Even Stalin-era test pilots feared a charge of sabotage if something went wrong on a flight. Which was particularly terrifying when Stalin would give chief desi

Even Stalin-era test pilots feared a charge of sabotage if something went wrong on a flight. Which was particularly terrifying when Stalin would give chief designers an arbitrary deadline of one or two years to build a prototype. It had to work first time or a lot of people were going to the gulag. No-one was safe from Stalin's vengeance, except apparently General Tito of Yugoslavia who survived many of his assassination attempts and allegedly returned the favour successfully.