Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum - Me-262. Pervenets reaktivnoy ery / Me-262. The first-born of jet era, by Nikolay Yakubovich

Dear All,

Okay, as an Me 262 nutter, I just couldn't resist buying this Russian language book, although I don't speak a lick of Russian. Well, the photos are at least in English, or whatever your native tongue is. Obviously, I can't comment on the text, so will comment on the visual, save that the book is 112 pages and has a fair amount of text.

The book is printed on matte paper and photo reproduction quality is generally fair, at best. There are a few photos that appear to be new to me, such as a photo taken at the Deutches Museum of their Me 262's wing lowered to the ground after delivery from Switzerland. There are 6 color profiles, including an Me 262A and an Me 262B-1a in Russian markings, one of the benefits of buying a book in Russian. Reproduction quality for these is pretty good. There is a 1-page coverage of the J8N1 Kikka. Besides a well-known three-quarter left front view photo of a captured Me 262 in Russian markings, there is also a rear view photo of a Russian marked Me 262 I don't recall seeing before.

There is the usual assortment of side view and 3-view drawings, as well as reproductions of original drawings, these latter generally of poor quality. One side view drawing shows the Czech-built CS-92.7 with BMW 003 jet engines. "What?", I said to myself, so had to check this out. There isn't a heck of a lot of literature on the Czech-built Me 262's, but I am fortunate enough to have the article "Into the 'Turbine' Era: Czech-Built ME 262S", by Bohumir Kudlicka, Air Enthusiast, January/February 2005. Three CS-92's were built, the last being the CS-92.7. Apparently, it was originally built with Jumo 004's, but the Czech's had a great interest in the BMW 003, so they re-equipped the CS-92.7 with a pair of them. Such a drawing does not exist in the 4 articles I do have, so having this rather arcane bit show up in this Russian publication definitely adds to its credence.

I am delighted that Russia has published this work and hope that more will follow with hopefully more details on the Czech and Russian activities surrounding the Me 262's and, of course, better quality printing.

Regards,
Richard