Aviación - Rusia / Unión Soviética: libros - historia y aviones

This third volume describes the history of the little-known emblems and distinctive markings of early Soviet military aircraft from the revolution to the Russian exit from World War One.
The authors have managed to collect, and in some cases partially reconstruct, the majority of emblems and signs used in Russia during this period by military aviation units. The collected material is presented in a clear and attractive form - colour plates, reconstructed logos, and original photographs from public and private archives.

This profusely illustrated book covers the aircraft used by early Soviet aviation, with brief details of their service use and comprehensive details of the colours and markings they carried.
Besides the many photographs, full colour profiles illustrate the markings applied. Detailed colour notes and precise descriptions and illustration of national markings over the period complete a book that will be invaluable to aircraft enthusiasts, historians and modellers.

"The Russian Military Air Fleet in World War I" two volume set is a prodigious scholarly endeavor, offering for the first time in the English language a close up view of Air Fleet operations and personnel. Volume1 is a chronology of the development of aeronautics and aviation in Russia beginning in the earliest days and the eventual emergence of the Air Fleet, which is carried through to its dissolution by the Bolsheviks and the beginning of the Red Air Fleet in March 1918.
There are also chapters on manufacturers, airmen badges, aviation uniforms, flight helmets, markings, flags and pennants, organizational charts, maps of the Russian and Romanian Fronts, and bibliography.

Ce livre référence rend compte en détail des travaux et recherches effectués par les constructeurs aéronautiques russes, puis soviétiques, de 1915 à 1950 dans le domaine des chasseurs monomoteurs et multimoteurs propulsés par des moteurs atmosphériques.
Vous y trouverez toutes les études, projets, prototypes et réalisations recensés à ce jour pendant cette période, de même que leurs dérivés pour la reconnaissance ou l'entraînement, ainsi que les prototypes purement expérimentaux.

L'auteur a également tenu à inclure dans ce livre les projets et programmes à propulsion mixte, c'est-à-dire les modèles prévus ou équipés de statoréacteurs, de pulsoréacteurs, de moteurs-fusées et de motocompresseurs.

Cette nouvelle édition est entièrement revue et corrigée. Elle donne beaucoup de détails concernant tous les chasseurs et intercepteurs (plus les dérivés) en détaillant toutes les versions et variantes de chaque programme, avec un maximum de nouveau plans et de photos.

This book covers all of the various fighter aircraft designed and employed by Russian forces during the years 1920-1941.

A detailed volume uncovering a wide range of Soviet aviation projects that, for a variety of reasons, never progressed beyond the drawing board. Packed with over 800 illustrations including photos, drawings and diagrams.

Between September 1936 and February 1939, the Soviet Union was covertly aiding the Spanish Republic in its civil war with the right wing forces of General Francisco Franco, which had revolted against the government and were being aided semi-covertly by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.

The Soviets were not only supplying the Republic with oil, gasoline, and food stuffs, but also the aircraft, tanks, artillery pieces, and small arms they needed to conduct the war. The Soviets also began sending military advisers and personnel from all branches of the service, plus engineers, translators, merchant seamen and war industry factory workers.

Of the approximately 3,000 people sent from the Soviet Union, 772 were from the air force, and of these 100 were killed in action or died as a result of accidents or wounds received in battle.

Mit diesem Band aus der Reihe "Die Waffen der Roten Armee" wendet sich der russische Militärhistoriker Victor Schunkow den sowjetischen Flugzeugen des Zweiten Weltkriegs zu.
Er bietet einen kompletten Überblick über die Entwicklung der sowjetischen Luftstreitkräfte und der Luftfahrtindustrie in den Vorkriegsjahren und während des Krieges.

In bereits bewährter Art wird jedes Muster mit einer kurzen Entstehungsgeschichte und Beschreibung des Entwurfs nebst technischen Angaben vorgestellt.
Ein eigenes Kapitel beschäftigt sich mit der umfangreichen Flugzeugbewaffnung. Farbgrafiken und seltene Fotos runden die Darstellung ab.

