One of the top experts on Soviet aircraft is Yefim Gordon and he has put together a huge amount of information on the Soviet Air Force during the Second World War. Within these over 500 pages is a full rundown on the structure and aircraft of the Soviet Union during the years of 1941 to 1945.

This has to be the finest work of its kind done on the subject and within these pages you'll find pretty well everything you've ever wanted to know about the subject. It starts off with a look at how the Soviet aircraft industry was set up and those responsible for its operation. Then we get into the organization of the forces prior to the start of the war in the east and how it changed during the conflict. A separate chapter covers the Soviet Naval Aviation, something often overlooked by other books. Then we get into the meat of the book and cover all the aircraft developed by all the Soviet designers during the war. This also includes those that never reached operational status. This is followed by a large section on Lend-Lease aircraft and finally one on some of the more outstanding Soviet pilots.

Each section is literally chock full of photographs, drawings and color profiles of the various aircraft, many which have not been seen by your editor before. Of course, there are a few glitches, as there is a photo of a white-tailed P-40 that has been mistakenly put in several of the pages describing other aircraft, but that is about it.

In all, this is, in my opinion, the finest book on the subject yet done and one that I can highly recommend to you. If you buy no other book on Soviet WWII aviation, then this is the one you simply must have.

November 2008

Review book courtesy of Specialty Press, where you can order your copy of this and many other superb aviation and modeling books. Visit their website at the link above or call them at 1-800-895-4585

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