Mikhail Bykov: The Aircraft of Soviet Aces

[Frank Olynyk]

I have just received a new book by Mikhail Bykov, titled Samoleti Sovetskih Asov (The Aircraft of Soviet Aces). It is bilingual, Russian and English. Hard pictorial cover, no dust jacket, 197 by 255 mm (thus roughly 8 by 10 inches). 160 pages. 148 aces covered, with 150 color profiles. Almost all aces have a photo of the ace (3 exceptions), plus a photograph of the aircraft profiled (2 exceptions). There is a 4 page discussion of markings in Russian, with a 3.5 page English translation. There is no list of victories (how much can you fit into a bilingual 8 by 10 inch page), but see his 2014 book (All Stalin's Aces -- not bilingual!).

Highly recommended.

As a little statistical exercise, I counted the number of profiles of each aircraft type. Thus: I-153 (1), I-16 (4), P-39 (32), P-400 (2), P-40 (7), Hurricane (1), MiG-3 (4), Yak-1 (20), Yak-3 (6), Yak-7 (6), Yak-9 (19), LaGG-3 (9), La-5 (7), La-5F (8), La-5FN (12, thus a total of 27 for La-5 types), La-7 (12).

I purchased my copy from Viktor Kulikov in Moscow (email: viktor_kulikov@mail.ru). The cost was $29US, including air mail. Took less than two weeks to arrive. Payment for me was by PayPal to a friend of Viktor's in the US. I do not know how he handles payment from the Eurozone, or the UK (or any other currencies). He may still be able to get Bykov's 2014 book on Soviet aces (All Stalin's Aces). He may also have a list of available books.

I have bought books from Viktor for many years, with no problems.

Enjoy!

Frank.

[Juha]

Hello Frank
Thanks a lot for the very interesting info!

Juha

[Jim Oxley]

Interesting that the P-39 has the most profiles. Given that it wasn't the most widely used fighter, I find that interesting.

But then again, a lot of aces flew the Airacobra.

[Mirek Wawrzynski]

See more details about a book in Russia:

http://www.labirint.ru/books/540514/


mw

[Mirek Wawrzynski]

Interesting that the P-39 has the most profiles. Given that it wasn't the most widely used fighter, I find that interesting.

What's so strange, the plane was very strong (the full metal), heavily armed, good performance and had a good air radio (plus wide and comfort cabine). In comparison with Soviet aircraft construction made from wood, and metal have much greater reliability and durability.

Russians much priced it just for that certainty and reliability. So much and so many.

It was harder to yourself killed in a plane crash of the reasons for poor construction. Soviet Aces from combat values just prefered P-39 then Yaks or Ła-5 or so on. There were many cases of not combat air crashes in own planes. A few tousends Soviet pilot were killed in such "stupid" accident in combat units.

After the war in 1946 or so were accuesd for low quality of own combat planes and many killed and injured pilots top commanders of VVS KA and industry including air marschal A.A. Nowikov.


regards,
mw

[Juha]

Originally Posted by Jim Oxley

Interesting that the P-39 has the most profiles. Given that it wasn't the most widely used fighter, I find that interesting.

But then again, a lot of aces flew the Airacobra.

Yes, and many of them were among the top Soviet aces. Three (2nd, 3rd and 5th) of the five top Soviet aces got most of their kills while flying Airacobra. And in fact Yaks have the most profiles. IMHO there was at least as much common between Yak-1 and Yak-9P as between Spitfire Mk I and XXI.