Relying upon extensive archival research and many newly discovered documents, the article explores the collaboration between the Soviet Union and Weimar Germany in the field of aviation from the 1920s to the early 1930s. Trying to circumvent the ban on developing new advanced military technologies imposed on it after its defeat in WWI, Germany concluded a secret agreement with the USSR. The lease of the Lipetsk airfield in southern Russia lasted eight years and allowed the German military to train more than 200 pilots and test about 20 new Abstracts 219 models of aircraft. The Soviet Union was interested first of all in gaining technical novelties as well as military experience from the German side, and also hoped to attract German investment into the reconstruction of the Soviet defense industry. The results of this technology transfer included the production of new types of bombs based on the German model and the publication of the first Soviet bombing manual of 1934.