"Soviet Air Power in World War II" by Yefim Gordon

[vikingBerserker]

Soviet Air Power in WW2.JPG

Soviet Air Power in World War 2, Yefim Gordon, (9781857803044) Hardcover - Barnes & Noble
ISBN-13: 9781857803044
ISBN: 1857803043

I've always been interested in the Soviet Air force in WW2 but was never really able to find that "one book" that would give a lot of detail, it was always bits from this book and some more from that book. While searching Soviet WW2 Night fighters I happen to stumble across this little gem.

The book is 528 pages long and is broken into 6 sections:

1 - The Soviet Aircraft Industry in Run-up to and during the Great Patriotic War
2 - Soviet Air Force Organization and Equipment Before and during the Great Patriotic War
3 - Naval Aviation in the Great Patriotic War
4 - Soviet Combat Aircraft of 1939 - 1945
5 - The Role Played by the Lend-Lease Agreement in Bolstering Soviet Air Power During the Great Patriotic War
6 - Soviet Pilots in the Great Patriotic War.

These pages contain a lot of detail and pictures as well as a number of color drawings thrown in. In addition to talking about the normal aircraft, the book also talks about some of the special projects or prototypes. 2 that I found extremely interesting were:

Yak9B Fighter Bomber equipped with a bomb bay:
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and the DB-LK Flying Wing Bomber
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800px-Belyayev_DB-LK.jpg
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The section on Lend-Lease from all the Allies is one of the better ones I have ever read as I had no idea of the number of Hurricanes and Spitfires supplied to them or the examples of the the Lancaster, Stirling and Mosquito that were provided.

The Pilot section also includes the Female pilots as well as the French pilots that flew in the "Normandie-Niemen" regiment



I had not idea the richness of the Soviet Air Force and Industry during WW2 and this books does an excellent job showing this.

The only negative thing I can say about it is the lack of an index. Beyond that I could not recommend this book more. If you only want one book on the subject, this is the one.

[parsifal]

sounds like a great read. In recent years the Soviet side of thigs has been increasingly revealed, and it is raising a lot of challenges to the hitherto accepted version of history of the war on the eastern front. Its a fascinating aspect of the war that deserves more attention from people like us.

Thanks for the heads up

[mudpuppy]

I'll just print that page from the bookseller...Christmas is coming and I want to be helpful for anybody wanting to buy me some gifts. If I'm not mistaken, I've seen this author's name on quite a few Russian aviation/military works.
Thanks for the post, VB.

Derek

[steve51]

Gentlemen,

I have this book and can recommend it. Yefim Gordon has written a large number of books on Russian aviation ( primarily Soviet years ) and a few books on modern Chinese military aviation.