The Red Air Force had just started to re-equip with modern monoplane fighters when the Germans opened Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. Hundreds of fighters were destroyed in the first few days, but many of these were obsolete biplanes.

"Soviet Fighters of the Second World War" details fighter development from the dark days of Barbarossa to eventual triumph over Berlin. Starting with outdated aircraft such as the Polikarpov biplane and monoplane fighters, the Soviets then settled on two main lines of development: the inline-engine LaGG-3 and its radial-engine derivatives, the La-5 and La-7, and the inline-engine Yakovlev fighters, which were produced in greater numbers than any other series of fighters in history.

Not only are these aircraft accurately described, but experimental fighters are also dealt with. In addition, colour profiles illustrate these aircraft in terms of design, camouflage and markings. From the I-15bis biplane of the late 1930s to the superb La-7 and Yak-3 fighters of the last year of the war, all Red Air Force fighters are covered in this comprehensive volume.

Soviet bombers were a varied lot during the Second World War, ranging from single-engined biplanes such as the 1920's era Polikarpov U-2 to the excellent and modern twin-engined Tu-2 medium bomber.
Although the use of four-engined strategic bombers was mostly limited to use of the huge Pe-8 bomber, the Soviets used many other aircraft for both strategic and tactical bombing. As the bombers of the Red Air Force were mainly tasked with supporting the Red Army, most of the bombers were used for tactical bombing, attacking tanks, troop convoys, trains, and airfields.

This book will deal with both strategic bombers and tactical bombers, but will concentrate on the smaller tactical bombers, as this is where the Red Air Force's emphasis lay. Such types as the Il-4, the Su-2, the aforementioned Tu-2, and the most important bomber of all, the Il-2 Shturmovik attack bomber, will be described in great detail, including not only details on the aircraft themselves, but how they were deployed in combat.
The one truly strategic bomber, the Pe-8, will not be forgotten, and neither will the comparatively tiny U-2 biplane, which was so effective in its use as a night-time "nuisance" raider that the Germans copied the tactic wholesale.

Accurate colour profiles in some number will accompany the text in this comprehensive work on Soviet bombers.

In Russia, the American Bell P-39 Airacobra fighter along with the Studebaker US6 truck and canned stewed meat became the symbols of Allied help to the USSR during the Second World War. Other aircraft which arrived to the country under the Lend-Lease program are less known but also made a valuable contribution to the victory.
The author of this book for the first time has assembled a huge volume of information related to the delivery of aviation equipment from UK and USA. Based on documents from Russian and foreign archives, museums, and veterans' recollections, the author has made a qualitative and quantitative appraisal of the influence of these deliveries upon the Soviet war effort and airpower during the conflict.

The book details the routes of the aircraft deliveries to Russia, the modifications which were done in order to suit the demands of the Russian climate and specifics of their front-line use, as well as the process of the new aircraft being mastered by the units of the Red Army Air Force.

For the first time an attempt has been made to assess the influence of the deliveries of material and equipment upon the Soviet aviation industry and war effort. The author's impressive text is supported by nearly 700 colour and b/w photographs, 100 colour aircraft profiles, plus maps, charts etc.

By the end of the Second World War the USA and Great Britain had developed viable jet fighters, even if these aircraft came a bit too late to have a significant impact on the course of the conflict. Germany achieved greater success, using the Me 262 and He 162 jet fighters operationally in the closing stages of the war.

In contrast, the Soviet Union lagged behind, even though research on turbojet engines had begun in the USSR in the late 1930s. This deficiency was recognised and at the end of the war, captured German jet aircraft and engines enabled the USSR to reverse-engineer the technology.

Even so, the USSR struggled to catch up until in 1946, the British Labour government gifted the Soviets the latest in propulsion technology, the Rolls-Royce Nene and Derwent V engines. This inexplicable action allowed a much more capable generation of Soviet jet fighters to be born and by the end of the 1940s Soviet industry had caught up with, and in some respects surpassed the West, in jet aviation.

