Although the majority of my posts on Soviet aviation culture have focused on visual and literary productions such as posters, films, poems, and short stories, arguably the best known and most popular composition (at least for Russians) is “Ever Higher” (”Все выше”) — an aviation-inspired tune that appeared several years before the young Bolshevik state even had an air force!

The song dates to Russia’s twentieth-century “Time of Troubles” — the period marked by Civil War and foreign interventions that fell during the years 1918-1921. In the midst of widespread political, military, and economic crises Bolshevik leaders routinely enlisted sympathetic artists, writers, and other “cultural workers” to produce propaganda materials that could be used to generate popular support for the Reds’ cause. With the re-capture of Kiev from Polish and Ukrainian troops in June 1920, Red Army commanders found themselves in possession of a small squadron of airplanes left behind by the fleeing Polish troops. The planes would soon be put to use in both training and reconnaissance missions. In the meantime, German and Khait were commissioned to produce a song about the bravery and heroism of pilots that might inspire the ranks and, perhaps, encourage a few individuals to volunteer for flight training. In an attempt to kindle the composers’ own creative efforts, the pair were taken out to the aerodrome where the planes were stored and treated to a series of flights. German and Khait delivered the new song the following day.

In subsequent years, “Ever Higher” (or, “Avia-march,” as it is also known) soared to widespread popularity. Throughout the 1920s, the song was prominently featured at public rallies, military displays, and aviation spectacles. In August 1933 the USSR’s Revolutionary Military Council (Revvoensovet) issued a decree establishing “Ever Higher” as the official anthem of the country’s Military Air Forces (VVS). To this day the song remains one of the most recognized and popular tunes from the Soviet period.

A recording of “Ever Higher” can be downloaded here from “Soviet Music” (“Советская музыка”) an excellent on-line repository containing more than 4,200 (!) audio clips of Soviet-era tunes.

Here’s an English translation of the Russian lyrics:¹

We were born to make fairy tales come true,
To conquer vast distance and space,
Our reason has made steel wings for our hands,
And throbbing engines our hearts have replaced.

[Refrain]:

Ever higher, higher, and higher
We aim the flight of our birds
The tranquility of our borders
Breathes in each propeller.

Throwing our willing planes to the heavens,
Or making unprecedented flights,
We feel our air force is growing stronger,
Our world’s first, proletarian fleet.

[Refrain]

Our keen glance pierces every atom,
And resolution clads every nerve,
Believe us: to every ultimatum
Our air force is prepared to respond

[Refrain]

ScP

1. Adapted from the translation found in James von Geldern and Richard Stites, Mass Culture in Soviet Russia: Tales, Poems, Songs, Movies, Plays, and Folklore, 1917-1953 (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1995), 257-258 [↩]