[Richard T. Eger]

Dear All,

I finally received my copy earlier this month and now, with Christmas behind me, have had a chance to read into it.

My interest is in the "Turbina" portion, although I was intrigued enough to read the section on the S-199's used in Israel's War of Independence. In both cases, I feel that the author, Bohumir Kudlicka, has done a very good job of research.

In the "Turbina" section, he starts out with wartime production of Me 262's and their components in Czechoslovakia. Me 262 production information is a subset of the Me 262's history that is of particular interest to me. He then goes onto describe in detail the postwar history of the Me 262's built, now identified as S-92's for the fighter version and CS-92's for the trainer version, noting when each of the 10 aircraft built became available and was first test flown. Essentially, the 10 aircraft were used to train pilots in the Czech Air Force on jet aircraft, much as the French used their captured German jet aircraft. Specific flights, pilots, and commanders are cited. There is even a section on a proposed sale of S-92's to Yugoslavia. There are many photos I have not seen before. From this book, I now know where some of the photos in my collection were actually taken.

As for the S-199, a Czech built version of the Bf 109, it is amazing how close to the bone the nascent Israeli Air Force was in fighting off its neighbors once it declared itself a state. There were very limited numbers of S-199's flyable at any one time and it was a very unforgiving aircraft to fly. The wing guns would jam and the engine gun failed frequently to synchronize with the propeller. Take-off and landing accidents were rampant. World powers tried to block Israel from receiving combat aircraft. Pilots came from both Israel and around the world to fight for the new found state. From the harrowing tales in this book, it is amazing that Israel wasn't still-borne.

Slight drawbacks to the book include that the English is sometimes a bit fractured, but still easily readable. The author refers to a brake for the Jumo 004 jet engines, when it is very likely he means a test stand. Some of the photos could certainly be of higher quality, but then the originals may have been wanting to start with. Photo printing could have been better. One annoying aspect of the book is the artsy graying of the background toward each page's outside edge. Missing are either an acknowledgements section or a bibliography, although the author appears to have really researched his material.

All in all, it is a worthy addition to the library of anyone interested in this area of history.

Regards,
Richard