In the USSR, the first traveling wave tube (TWT) was developed in 1946. This was followed by the invention of the first backward‐wave oscillator (BWO) and other important achievements, which could characterize a strong competition existed between American and Soviet scientists and engineers. In the present paper, some of the achievements of the first soviet TWT team, headed by L. N. Loshakov, are discussed. Among those achievements are invention of the two‐anode gun for a low‐noise TWT, development of the first three‐octave TWT, and development of the helix TWT linear theory. In this paper, also such issues as formation of the rotating electron beams, suppression of reflected waves, multi‐stage TWTs, amplification without synchronizing electron and wave velocities, utilization of beryllium oxide and quartz rods in one RF set, dispersion control by application of metal support rods, and many other engineering solutions are presented. © 2003 American Institute of Physics