Originally Posted by
oxenos
As I remember it, when the Kiev first appeared in 1976, with those two fixed wing aircraft on the rear of the flight deck, we were assured by intelligence that the USSR had no aircraft ready for carrier ops. Therefore they were either mock ups to fool us, or mock ups for the deck crews to get used to handling them. There was some consternation when one of these mock ups took off.
Presumably the same sources that said they couldn't do rolling take offs, which they then started doing!