[6] After the war, Novikov was arrested by order of the Politburo, and was forced by the NKVD chief, Lavrentiy Beria, into a "confession" that implicated Marshal Georgy Zhukov in a conspiracy.

[7] Having graduated from the M. V. Frunze Military Academy in 1930, Novikov moved to the air force in 1933,[7] and served as chief of operations until 1935, when he took command of a light bomber squadron.

[6] During the Battle of Stalingrad, Novikov successfully persuaded Georgy Zhukov and, in turn, Joseph Stalin that the air force was not ready for a planned counter-offensive, an argument to which both commanders eventually conceded.

After a substantial period of development, Novikov was able to provide Zhukov with an aerial blockade of the German forces at Stalingrad, along with the destruction of 1,200 enemy planes.

The Battle of Königsberg saw 2,500 combat aircraft under Novikov being made available to the besieging armies, with the Soviet air marshal recommending low-level heavy night bombers being used.

For his part in the operation Novikov was made Hero of the Soviet Union, and on 24 June 1944 the United States awarded him a Legion of Merit.

[10] Novikov was released on 29 June 1953, six years into his sentence following Stalin's death, and reinstated as chief marshal of aviation, where he was able to put his ideas into practice.

A plan for using newly available jet aircraft and nuclear weapons to wage a possible future war with the United States was laid out by Novikov and shown to Nikita Khrushchev, who turned the proposal down in favor of ballistic missiles.