News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

On a sunny September day in 1931, a Soviet spy walked down the gangplank of the luxury transatlantic liner SS Europa and into New York.

Attracting no attention, Stanislav Shumovsky had completed his journey from Moscow to enrol at a top American university.

He was concealed in a group of 65 Soviet students heading to prestigious academic institutions including MIT in Boston.

But he was after far more than an excellent education.

As Agent Blériot or Blerio - named after the French aviator, inventor and engineer - former red army soldier Shumovsky was on a mission with the highest authority.

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had sent him on a mission to acquire America’s vital secrets to help close the USSR’s yawning technology gap.

While the Soviets had managed to acquire the know-how to build a nuclear bomb, what they lacked was the technology to build a bomber capable of reaching the USA - their biggest rival.

Using well developed skills he was able to blend into American society and transformed himself from "the Russian" to "Stan from MIT".

(Image: RealSLokhova/Twitter)

Operating in plain sight, Shumovsky networked with the leading professors designing the next generation of military aircraft and befriended and recruited astute young students for his growing operation.

A new book by author Svetlana Lokhova takes the reader on a journey through Stalin’s most audacious intelligence operation. She pieces together every aspect of Shumovsky's life and character.

She said: "Stan, as he called himself, was just one of the guys. He went to the same lectures as the other guys went to but actually underneath it all he was working for the Soviet Union obtaining top intelligence secrets.

"His speciality was aeronautics and he successfully recruited a fellow student whilst he was at University and this later became very important."

FBI historian John Fox says the activities of the spy went undetected largely because the authorities didn't believe there were many agents active in the USA.

(Image: Getty)

He said: "The FBI hadn't been involved in catching spies since the World War One era and even then there weren't that many to catch.

"So in the 30s our focus was on the gangsters and dregs coming out of prohibition.

"As far as actually understanding what an agent like Shumovsky was doing we didn't have a clue."

The aeronautics intelligence was extremely valuable, firstly to Russia during the Second World War as it enabled them to fight and beat the Germans, and then secondly in the Cold War it allowed them to stand toe to toe with the Americans.

Svetlana said: "We have all heard about the Russian theft of the atomic bomb secrets from the Manhattan Project but to deliver the bomb you needed an airplane and he was responsible for getting intelligence and reverse engineering the plane which would deliver the bomb."

Shumovsky blended perfectly into academia and was invited to Hollywood parties where the likes of Shirley Temple were guests - and even to the White House to meet President Franklin D Roosevelt.

(Image: Harper Collins)

(Image: Getty)

He could dress like an American but carried an air of the exotic about him because of his accent.

Svetlana, who studied American and Russian archives as research - although some Shumovsky’s files are still classified such was his impact - said his work set the standard for future spying by the Russians.

She said: "What started off as a one man reconnaissance mission ended up putting a system in place where America's strengths and weaknesses were analysed and sort of put in a text book.

"The KGB much later on at a much larger scale were able to penetrate America."

Thanks to Stanislav Shumovsky's work, by 1949 Stalin’s fleet of TU-4s equipped with atomic bombs could devastate the US on his command.

And the Cold War had begun.

The Spy Who Changed History by Svetlana Lokhova by Harper Collins is on sale now.