“The Americans put their own ass on the line, and we kicked them as much as we could”
The Cold War between the USSR and the USA was a unique conflict in human history. On both sides, it was waged not so much by the military as by intelligence agents, diplomats, weapons designers, and even journalists, athletes, and cultural figures. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the flight of a single aircraft could be comparable to the actions of a large military formation in a conventional war.