Moscow, 1954. The annual May Day parade is well underway. Ranks of soldiers and columns of tanks roll through Red Square past cheering crowds. Overhead come waves of jet fighters.

Then the skies clear. An ominous growl grows louder and louder. The crowd stills and looks to the heavens as ten giant four engined jet bombers howl overhead. Seemingly moments later another eight come past.

The Bisons had arrived and their impact on aerial combat would shape military doctrine for the rest of the Century. Countering them would cost the USA countless billions and shape the weapons systems and tactics they took into the air war in Vietnam.

This video explores the impact of the Bison on interceptor tactics. To do so, I'm using the primary pilot's guide to air combat manoeuvres in the period: John Boyd's Aerial Attack Study. It's a great piece of work that graphically illustrates the limitations of the most advanced weapons of the day, even against relatively simple targets like heavy bombers. I hope I've done it justice here.

As ever, if you have comments or thoughts on the subject or content, I'd love to hear them. In particular I've been working hard on the sound quality in the video. My last one only had one negative comment on that, so I feel things are improving... but only you can tell me that!

Finally, if you're enjoying these videos then please consider subscribing. It really helps keep me motivated.

Major sources:

A copy of John Boyd's Aerial Attack Study can be downloaded here: https://www.ausairpower.net/JRB/boyda...

Information on the Bison, including production numbers came from Soviet Strategic Bombers by John Nicholas Moore

You can read the contemporary CIA estimates of Bison production in this declassified document: https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/...

Jet production numbers, including the later Bison production can be found here: https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/...