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.