Because of the Stalinist era in which the first Soviet jets were developed, up until now little has been known about the early post-war designs from the design bureaus of Mikoyan, Yakovlev, Lavochkin, Sukhoi and Alekseyev and the background to even relatively well-known types such as the MiG-9, La-9 and YAK-15 is barely documented. Other early jet types, proposals and projects were virtually unknown in the West.

This gap is now redressed by the famous Soviet aviation historian Yefim Gordon and in his latest work he draws on extensive research in design bureau files, official documents and military archives, many of which have only very recently become available, having been labelled 'Top Secret' for decades.

This volume presents in considerable detail the development, history and technical specifications of the earliest Soviet jet fighters and the extensive illustrations - around 750 photos, over 50 specially-commissioned colour drawings and a host of line drawings - are mostly from previously classified sources the majority of which are previously unseen.

Born in the 1930s, the Soviet Air Force's long-range bomber arm (known initially as the ADD and later as the DA) proved itself during WW II and continued to develop in the immediate post-war years, when the former allies turned Cold War opponents. When the strategic bomber Tu-4 was found to be too 'short-legged' to deliver strikes against the main potential adversary - the USA, both Tupolev and Myasishchev OKBs began the task by creating turbine-engined strategic bombers.
By the Khrushchev era in the mid/late 1950's the Soviet defence industry and aircraft design bureaux set about adapting the bombers to take air-launched missiles for use against land and sea targets and in 1962 the DA fielded its first supersonic aircraft - the Tu-22 Blinder twinjet, which came in pure bomber and missile strike versions.
The Brezhnev years saw a resurgence of strategic aviation with the Tu-22M Backfire 'swing-wing' supersonic medium bomber entering service in the mid-1970s followed in 1984 by the Tu-95MS Bear-H and Tu-160 Blackjack which were capable of carrying six and 12 air-launched cruise missiles respectively.

"Soviet Strategic Aviation in the Cold War" shows how the DA's order of battle changed in the period from 1945 to 1991. Major operations including the air arm's involvement in the Afghan War, the Cold War exercises over international waters in the vicinity of the 'potential adversary' and the shadowing of NATO warships are covered together with details of Air Armies, bomber divisions and bomber regiments, including their aircraft on a type-by-type basis.
Over 500 photos, most of which are previously unpublished in the West, are supplemented by 61 colour profiles, colour badges and line drawings of the aircraft and their weapons, making this an essential reference source for the historian and modeller alike.

Beautifully illustrated with many rare and unpublished photographs, Soviet Cold War Fighters looks at the main development periods of Soviet fighter designs.
It covers all the important features and developments for each - a total of four generations of fighter were developed from the late 1940s to the early 1980s.
This period witnessed the most iconic and powerful fighters such as the legendary MiG- 15, MiG-21, Tu-128, Su-9, MiG-23, MiG-25 reach for the skies, followed by the modern day MiG-29, MiG-31 and Su-27, which strike fear in the West for their phenomenal weaponry and blistering performance.

All aircraft are described in detail with facts and figures, including their weapons and instances of combat employment, as well as explaining how the Cold War drastically changed Soviet fighter design to counter the West.
Researched and written by Alexander Mladenov, a leading aviation journalist, this is a highly detailed testament to leading Soviet fighter design and development.

The history of Soviet strategic bombers after the Second World War is a fascinating one: from the reverse-engineering of interned American Boeing B-29 bombers into the first Soviet strategic bomber, the Tu-4; to the huge jet and turbo-prop powered aircraft of today's Russian Air Force.

This comprehensive history of these aircraft will deal not just with the development of aircraft that entered service, but of experimental aircraft as well, and projects that were never even built will also be explored.
The service life of these bombers will be covered, including both active and retired aircraft, and their use outside of the Soviet Union, in places such as the Middle East and Afghanistan, will be described in detail.

The Soviet Union built some of the first jet-powered strategic bombers, and the Tu-95 Bear, the only swept-winged turbo-prop bomber to ever enter service, remains in service to this day.
Less successful aircraft, like the graceful but problem-plagued supersonic Tu-22 Blinder, and the Mach 3 Sukhoi T-4 will also be examined.

