Early Soviet Jet Fighters: The 1940s and Early 1950s, Vol. 4 (Red Star) - Softcover

Gordon, Yefim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1857801393 ISBN 13: 9781857801392

Publisher: Midland Publishing, 2002

Synopsis

This charts the development and service history of the first-generation Soviet jet fighters designed by such renowned fighter makers as Mikoyan, Yakovlev and Sukhoi, as well as design bureau no longer in existence--the Lavochkin and Alekseyev OKBs, during the 1940s and early 1950s. Each type is detailed and compared to other contemporary jet fighters. As ever the extensive photo coverage includes much which is previously unseen.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

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 recognized 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 Labor 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.

About the Author:

Yefim Gordon is one of Russia’s leading aviation writers and publishers.  He is the author of many books on Soviet aviation and currently lives in Moscow.

About this edition

• Publisher: Midland Publishing
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1857801393
• ISBN 13: 9781857801392
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128