-Fleet, 1923.

Figure 15. An early air-minded display sponsored by the Society of Friends of the Air-Fleet, 1923.

Cover illustration of the publication Flier: Tales and Poems, one of the many air-minded literary collections sponsored by ODVF to raise citizens’ awareness of the importance of aviation.

Figure 16. Cover illustration of the publication Flier: Tales and Poems, one of the many air-minded literary collections sponsored by ODVF to raise citizens’ awareness of the importance of aviation.

“Long live the Bolshevik atheist press!” Throughout the 1920s airplanes were used as symbols and instruments in promoting the Communist Party’s “Godless” propaganda.

Figure 17. “Long live the Bolshevik atheist press!” Throughout the 1920s airplanes were used as symbols and instruments in promoting the Communist Party’s “Godless” propaganda.

Mikhail Cheremnykh, “Krokodil for the Air Fleet!” Krokodil, 15 July 1923.

Figure 18. Mikhail Cheremnykh, “Krokodil for the Air Fleet!” Krokodil, 15 July 1923.

“Telephone, telegraph, postal, and radio workers! Build airplanes to further the people’s ties!” Poster, ca. 1924. Private collection.

Figure 19. “Telephone, telegraph, postal, and radio workers! Build airplanes to further the people’s ties!” Poster, ca. 1924. Private collection.

“What have you done for the air fleet?” Poster, 1923. Private collection.

Figure 20. “What have you done for the air fleet?” Poster, 1923. Private collection.

HEB Id	Title	Authors	Publication Information
heb03985.0001.001	Flight in America: From the Wrights to the Astronauts.	Bilstein, Roger E.	Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.
	The Winged Gospel: America's Romance with Aviation, 1900-1950.	Corn, Joseph J.	Cambridge: Oxford University Press, 1983.
heb03987.0001.001	A Nation of Fliers: German Aviation and the Popular Imagination.	Fritzsche, Peter.	Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992.
	Russian Aviation and Air Power in the Twentieth Century.	Higham, Robin, and John T. Greenwood.	New York: Frank Cass Publishers, 1998.
	Cinema and Soviet Society, 1917-1953.	Kenez, Peter.	Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
	The Birth of the Propaganda State: Soviet Methods of Mass Mobilization, 1917-1929.	Kenez, Peter.	Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
heb03981.0001.001	Red Arctic: Polar Exploration and the Myth of the North in the Soviet Union, 1932-1939.	McCannon, John.	New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
heb03982.0001.001	The Soviet Volunteers: Modernization and Bureaucracy in a Public Mass Organization.	Odom, William E.	Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973.
	Hammer and Rifle: The Militarization of the Soviet Union, 1926-1933.	Stone, David R.	Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2000.
heb03984.0001.001	Soldiers in the Proletarian Dictatorship: The Red Army and the Soviet Socialist State, 1917-1930.	von Hagen, Mark.	Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990.
	A Passion for Wings: Aviation and the Western Imagination, 1908-1918.	Wohl, Robert.	New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994.
	The Spectacle of Flight: Aviation and the Western Imagination, 1920-1950.	Wohl, Robert.	New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005.

Dictatorship of the air: aviation culture and the fate of modern Russia

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The Russian Icarus. Reproduced from Aleksandr Rodnykh, Kratkii ocherk po istorii russkago vozdukhoplavaniia

In the second public flight of an airplane in Russia, French aviator Albert Guillaud pilots a Blériot XI monoplane at the Kolomianskoe aerodrome in St. Petersburg, November 1909.

Russian aviators Mikhail Efimov (left) and Lev Matsievich (right) in 1910.

The public funeral of Lev Matsievich in St. Petersburg, 28 September 1910.

Villagers greet a passing aviator during the St. Petersburg–Moscow air race, July 1911.

The Dux airplane factory in Moscow, circa 1915.

Igor Sikorsky’s Russian Warrior, 1913.

Igor Sikorsky’s Il’ia Muromets, circa 1914.

Inside the cabin of the Il’ia Muromets.

“The War in the Air.” Poster, 1915.

“The Heroic Exploit and Death of the Celebrated Flier Captain P. N. Nesterov.” Poster, 1915.

Russian aviators demonstrate early bombardment techniques, 1915.

Yuri P. Annenkov, Trotsky, 1923. Oil on canvas. Location unkown.

“Citizen! The Society of Friends of the Air Fleet calls you to its ranks! Come and enroll as a member of the Society!” Poster, 1923. Private collection.

An early air-minded display sponsored by the Society of Friends of the Air-Fleet, 1923.

Cover illustration of the publication Flier: Tales and Poems, one of the many air-minded literary collections sponsored by ODVF to raise citizens’ awareness of the importance of aviation.

“Long live the Bolshevik atheist press!” Throughout the 1920s airplanes were used as symbols and instruments in promoting the Communist Party’s “Godless” propaganda.

Mikhail Cheremnykh, “Krokodil for the Air Fleet!” Krokodil, 15 July 1923.

“Telephone, telegraph, postal, and radio workers! Build airplanes to further the people’s ties!” Poster, ca. 1924. Private collection.

“What have you done for the air fleet?” Poster, 1923. Private collection.