"MASANDRA", or the joy of an aviator: the main weakness of the legendary MiG-25

The online edition of the Daily News recalled a funny feature of the operation of the MiG-25 interceptor fighter, which was supposed to become a threat to NATO, but in many ways became a threat to the Soviet pilots and technicians who served it.

In the USSR, the MiG-25 was put into service in 1970. It was distinguished by its enormous speed at that time (3400 km per hour, that is, more than 3 strides), as well as design features: it consumed a lot of fuel, and another 250 liters of alcohol, which was poured into the cooling system. And alcohol of the highest quality - the purest 96%!

As a result, the plane received the nickname gastronome (grocery store) or "spirtovoz" (alcohol carrier), since all, few of those working on it and with it could deny themselves the pleasure of "missing a sip".

Journalists argue that the era itself favored this vice: just during the late USSR, alcoholism turned into one of the country's most important problems. So the personnel of the MiG-25 was at the forefront of this problem: "Everybody got drunk so much that there are cases when the wives of pilots and technicians of some air defense regiments wrote collective letters to the Minister of Defense demanding that the plane be removed from service..."

According to the publication, these requests were heard only after the collapse of the USSR, in 2013, when the legendary car was removed from service.

It's funny that this free "drink" also had its own name - MASANDRA, which in decoding means: Mikoyan Anastasiy Son of the Armenian People Gives Joy to Aviators.