What if....WW3 and the air war over Europe info

KND · February 28th, 2010

I've been reading a lot lately on the Cold War and the speculation about what might have happened had war broken out. One thing that I've been surprised about is the speculation about what would have happened in the air war. My understanding has always been that the Warsaw Pact had the advantage in the number of planes that the could put in the air (just like they did with the number of tanks). My question is this....

Given what we know now that the bulk of the Warsaw Pact air forces were made up of obsolete planes, how could they have possibly won in the air?

I'm thinking specifically about the period of time (1980 and on) when Reagan took over, and when the US would be putting F-15s and F-16s in the air. The only way that I can think of that the Warsaw Pact could have negated US air power is with mobile SAM launchers.

February 28th, 2010
KND	What if....WW3 and the air war over Europe info I've been reading a lot lately on the Cold War and the speculation about what might have happened had war broken out. One thing that I've been surprised about is the speculation about what would have happened in the air war. My understanding has always been that the Warsaw Pact had the advantage in the number of planes that the could put in the air (just like they did with the number of tanks). My question is this.... Given what we know now that the bulk of the Warsaw Pact air forces were made up of obsolete planes, how could they have possibly won in the air? I'm thinking specifically about the period of time (1980 and on) when Reagan took over, and when the US would be putting F-15s and F-16s in the air. The only way that I can think of that the Warsaw Pact could have negated US air power is with mobile SAM launchers.