Your Armchair Pilot goes Red tonight in more ways than one.

I’ve been preparing my pots on the roof deck for a planting of potatoes and I’m sure my face has gone red in the gorgeous sunshine we’ve had today. I did forget to put my sunscreen on and I reckon the older I get the more sensitive my skin becomes.

I haven’t planted any red potatoes although I was tempted. Instead I’ve put in a few Marr’s Piper for main crop and Arran Pilot for a second early.

This is the first time I’ve tried growing potatoes up on the roof deck in pots but it should work providing they get plenty of water and a hose pipe ban here in the wet sou-west of Scotland is virtually unheard of.

OK – we’ve established I’ve gone red of face but they don’t come any more red than the two bi-planes I’m about to highlight as they are both from the USSR.

The Anatov P2 hails from 1947 – too late to join the war effort but it has gained credit for being one of the best Bush planes ever built. Loved by cropdusters and commerciak pilots the world over —

My second featured plane is also from behind the Iron Curtain – the Polikarpov Po-2

There were over 40.000 Polikarpov Po-2s built between 1928 and 1953 making it one of the most successful planes ever and definitely the most numerous bi-plane. She was nicknamed ‘The Mule’ by opposing Nato forces and would turn her hand to night time bombing runs to de-stabilise enemy ground troops as well as for liason and reconnaisance. In times of peace she saw service as a cropduster and numerous other light commercial aviation activities – a very versatile aircraft.

Thanks again to Wilkipedia for photos.

Armchair Pilot goes Red