The Zveno Project: The Soviet Union's Airborne Aircraft Carrier

Uncover the extraordinary story of Vladimir Vakhmistrov's Zveno Project, a radical plan to turn bombers into airborne aircraft carriers. Explore the challenges, innovations, and the fascinating history of this visionary concept!
Got a beard? Good. I've got something for you: beardblaze.com
Simon's Social Media:
Twitter: / simonwhistler
Instagram: / simonwhistler
Love content? Check out Simon's other KZbin Channels:
Biographics: / @biographics
Geographics: / @geographicstravel
Warographics: / @warographics643
SideProjects: / @sideprojects
Into The Shadows: / intotheshadows
TopTenz: / toptenznet
Today I Found Out: / todayifoundout
Highlight History: / @highlighthistory
Business Blaze: / @brainblaze6526
Casual Criminalist: / thecasualcriminalist
Decoding the Unknown: / @decodingtheunknown2373

[@angelitabecerra]

Petition to end the TV edits across *all* of Simon's channels.

[@IanPendleton-gh6ox]

I'd sign it. I have no idea why he's doing it, but it'd done nothing to me but break my immersion in the video.

[@jamesblackwell4020]

I absolutely hate it. I can't stand the edits he does on his new channel places either

[@astro9378]

Preach!

[@Mika-ph6ku]

@@IanPendleton-gh6ox i figured it was a defense against copyright claims

[@IanPendleton-gh6ox]

Ah, if that is the case then I can live with them when they show up.@@Mika-ph6ku

[@thegreatwhitedope]

I'm so over the crap TV voice thing. It makes me think something is wrong with the audio and is overly distracting.

[@marcbeebee6969]

😂 you sound like a old man now mate.

[@PhreekPestilence]

I come here to say this.

[@jordi0011]

I agree, I hate it.

[@deandrehoward1261]

Waaaaaaaaaah.

[@jordi0011]

@@deandrehoward1261 it’s ok bro, you don’t have to cry, it’s not that bad after all.

[@hooks4638]

You and your channel are great but, these cuts to you on a tv with the sound effect are awful.

[@extragoogleaccount6061]

It’s like the editor learned the technique and felt the need to use it everywhere.

[@aaronaaronsen3360]

Nah, it's to fool the copyright robot from striking the video.

[@deandrehoward1261]

Waaaaaaaaah.

[@roscoemclean4761]

I really think your editor needs to drop the "old-timey TV" visual and auditory filter. It's distracting, seems to have no discernible pattern of being used, and certainly does not add any value to the video... I've seen a bunch of comments about not liking it. Please listen.

[@aaronaaronsen3360]

The TV thingy is to avoid getting strikes by the copyright bot so it makes a bit of sense, but the audio filter.. no so much. I do listen those as a podcast and since he doesn't use any music, editor-chan could lose that part.

[@deandrehoward1261]

Waaaaaaaaaaah.

[@dorsk84]

Launching from a Dirigible is giving me Crimson Skies flash backs.😂

[@Observer_Effect]

Cool video as usual. You probably already know this - but just in case: something is really muted color/contrast wise in the shots of you on this video via KZbin.

[@mjelves]

I think they forgot to grade the footage of Simon lol

[@garyclark3843]

Fly through the air with the greatest of ease, those daring young men on the flying trapeze.

[@YousufAhmad0]

You need to fire your audio and video editor(s) asap.

[@alexwallach7683]

Weirdly this concept is coming back with the advent of drones and AI. The concept of a 'mothership' with 4-5 drones performing air-strike, air-defence, and surveilance/recon

[@kaltaron1284]

Wanted to say the same. Some ideas will always return in a way. And having a larger vessel carry smaller ones is pretty old.

[@79huddy]

I just want the military attack drones to have RGB L.E.D'S so you can program them to swarm into a formation and light up and spell Your Fu-ked right before they attack L.E.D light show drone battles would be lit 😂

[@kaltaron1284]

@@79huddy Similar things habe been done with smoke pods but I guess drones could bring this to a new level.

