Beautifully illustrated with many rare and unpublished photographs, Soviet Cold War Fighters looks at the main development periods of Soviet fighter designs and covers all the important features and developments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 - that 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.
Mr. Greer outlines the not well-known aircraft and activities of the United States Air Force's all-weather fighters during the first part of the Cold War. He covers the organization, development and decline of the all-weather force in response to the Soviet Union's long-range strategic bomber force equipped with atomic weapons. The author describes not only the individual aircraft from the early night fighters of World War II through the F-106A of the seventies and beyond but also the control organization that directed them until the whole operation was made superfluous by the ballistic missile standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union in the latter half of the Cold War.
At the peak of the Cold War in the 1950s the Soviet Union possessed some 12,000 aircraft, making it the largest air force of all the protagonists. By the 1990s this had declined to around 8,000, the reduction largely reflecting the increase in aircraft capability. As well as fighters and bombers, the Soviet inventory included trainers, transports, seaplanes, electronic warfare and ground attack aircraft, as well as an impressive helicopter fleet, notably the Mi-24 ‘Hind’ gunship and the massive Homer transport. The Tu-4 ‘Bull’ was the first Russian nuclear-capable bomber, a copy of the US B-29, which was followed by their range of jet bombers, the Il-28 ‘Beagle’, Tu-16 ‘Badger’ and M-4 ‘Bison’. The prop driven Tu-20 ‘Bear’ and its successors including the Tu-22 ‘Backfire’ and finally the Tu-160 ‘Backfire’, were all formidable. The jet-engined MiG-15 fighter entered service in 1948 and proved itself during the Korean War. The MiG-17, MiG-19 and MiG-21 followed . Ground-attack aircraft included the Su-7 ‘Fitter’ and M-23 ‘Flogger’. The 1970s saw the MiG-25 ‘Foxbat’ interceptor, followed by the MiG-29 ‘Fulcrum’ and Su-27 ‘Flanker’, coming into service. All these aircraft and many more are authoritatively described and vividly illustrated in this comprehensive work.
By the end of 1941 the Soviet Union was near collapse and its air force almost annihilated, leaving large numbers of surviving pilots with no aircraft to fly. To help prevent this collapse the UK eventually supplied a total of 4300 Hurricanes and Spitfires to the USSR. After the United States entered the war, the Americans extended Lend-lease to include direct supply to the Soviets as well as the British, and among the aircraft sent were almost 10,000 fighters. Although the aircraft were outdated and often unsuitable to Russian conditions, they served when they were needed, and a number of Russian pilots became Heroes of the Soviet Union flying Lend-lease aircraft. The Soviet government tried to conceal or minimize the importance of Lend-lease fighters well into the 1980s, and the pilots who flew them were discriminated against as 'foreigners'. Only in recent years have these pilots felt free to admit what they flew, and now the fascinating story of these men can emerge.
“A good look at the MiG-25 recce birds...Definitely recommended!”—Cybermodeler “Spy in the Sky” matters have long been a source of fascination for aircraft enthusiasts, historians, and modelers, and none more so than the elusive and secretive Soviet types of the Cold War era. Here, Yefim Gordon presents a range of such types, in a collection of photographs, profiles, and line drawings together with supplementary text detailing the history of each craft, encompassing the various developmental milestones, successes, and pitfalls experienced along the way. The Soviet Union’s two dedicated spyplane types, the Yakovlev Yak-25RV “Mandrake” (the Soviet equivalent of the Lockheed U-2) and the MiG-25R “Foxbat” are profiled, supplemented by details garnered from a host of original sources. Well-illustrated histories and structural analyses are set alongside detailed descriptions of the various plastic scale model kits that have been released, along with commentary concerning their accuracy and available modifications and decals. With an unparalleled level of visual information—paint schemes, models, line drawings and photographs—it is simply the best reference for any model-maker setting out to build a variant of this iconic craft.
The first recipient of Soviet military hardware in the Americas was Cuba in 1959. Since then the Cuban Air Force has operated the MiG-15 to the MiG-29, An-26 and Il-76MD transports and more. Cuban combat aircraft have seen action against the ships and aircraft used by the CIA in its subversive activities against Cuba. Other Latin American nations have also ordered Russian military aircraft - based on common sense and economic expediency rather than political affiliations. These include Mexico; Brazil; neighboring Colombia; the Argentina Air Force and Bolivia which is among the latest customers for the Mi-17, with plans to use for drug-busting operations. Another major customer for Soviet aircraft was Peru, which ordered An-26 and An-32 transports, MiG-29 fighters, Su-20/Su-22 fighter-bombers and Su-25 attack aircraft. Peruvian Su-22s have been involved in the border conflict with neighboring Ecuador and Soviet aircraft (notably Mi-17 and Mi-24 helicopters) have been actively used by the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua against the US-backed Contras insurgents during the civil war. More recently, Venezuela, another country noted for its anti-US stance, purchased a large batch of Su-30MKV multi-role fighters, as well as Mi-17 and Mi-26 helicopters. Written by the acknowledged experts in the field and illustrated throughout with photographs and color artwork, this is the definitive record of Soviet and Russian military aircraft and their combat operations in this region.
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.
In this stunning exposé, Dmitry Zubov reveals the dark truth of the terrible losses suffered by Soviet flyers, the inferiority of the Russian aircraft on World War II's Eastern Front, and the almost slave-like conditions in which those aircraft were made. The Soviet history of the Second World War, written under the conditions of a totalitarian regime, reflected all its features, with the result that it includes solid sets of patriotic fables that have no connection with reality. Many of the events of the war were distorted beyond recognition or even made up from beginning to end. Archives containing original documents were available only to selected, specially verified KGB ‘historians’ who presented only the version of the war that was acceptable to the Soviet regime. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the process of declassifying archives and gaining wide access to information gradually began to reveal the terrible truth of the crimes of the Soviet regime. One of which, of course, was the incompetent leadership of the Red Army, which led to massive loss of life across the military and civilians alike. However, the consequences of decades of Soviet propaganda had a strong impact on both Russian and world historical science. Because of this, not only Russian, but, unfortunately, many European and American historians found themselves repeating the Soviet myths they had been fed. The history of Soviet fighter aircraft did not escape this fate. The tale of Stalin’s so-called ‘Falcons’, who allegedly shot down dozens and even hundreds of Luftwaffe aircraft, was persistently drummed into the heads of many generations of Russian people. These heroes, supposedly, flew Soviet fighters whose technical characteristics were many times superior to their German counterparts, with the result that Luftwaffe aces were reportedly afraid of meeting them in the air. These primitive propaganda clichés became a model for describing the actions of Stalin’s fighter aircraft. In this stunning exposé, Stalin’s Falcons reveals the stark and dark truth of the terrible losses suffered by Soviet flyers, the inferiority of the Russian aircraft and the almost slave-like conditions in which those aircraft were made.
