"...an excellent survey of Soviet Air Force and Naval Aviation equipment during the Cold War."

The Journal of the Air Force Historical Foundation

"...a praiseworthy examination of the evolution of the Soviet air force throughout the Cold War."

Journal of Military History

It is fascinating to speculate that when author Michael Green set out to write this book it was as an historical reference work of a long-past Cold War. Now, little more than one year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, quite a number of those aircraft – even the veteran Tu-95 ‘Bear’ – are operational in a very ‘Hot War!’

The wider world had observed towards the end of WW2, the impact of German and British operational jet aircraft and the Soviet Union had succeeded in acquiring significant amounts from the German side, both as hardware and research documentation – not least an entire development department amounting to thousands of personnel – and by 1946 the first fruits of this, the Mig-9 had flown.

However, despite this apparent gift, Stalin was realistic concerning the Soviet Union’s technical capabilities and, rather than attempting to produce direct copies of existing German jets, the first significant Soviet jet fighter, the Mig-15, came with a copy of the more reliable British jet engine. Nevertheless it was to prove a shock to the Western allies when encountered in the Korean War.

This profoundly researched and beautifully illustrated publication, which the author chooses to sub-divide into aircraft types - not neglecting to mention the contributions made by Western production hardware and software which the Soviets were intelligent enough to procure for ostensibly non-military uses - covers in some detail, the vast investment which the former Soviet Union dedicated to its military. A tour de force!

Philip Styles - Archivist – The Shackleton Assn.