Paris in retrospect

THERE can be no doubt that despite the comparatively small number of their aircraft on show, the brevity of the technical information relating to these aircraft and the deliberately theatrical manner in which two of the aircraft were presented, Russia succeeded in stealing most of the limelight at the Twenty‐sixth International Salon held at Le Bourget airport last month. We in the western world have become so accustomed to watching the U.S.A. pull all the technical tricks out of the bag while demonstrating the finer points of showmanship and brochuremanship that it came as something of a surprise to see the comparatively unsophisticated Russians trumping the American aces. It might be argued that the publicity impact which a country makes at an international air show does not necessarily bear any direct relationship to the quality of its aerospace products but at the same time it must be accepted that a major part of the modern sales campaign to sell civil aircraft—and that after all is what the Russians are apparently determined to do—is to produce the correct sales image. The vast amount of publicity, very little of which was adverse, which Russia received from her showing at the Paris Salon has undoubtedly given her sales campaign a tremendous send‐off. It remains to be seen whether the technical quality of the aircraft will justify this initial blaze of publicity.