[@Boo-se7wi]

That looks more plausible

[@zaco-km3su]

Not quite. Drones aren't exactly that planes. They're far smaller. Also, drones appear to start having on long ranges which will make them bigger so....the idea of a "mothership" aircraft is not looking that viable. Air strikes and reconnaissance require range and a "mothership" will not help because the drones themselves will have to be large.

[@ZMB-on5ub]

Thank you for turning down the volume on the old time TV effect. Still not a huge fan of the effect but I no longer hate it. Thanks!

[@CosRacecar]

I still do. I'm not sure what was said, but I don't care.

[@deandrehoward1261]

Waaaaaah.

[@JayGee1]

Pretty sure the Editor forgot to Color grade the vid clips with Simon. Other than that another good video.

[@Shirocco7]

Awesome. Had not heard of it, what an impressive idea.

[@slavchobrusev]

Why are you so desaturated? its like you have a mask on and dialed down the saturation to 0? I dont get it?! Old videos have more contrast and color.

[@xaderalert]

Simon recorded this video live when the plane was designed, and color hadn't been invented yet.

[@xlukas93]

It looks like they forgot to do any post processing. Looks like raw footage or HDR footage on classic display.

[@rustyc6805]

Agreed, colour is totally off

[@Tkon321]

I agree it's very off, but honestly I kind of like it

[@Its_The_Jondus]

He finally actually replaced himself with AI

[@lowtdave]

I love this video. I feel like i know quite a bit about history but I had never heard about the successful missions conducted by the Soviets. Genuinely impressive I do appreciate the pointing out there were no real testing methods other than just going for it and seeing what happens. Those were truly interesting times. Well, sad, but interesting.

[@nivision]

in Soviet Russia, planes test you! literally, you better have skills or you'll die.

[@Chris_Shoaf]

What’s up with the picture with the washed out or gray huge with Simon

[@mjelves]

Forgot to apply a LUT it seems like

[@gregduff6135]

love the videos, but the "Simon in the T.V" bit is a little odd.

[@deandrehoward1261]

Waaaaaaaaaah.

[@HexLabz]

The desaturation makes fact boy look like AI.

[@rubiconnn]

I don't think his editors understand color grading

[@NOOBIFIER1337]

Someone forgot to do the LUT

[@markwheeler4417]

And what about Cloudbase used by Captain Scarlet? It surely influenced Sky Captain and the Avengers more than anything else.

[@thomasallen2743]

Simons too busy hosting his plethora of channels. Meet “I-Simon” your new holographic host

[@kennethnielsen3864]

Thanks for sharing.

[@TheKalaxis]

Enough with the old time radio effect. It's shit, annoying and adds nothing. It makes that part of the video harder to heard 😑

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

It was unique and informative, ...about that Soviets project ( airborne fighter careers ), which was absent in WW2 historical records ..

[@zaco-km3su]

Carriers, not careers.

[@tom23rd]

What a story!

[@charlesurrea1451]

Those daring young men in their flying machines

[@Redacted2898]

They go niaooowww kersplat

[@the.amazing.spatterman]

Hey Simon! How does doing a video about the I-16 sound to you?　🙏 It’s been a much-forgotten, though revolutionary fighter, and the same goes for its designer, Nikolai ‘the King of Fighters’ Polikarpov!

[@antonykuo3809]

How about the po-2

[@the.amazing.spatterman]

@@antonykuo3809 The Po-2, to the I-16, and beyond! The entire Polikarpov line, all the way to the tragic drama behind the I-225. But the I-16 is a must though! If not the I-180, the venerable “Flying Squirrel” was Polikarpov’s masterpiece - the I-16. A freakin shredder with her blazing four-gun ShKAS/ShVAK configurations, a rapid turn-fighter and snap-roller that was notoriously difficult to land, because she NEEDED to fly! With that wingspan wider than the fuselage length at a 2:3 ratio, and wing roots blending their chord all the way back into the empennage, she’s SO unique! And I think I just gave myself away as here.. She’s my favourite, yes.

