The Soviet Air Force Since 1918

A comprehensive and detailed study of Soviet air power based on many years of research and a wide range of contemporary Russian documentary material. Covering the evolution of military aviation in the USSR from its emergence in the 1920s to the present day, this work sheds new light on the men who forged and commanded the Red Air Force in peace and war, the designers who created its aircraft, and the men who flew them. Of particular interest is new material, made available in English for the first time, revealing the havoc wrought by Stalin's 'terror purges' in the Red Air Force and the Soviet aviation industry in the late 1930s, and their detrimental effect on subsequent operational performance.
During the epic struggle against the Luftwaffe the initially catastrophic losses were made good by a ruthless production drive, concentration on a few proven aircraft types and their progressive developments. and Allied help. Within less than three years this led to a complete reversal of the balance of air power on the Eastern Front and laid the foundations of the new Soviet Air Force. An even more remarkable achievement was the rapid assimilation of the impact caused by the jet and atomic age. During the past three decades Soviet military aviation has undergone constant modernisation and expansion, and the term `MiG fighter' now has an international meaning.
In the 1970s the increasingly more efficient combination of modern tactical and strategic air forces gained a new dimension and became capable of backing up the global presence of the Soviet Navy.



by Alexander Boyd
Published by Macdonald and Janes 1977 1st edition. 259pp illustrated, index, bibliography, maps and diagrams. 16x24 fine, d/j very good.






Note:
"Long" descriptions, where shown, may have been taken from the book's dust jacket notes, and as such are relevant to the date of publication (e.g. any references to "previously unpublished photographs" etc.) and not the present.

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