The Tactical Aviation branch (FA - Frontovaya aviatsiya) has always occupied an important place in the structure of the Soviet, and subsequently Russian, Air Force. In the 20-odd post-Soviet years the Russian Air Force has been repeatedly reformed and in the course of the reforms the importance of Tactical Aviation has risen.

Much importance has attached to fleet renewal and upgrading of the Russian Tactical Aviation capability. The Su-35S 'Generation 4++' single-seat fighter is entering full-scale production and service. Deliveries of single-seat Su-27SM3 (a mid-life update) and two-seat Su-30SM and Su-30M2 multi-role fighters are also underway.
The Beriyev A-50 AWACS aircraft, which supports the Tactical Aviation's air defence role, are also being updated. Production and deliveries of the Su-34 tactical bomber are continuing and for want of a next-generation attack aircraft, the Russian Air Force is continuing to upgrade its Su-25 fleet - the latest Su-25SM3 is now in service.

The book, companion to the highly successful Soviet Tactical Aviation, illustrates the current state of the Russian Air Force's tactical aviation as well as its recent history in various overseas conflicts. Details are given of the aviation bases (units), their locations and the principal types currently in service.
"Russian Tactical Aviation" is illustrated throughout with many previously unpublished photos, including air-to-air shots during recent Russian Force exercises, as well as colour profiles of Russian tactical aircraft and helicopters operated by various aviation bases.

Deep in a green pine forest, some 38 kilometers from Moscow is the Russian Federation Air Force Museum at Monino - a truly unique collection. The museum is founded on a rich collection of full-scale aircraft exhibits, as well as helicopters, aircraft engines, armament and search-and-rescue equipment, and reflects the history of Russian and Soviet aviation development from 1909 to the present.

Included in this guide:
- Aviation of the Late 19th and the Early 20th Century: Letatlin, Mozhaisky Flying Aircraft, Wright Brothers Airplane, Bleriot Aircraft, Utimtsev Engine, Grizodubov 1 Aircraft, "Ilya Muromets", Voisin, Sopwith, Farman IV;
- Aircraft of the 1920s & 1930s; ANT-2, ANT-4 (TB-1), ANT-6 (TB-3), ANT-25 (RD), ANT-40 (SB), DB-3 (Il-4), U-2 (Po-2), P-5, I-16;
- Aircraft of World War II and Post-war Rotary Aircraft; MiG-3, Yak-9u, La-7, La-11, Il-2, Il-10m, Pe-2, Tu-2, Tu-4, Il-12, Il-14, AN-2, AN-14;
- Subsonic and Transonic Jet Aircraft: Bi-1, MiG-15, MiG-15UTI, MiG-27, La-15, Su-25, Yak-17, Yak-23, Yak-25, Yak-25RV, Yak-36, Yak-38, Tu-16, Tu-104, Tu-95, Tu-114, Il-28, Il-18, Il-62, 3M, M-17, Yak-40, Yak-42, An-8, An-10A, An-12, An-24, Be-12, Be-32;
- Supersonic Jet Aircraft: MiG-19, MiG-21, MiG-21 I ("Analogue"), MiG-23, MiG-25, MiG-29, "Buran", Su-7, Su-9, Su-7b, Su-7L, Su-7Bkl, Su-11, Su-15, Su-17, M, Su-100, Su-24, Su-27, La-250, Yak-27r, Yak-28L, Tu-22, Tu-22M, Tu-128, Tu-144, M-50: Helicopters: Mi-1, Mi-4, Mi-6, Mi-10, Mi-8, Mi-2, Mi-12, Mi-24A, Ka-15, and KA-18. KA-25, KA-26, Yak-24;
- Lightweight Aircraft and Trainers: "Burevestnik", UT-2, Yak-12R, Yak-11, Yak-18, Yak-18U, Yak-18PM, Yak-18T, Yak-30, Tak-50, Yak-52B, L-29 Dolphin, Stock-2;
- and many other examples of aircraft ordnance, and armament.

Colonel-General B. Korolkov is head of the Gagarin Air Force Academy. V. Kazashvili is the chief curator of the Russian Federation Air Museum of Monino.