| Abstrakt: |
Abstract: The sovietisation of the Czechoslovak aircraft industry (that is to say, the introduction of Soviet aircraft and know-how into production and the introduction of the Soviet economic system) was the result of two factors. Firstly, it was impossible to reach the technolgical level of the Great Powers without foreign assistance. Second, from 1949 the Soviet Union wanted to transfer part of the arms production of the newly developing Eastern bloc to Czechoslovakia. The USSR, therefore, allowed Czechoslovakia, in 1949, to produce under licence the 11-10 ground-attack plane and Jak-17 jet fighter. In 1951, they even allowed the production of the MiG-15, one of the best jet fighters in the world at the time. The very ambitious production numbers demanded complete reconstruction of the existing system of planning and administration. Under the leadership of numerous Soviet consultants it was reorganised along Soviet lines. Arms production fever resulted in several revisions of the plan, heavy disproportions throughout the economy, and the militarisation of management-employee relations. Further research on this topic awaits the far-reaching declassification of archive documents. |