[@the.amazing.spatterman]

Oh and she IS NOT UGLYꓺ.! I don’t even care what the haters say! ca.super-hobby.com/zdjecia/9/6/3/19374_rd.jpg ..Except only from the side view is she ugly.. Pretty much like a flying Cuban cigar or whatnot.

[@Pushing_Pixels]

Wasn't it the first monoplane fighter in active service? Also, the first with retractable landing gear, I think.

[@hughbarton5743]

That was fun!

[@MrW1LL14M]

Good god the TV filter or whatever it is, is bloody irritating now.

[@deandrehoward1261]

Waaaaaaaah

[@Lanka0Kera]

"Ages ago" aka early 2000s, there was a simulator game called IL-2 sturmovik: 1946 that had this and other weird tech from the ww2 era. Took ages but in one online game we (me + 4~5 friends) decided we'd give it a go since the game actually supported it. Made quite a few fellow pilots comment on how ridiculous it was :D

[@Hello_there_obi]

Did you get a soviet computer to do the colour effects your own footage 😂

[@extragoogleaccount6061]

They never made their own computers.

[@Hello_there_obi]

@@extragoogleaccount6061 exactly hahaha

[@xBruceLee88x]

Hello everyone hope you're all having a great new year so far! Another great video fact boi and crew

[@dougpine]

Your audio is ringing around 1245 Hz on all the videos you shoot in this position on your set.

[@paulceglinski7172]

I wonder if a pilot shot down one of these, would he be credited with one kill or 5?

[@Yellowpikachu1]

Man. It seems that we tried dancing with the angels with this.

[@javidaderson]

Hello, somebody forgot to throw a lut on this video.

[@donnyb6888]

i was thinking the same exact thing... looks like s log before color corrected

[@DAVISION-YT]

Video of you looks like LOG Footage and someone forgot to apply the LUT in grading. Or is this intentional?

[@davidkelley1812]

Great video and very informative, but why so grey?

[@handybanana2274]

Have you ever done anything medical megaproject? sequencing the genome? MRI machine? largest medical trauma center with helopads? cancer treatment? implantable defibrillator? NIH research project?

[@donnyb6888]

whats wrong with the color>? u shooting in s log?

[@Silverwing2112]

It's surprising how small the XF-85 is, I got a picture standing next to one at the Air Force museum in Ohio.

[@Silverwing2112]

@@DEADG6D Okay but I have to ask why you felt the need to put that here instead of in your own comment that Fact Boy might actually see.

[@DEADG6D]

@@Silverwing2112 hmm that was purely an accident, idk how i did that sorry mate

[@matwyder4187]

Not that god forsaken TV effect again... Why? Why?! These are otherwise quite informative videos, but I simply refuse to watch it like this. Not anymore.

[@zacharyroy6170]

Teach me about Route du Littoral in Reunion

[@zaco-km3su]

At the time fighters didn't have that much range. Basically they needed to take off or be launched quite near the target. This is why this kind of worked for a while. It was also an aerial refueling tank. Fighters were also lighter back then. Now they're heavier and have longer ranges. Also, aerial refueling tankers have been developed. This is why an airborne aircraft carrier isn't viable anymore. Currently there are some ideas of launching drones from some aircraft but we shall see how that works out. Drones will have long ranges which makes any "motherships" not that viable.

[@LPB2008]

Simon, do you have the Bristol Brabazon and the Dornier Do X in your backlog?

[@Hello_there_obi]

He did the brabazon just search it!

[@LPB2008]

@@Hello_there_obi Ah, I see, it is in the Highlight History channel. That's why I wasn't finding it in the Megaprojects channel. Thanks!

[@Jatheus]

I love the concept, but it seems that missiles, which are, sort of, like parasite aircraft, have killed the manned parasite fighter idea... Still... really cool.

