From the very prolific Gordon and Komissarov team comes yet another superb book on Russian aviation. This time the concentration is OKB Yakovlev, probably one of the more successful design bureaus and one that was willing to try just about any type of aircraft.

Initially gaining notoriety with his UT-1 trainer and sports plane, Yakovlev went on to the superb series of Yak piston engine fighters during the Great Patriotic War that are among the most widely built series of fighters of the war. This was followed by a series of early, but not really successful turbojet powered fighters. Where Yak truly gained renown was with his twin engine tactical aircraft, starting with the Yak-25 and moving into the Yak-28 series.

There were heavy lift helos such as the Yak-24, more trainers as the very successful Yak-18 (based on the Yak fighters), the Yak-40 airliners, Yak 50 series of aerobatic aircraft,  Yak-38 VTOL fighter, unmanned drones, and the current state of the art Yak-130 trainer.

All of this is covered within the 320 pages of the profusely illustrated history of the bureau. Each aircraft type's history is provided along with detail on the different variants and its operational use. The images used are mostly from Yakovlev and provide superb detail of the types and variants discussed. There is a large color section that shows examples of each type and within each type's section are well drawn three views.

If you have read any of their previous books, you are well aware of the quality of the works. If new to Russian aviation books, you could find no better choice that this volume. It will provide many hours of reading and be an outstanding addition to your reference library. It is one that I can easily highly recommend.

January 2006

Review book courtesy of , 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

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly by a site that has around 300,000 visitors a month, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.