>>994505>How come Russia is the only country that readily adopted jet powered flying boats?Because they are really the only country in history to live with the protracted threat of having every single airstrip or potential airstrip, everywhere, subjected to thermonuclear bombardment.
Because they have a lot of coastlines in places where nobody is willing to live/maintain airplanes, even at gunpoint.
Because they have a surfeit of the most brilliant engineers in the history of the mind.
Because for such a genius, living in such an awful social structure, likely in a fucking awful - or at least incredibly boring place, solving wacky engineering problems in the most outlandish way possible is one of the few possible sources of entertainment.
