Soviet Strategic Aviation in the Cold War [978190210908]
Date Added: Monday 01. February, 2010
There are a number of aviation authors whose expertise on particular subjects make their books a "must buy" for particular subjects. Bill Gunston, William Green, Renee Francillon, Tony Buttler, Roy Braybrook, Doug Slowiak, Jake Melampy, Lou Drendel, or Gordon Swanborough could all be depended on to produce a readable product which informed and often amazed the reader. Add Yefim Gordon to that list. He has been doing research and collecting photos of Russian and Soviet aircraft for over 40 years, and we are now seeing the fruits of those labors over here.
Soviet Strategic Aviation was pretty much dismantled by Stalin during the Great Patriotic War, but when the war began to wind down, it became apparent that the US and Britain, although allies, would be rivals after the Nazis were defeated, especially since some of Stalin's plans weren't what the other Allies had in mind for Post-war Europe. So the Soviets began projects for intercontinental bombers. This book covers the projects and the aircraft of the Cold War period.
The best part of this book for me was that Mr. Gordon has provided a true picture of The Long Range Aviation, warts and all. He shows that not all projects were trouble-free, even the successful ones, and that bureaucratic meddling and ineptitude were big problems. The Tu-16 "Badger" was first shown at the fly past for the May Day parade in 1954. Test pilot Mikhail A. Nyukhtikov was ordered to fly past the top of Lenin's tomb, where Iosif Stalin would be reviewing the parade, at eye level for Stalin. Whoever gave this order failed to take into consideration St. Basil's cathedral at the other end of the square. Nyukhtikov couldn't disobey the order, but he fudged it, not going as low as ordered, and then firewalling the throttles as he passed the reviewing stand, putting on a loud and impressive show. No one bothered to ask why he had not followed his orders to the letter.
I'm impressed by this picture. It shows a 3M "Bison" parked on a taxiway. Well, the main gear is on the taxiway. The outriggers are nowhere near the pavement. Obviously this aircraft would be a true treat to handle on the ground if there was snow or mud. I'm quite sure that former pilots of B-47s and Bisons would have a goodly number of "there I was" stories about the joys of landing and taxiing an aircraft with bicycle landing gear and outriggers.
As an aviation history, this book has lots of information and great stories. But as a modeler's reference, it's also very useful. There are 3-view line drawings to allow the "rivet counters" to assess shape and angle errors on kits, and color profiles for each type of aircraft covered in the book, from the Tu-4 "Bull" to the Tu-160 "Blackjack". There are over 500 photos, and just for fun, I checked the color profiles against the photos in the book. Every one of those profiles is backed somewhere by a photo. There may be some interpretation by the artist, but there's no evidence of anyone making rash assumptions about the colors or markings involved. Of course, it helps that the only bomber not in natural metal is the Tu-22 "Backfire".
There are other fascinating stories in there. Need an aircraft to test the new 50 megaton "super bomb"? Here's your chance to make use of that "hangar queen" that's been nothing but a pain for the Maintenance Officer for months. That's just what the unit assigned to do the air test did. And it was a good thing, as the electromagnetic pulse from the bomb completely fried the wiring of the Tu-95 which carried it, making it totally unusable from then on.
Conclusion
If you're interested in the Cold War, Soviet aviation, nuclear weapons, or just "gee whiz" stories, it's in there for you in this book. With the high number of pictures, this originally looked like a book which would have lots of pictures and captions, but not much else. As I read through the text, it became more and more interesting as a history. The pictures sometimes get in the way of easily reading those great stories, but it's worth the trouble. It's not just a modeler's reference, it's a good history too.
I have built some of the aircraft covered by this book, but now I'm going to have to raid the stash and build more. And my Christmas list grows ever longer.
Reviewed By Jim Pearsall www.ipmsusa2.org
Soviet Strategic Aviation was pretty much dismantled by Stalin during the Great Patriotic War, but when the war began to wind down, it became apparent that the US and Britain, although allies, would be rivals after the Nazis were defeated, especially since some of Stalin's plans weren't what the other Allies had in mind for Post-war Europe. So the Soviets began projects for intercontinental bombers. This book covers the projects and the aircraft of the Cold War period.
The best part of this book for me was that Mr. Gordon has provided a true picture of The Long Range Aviation, warts and all. He shows that not all projects were trouble-free, even the successful ones, and that bureaucratic meddling and ineptitude were big problems. The Tu-16 "Badger" was first shown at the fly past for the May Day parade in 1954. Test pilot Mikhail A. Nyukhtikov was ordered to fly past the top of Lenin's tomb, where Iosif Stalin would be reviewing the parade, at eye level for Stalin. Whoever gave this order failed to take into consideration St. Basil's cathedral at the other end of the square. Nyukhtikov couldn't disobey the order, but he fudged it, not going as low as ordered, and then firewalling the throttles as he passed the reviewing stand, putting on a loud and impressive show. No one bothered to ask why he had not followed his orders to the letter.
I'm impressed by this picture. It shows a 3M "Bison" parked on a taxiway. Well, the main gear is on the taxiway. The outriggers are nowhere near the pavement. Obviously this aircraft would be a true treat to handle on the ground if there was snow or mud. I'm quite sure that former pilots of B-47s and Bisons would have a goodly number of "there I was" stories about the joys of landing and taxiing an aircraft with bicycle landing gear and outriggers.
As an aviation history, this book has lots of information and great stories. But as a modeler's reference, it's also very useful. There are 3-view line drawings to allow the "rivet counters" to assess shape and angle errors on kits, and color profiles for each type of aircraft covered in the book, from the Tu-4 "Bull" to the Tu-160 "Blackjack". There are over 500 photos, and just for fun, I checked the color profiles against the photos in the book. Every one of those profiles is backed somewhere by a photo. There may be some interpretation by the artist, but there's no evidence of anyone making rash assumptions about the colors or markings involved. Of course, it helps that the only bomber not in natural metal is the Tu-22 "Backfire".
There are other fascinating stories in there. Need an aircraft to test the new 50 megaton "super bomb"? Here's your chance to make use of that "hangar queen" that's been nothing but a pain for the Maintenance Officer for months. That's just what the unit assigned to do the air test did. And it was a good thing, as the electromagnetic pulse from the bomb completely fried the wiring of the Tu-95 which carried it, making it totally unusable from then on.
Conclusion
If you're interested in the Cold War, Soviet aviation, nuclear weapons, or just "gee whiz" stories, it's in there for you in this book. With the high number of pictures, this originally looked like a book which would have lots of pictures and captions, but not much else. As I read through the text, it became more and more interesting as a history. The pictures sometimes get in the way of easily reading those great stories, but it's worth the trouble. It's not just a modeler's reference, it's a good history too.
I have built some of the aircraft covered by this book, but now I'm going to have to raid the stash and build more. And my Christmas list grows ever longer.
Reviewed By Jim Pearsall www.ipmsusa2.org
Rating: 
[5 of 5 Stars!]
[5 of 5 Stars!]
