Lipetsk fighter-pilot school

The Treaty of Versailles, signed on 28 June 1919, prohibited Germany from operating any form of air force after the country had lost the First World War.

This attitude changed however in 1923, when French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr area after Germany defaulted on reparations payments.

[1] In June 1924, retired Colonel Hermann von der Lieth-Thomsen became a permanent representative of the Reichswehr's Truppenamt, the secret General Staff of the German Army, in Moscow.

[1] The disguise German name for the facility, abbreviated with the WIWUPAL contraction, was the Wissenschaftliche Versuchs-und Prüfanstalt für Luftfahrzeuge (Scientific Research and Test Institute for Aircraft).

With the rise of the Nazis to power in January 1933, the ideological gap between fascist Germany and the communist Soviet Union became too large and the fighter school at Lipetsk was closed on 15 September 1933.

[1] The fighter school at Lipetsk is referenced in the German crime drama series Babylon Berlin, Season 2 - episodes 3, 4, 5 and 6.