[@ReekieReels]

Looks about -30 saturation, and -20 contrast

[@robertlugo3388]

Editor- please stop the lo-fi tv cuts.

[@deandrehoward1261]

Waaaaaaah

[@soooluscious5636]

Note to editor: I'm definitely not enjoying the cuts to Simon on a TV with the filter on his voice. Doesn't really add anything and it's pretty annoying.

[@deandrehoward1261]

Waaaaaaaah

[@TheGillhicks]

Can you please make a video about the waterway from Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean.

[@sudhanshurastogi1502]

now its alive in guided missiles and drones

[@BukkakeeNinja]

Why is there no movie or show about these beasts haha

[@owenshebbeare2999]

Probably a lack of footage and interest...Hollywood prefers "superhero" rubbish.

[@jamess3241]

To all the people who keep complaining about the TV edit: take your unwanted criticism of high-quality free content these people are giving us elsewhere please

[@bradmartinturner]

Complaining about other people complaining is paradoxical. Also I pay for KZbin premium, and those who don't pay via their eyeballs (ad revenue). The TV edit is annoying, and the comments section is specifically for opinions to be expressed. If you don't like that, take your unwanted criticism of the criticism of others elsewhere. Cheers👍🏼

[@Zerglingviking]

3 minutes gang

[@hunterhalo2]

I bet!

[@anthonymccormick2029]

At 9:20, is it flying toward you or away from you? what do you see?

[@dwaynne_way]

This idea is crazy, but what do you expect from a country that made things like the Ekranoplan and Zubr Hovercraft.

[@PetrSojnek]

Well, crazy... but what is more crazy is, it actually worked for the time :)

[@dwaynne_way]

@@PetrSojnek sometimes thinking so far out of the box creates something truly amazing

[@zaco-km3su]

It wasn't crazy. The Ekranoplan is a ground effect vehicle. It's functional but it won't have that many applications....because of buildings. The Zubr is a hovercraft. Nothing more, nothing less. Look them up.

[@dwaynne_way]

@@zaco-km3su I meant crazy as it being a huge r and d project and out of the box thinking. And with the Zubr it's size was kind of its problem, being a big target and if something went wrong on an operation it would be a big problem.

[@zaco-km3su]

@@dwaynne_way The Soviets had some interesting concepts. Of course Stalin came in and took out most of these early visionary designers and aeronautical engineers. Also, it was the early days of aviation so they tried anything that worked. This project itself was not that much R&D because it was primitive. Also, the Zubr was not that much of a target if there were no weapons systems nearby.

[@jrgaskin01]

manned cruise missiles. brilliant.

[@everettw]

Stop the TV effect please.

[@sebastienboisvert8561]

Disliked because of the cutout to the old television and the weird filter over the video.

[@watcherit1311]

Editor's idea was to use randomly colorized historical BW footage with randomly colorized narrator. Bad idea.

[@nickthompson9697]

And it has never appeared in any movie or video game.

[@DD-wr4lv]

What’s going on with the lighting in this??????

[@briantruck2284]

This will come back in future with drones

[@joeboggio4002]

Who is the audio distortion for exactly? 🙄

[@deandrehoward1261]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaahh

[@NainakaiAyita]

does this video have very low saturation, or is it just me

[@Mrgunsngear]

🇺🇸

[@christiansmith-of7dt]

The holy trinity

[@watcherit1311]

What with all those randomly colored historical images? If the editor wants to grab attention he can equally generate random images with plane-like anime girls via the same AI

[@paulmc7068]

This is what Simon will look like in his coffin

[@brysonbaker2314]

Imagine becoming a famous admiral, only to get a famously crappy ship named after you. They done Kuznetzov dirty.

[@jamesoverholt878]

May-cun, like bacon.

[@4G12]

Sooner or latter, with the help of drone AI tech, we'll wind up with Protoss Carriers.

