An aircraft type that has been the purvey of only a few nations with large air forces has been the bomber. These aircraft are expensive to build, expensive to maintain, and expensive to operate, but any force that wished to have long range strike capabilities needed to have them in their arsenal. In the post WWII era, only the US, Britain and Soviet Union were building these types of aircraft. As the UK slipped from being a major power, it did not replace its bombers with new aircraft, leaving only the US and Soviet Union to carry on the tradition.

When one thinks of Soviet/Russian bombers, the name that comes to mind is Tupolev. This design team has been building heavy and medium bombers since the late 1920s and has continued right until today. Their most recent creation is the Tu-160 'Blackjack', the largest bomber in their fleet. Stymied by a lack of funding, these aircraft are now rarely flown and ever so slowly being built.

This book covers the five post war Tupolev bomber designs; the Badger, Blinder, Backfire, Bear and Blackjack. Each aircraft has a historical section as well as a variants section showing the differences between the sometimes bewildering variety of subtypes that are so typical of large Russian aircraft. There is also a listing of know countries and units that have flown or are now flying the type. Included is a section on weapons and defensive armament as well as a cutaway drawing that shows internal detail.

For the stats on the book itself, it is 160 pages, hardcover, 9x12, with 300 color and 150 black and white photos as well as five full color three views, numerous color profiles and cutaways. Long time readers of World Airpower Journal and International Air Power Review (both Airtime publications) will have a sense of deja vu when reading this book as all of the five aircraft have been featured in one of those two publications at one time or another. What this book does, is compile all of them under one cover. This is a common strategy with Airtime and if you do not have the previous books, then this is a super way to get that information without having to search out older back issues.

The photos are first rate, the information presented is well done and easy to read, and you have basically all of  Russia's Cold War bomber development under one cover. It is an excellent compendium and should your interests lean toward the subject, it is one that should be on your library shelves.

Review book courtesy of , where you can order your copy of this and many other superb aviation and modeling books.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly by a site that has 200,000 visitors a month, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.