Early Soviet Jet Fighters

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. This is a book which is certain to be essential reading for aviation historians, enthusiasts and modellers.

“"If you have an interest in Soviet aviation, early jets, the Cold War or military aircraft in general, you will love this book! There is much here for the modeler too, inspiration to build some of these early jets and to add the level of detail each modeler wishes! I strongly recommend this book to all as well as any other by there two authors!"”

"... a must have book for the Soviet jet enthusiast or anyone interested in the early days of jet propulsion. Most highly recommended."--Scott Van Aken "Modeling Madness" (7/8/2014 12:00:00 AM)
-- "IPMS/USA" (7/29/2014 12:00:00 AM)

Dmitriy Komissarov is rapidly establishing himself as a respected authority on Russian and Soviet aviation. He works in the publishing industry and lives in Moscow. Yefim Gordon was born in 1950 in Vilnius, Lithuania. He has been researching Soviet and Russian aviation history for more than 40 years and has one of the world's largest photograph and document archives on the subject. A professional aviation journalist and photographer since 1989, Yefim Gordon has published hundreds of features and photographs in Soviet, Russian and foreign aviation magazines. He has also authored and co-authored well over 100 books on Soviet and Russian aviation which are published in seven countries. He is a co-owner of the Moscow-based aviation publishing house Polygon Press Ltd. He is the author of previous titles in the Flight Craft series, Russian Gunship Helicopters and Soviet Spyplanes of the Cold War (both published by Pen and Sword Aviation in 2013).

This volume details the development, history, and technical specs of the earliest Soviet jet fighters and includes more than 750 photos, 50+ color profiles, as well as specially-commissioned line drawings. Many of the illustrations are from previously classified sources and unseen by enthusiasts of Cold War aircraft.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.