[@zaco-km3su]

Not necessarily.

[@NASWOG]

Big plane poop small plane. Da

[@frstesiste7670]

Do you grade your videos?

[@JayGee1]

Seems they forgot to do it on this one...

[@harrymu148]

I'm already watching on what's effectively a TV lmfao I don't need a TV in a TV that's much harder to understand.

[@eaphantom9214]

Anything giant and Soviet isnt gonna end too well 😅 All show and no tell! I can only think of 3 exceptions to this

[@jtjames79]

Yes but it ends hilariously. 😂

[@eaphantom9214]

​@jtjames79 Yes it does! 😅

[@ArheIy]

Well, this particular thing had participated in WW2 and even been quite effective. It was cancelled mostly because of change in air superiority concept, not the problems of the aircraft itself. Though, it may return with the extensive usage of drones in modern combat (Russian "lancets" and other kamikaze drones included).

[@heartofdawn2341]

Virgin Galactic launches a spaceship from it mother craft, so the idea isn't completely dead, it just looks nothing like what it once did

[@sundragon7703]

Soviet test pilot...now there's a decades long career.

[@angel102ify]

up there with Experimental Parachute Tester,

[@extragoogleaccount6061]

If you are good….just don’t get involved in their space program

[@Nathan-vt1jz]

Wait till we have drone swarm ships.

[@joeyfatoni438]

Okay which ever editor is doing all the tv edits and radio voice cuts and then this absolutely horrible desaturated video please for the sake of my sanity and everybody else that loves to watch Simon. Stop just stop it’s not good

[@jibberism9910]

In soviet Russia, bomber drops another bomber.

[@countryboy3424]

Living in Akron, Ohio I really appreciate how you said that 😂

[@LittleManFlying]

Residents of Macon, Georgia, on the other hand... 😂

[@michaeltelson9798]

@@LittleManFlyingBut he put an “r” in it. He said Macron.

[@weldonwin]

Arsenal Bird, 1940's edition

[@_Sami_H]

Love the video but the colors of video... is abit... off...

[@eggreedgious5194]

Simon, what do you mean "both" airships in the Hindenburg disaster? Did I miss something?

[@barrysmithers5816]

He was talking about the other two military airships in addition to the Hindenburg

[@davevann9795]

Stop the TV outtakes with the weird sound!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@theawesomeman9821]

Looks like something from a steam punk anime

[@MZ-bl6wg]

I’d never heard of this, amazing how so much of history is bieng eliminated by choice and/or just lack of info

[@Timeforchange8685]

Great story. really bad vfx

[@nickmanganello6614]

The old time radio voice is brutal. Please stop.

[@rh661]

Still waiting for a deep dive into "Operation Paperclip".

[@djwindkind]

Please STOP WITH THE AUDIO EFFECT! It deos NOTHING for the content, it just hurts ears and kills speakers. PLEEEEEASE!

[@seanbrazell7095]

PLEASE don't do that ultra high treble old timey tv effect it litterally gave me a migraine.

[@ronriesinger7755]

Maycun, not “Macone”.

[@Kevin_C_Leonard_63]

Rhymes with "bacon".

[@mittensfastpaw]

I’m going to not recommend you to others and downvote as long as you keep doing the TV crap. Also bring back the color mate!

[@rukeyazu8669]

Please stop doing the weird audio thing like your coming through an old TV…

[@jhin8054]

AI isn't doing these channels any favors. Terribly inaccurate photos, to the point where the viewer can't even trust the validity of them. What's the point in watching them, anymore?

[@SrSilverstars]

Please stop using these crappy hurtful-to-our-ears-radio segments

[@fpsninja1]

Please stop the old TV effect. It adds literally nothing

[@BlueBox-2002]

The poor old B-52 will now be launching 500 drones as it flys overheard. That old girl may never be allowed to retire.

[@motionthings]

Someone messed up the color correction or camera settings in this video. You look like a gray ghost :)