Lend-Lease and Soviet Aviation in the Second World War Hardcover – February 7, 2018

IMHO, Helion Books has published another "must have" account of the Eastern Front. I found Kotelnikov's book to be extremely well researched, well organized, credible, and fairly easy to read despite the multitude of technical details. The latter observation is especially noteworthy as I did not see any translator credit, which I assume means Kotelnikov provided Helion with an english language manuscript. Don't get me wrong, the author's english prose is not perfect (I am still perplexed what a "mast with acorn button" is after reading about an A-20 pressed its attack on a German ship so fiercely that the leading edge of one wing had a piece of the vessel stuck to it), but its better than other books by non-native English speakers. The introductory chapter is relatively brief but to the point. The author notes that Soviet pilots were using Western built aircraft long before the Germans invaded their country on 22 June 1941. British aircraft companies were particularly aggressive with their marketing of fighter, bomber, and transport aircraft during the 1920s and 30s. The Russians, however, seemed more interested in American designs, which they were prevented from procuring for the most part due to U.S. government policies prior to Franklin Roosevelt's election in 1933. Thereafter Soviet aeronautical engineers were frequent visitors to the USA, where they toured aircraft industries in addition to inspecting various types of military aircraft. During the 1937 - 38 timeframe, the Soviets were able to purchase the rights to produce five types of American aircraft, to include the PBY flying boat and DC-3 transport. Chapter 2 is entitled "What is Lend Lease?" followed by Chapter 3 "The Long Ways" discussing routes that lend lease aircraft took on their journey to the Soviet Union, Chapter 4 "A Few Words About Figures," Chapter 5 - Specific Peculiarities of Imported Aircraft, their Modifications and Conversions (the Soviets did a lot of tinkering with Lend Lease planes), and Chapter 6 entitled "Mastering the Imported Aircraft." Most of these chapters are relatively brief running 8 - 10 pages with the exception of Chapter 3 which runs 31 pages. It seems the delivery routes and means varied widely based on the type of aircraft. Chapter 7, which forms the core of the book given it numbers no less than 363 pages, goes into various individual types of aircraft provided by British and American lend lease. These include Hurricanes, Spitfires, Curtiss P-40s, Bell P-39 and P-63 fighters, Douglas A-20 Bostons, North American B-25s, Handley Page Hampdens, Short Stirlings, Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, DeHavilland Mosquitos, North American P-51 Mustangs and a number of trainer, transport and flying boats. Chapter 8 - which is approximately 46 pages long and intriguingly entitled "Those That Came by Chance" examines the allied aircraft that landed in the Soviet Union due to battle damage or other wartime related causes. They include Lockheed P-38 Lightnings, Boeing B-17s, Consolidated B-24s, Boeing B-29s, Lockheed PV-1 Venturas and the Avro Lancaster!! The book wraps up with Chapter 9 - Lend-Lease and the Soviet Aviation Industry, Chapter 10 - Relations with the Allies in Aviation Engine Building, and Chapter 11 - The End of Lend Lease. There are numerous rare and interesting photographs of many if not all of the aircraft discussed in Chapters 7 and 8. They alone are almost worth the price of the book! Some of the many facts that I found fascinating included: Several thousand P-63 Kingcobras remained in service with the Soviet Air Force until 1950. They were eventually phased out by the newly introduced jet fighters. Interestingly, the Soviets employed P-63s as primary trainers for jet fighter regiments because they had tricycle landing gear like the MiGs. P-63s were also pitted against MiG-9 jets in mock combat trials held near Moscow in 1947. The Kingcobras constantly got the upper hand in dogfighting but the MiG-9s were able to use their superior speed to break off when they were put at a disadvantage. An extremely worthwhile purchase for anyone interested in combat operations on the Eastern Front, Lend Lease, or Soviet aviation in general. Highly recommended.

This is an outstanding book on the subject! It couldn’t have been published until after the collapse of the former USSR. It provides a very objective discussion of the types, quantities, qualities, modifications, and effects on the Soviet aircraft industry. There is also a chapter on the aircraft engine designs that were supplied with the aircraft.I thought the most interesting parts were the descriptions of the modifications that the Soviets had to perform in order to make the British and US aircraft functional under Eastern Front combat and weather conditions. The western aircraft just weren’t designed and built to operate under -40° C temperatures. Fuel, oil lubricant, and engine radiator cooling piping had to be insulated. Often, the US or British weapons were removed and replaced with Soviet guns because a reliable supply of the associated ammunition could not be guaranteed. Engine seals and gaskets had to be replaced with Soviet materials because the original materials could not withstand the cold.Certain design features of the western aircraft just weren’t suitable or appropriate for Soviet combat conditions. Landing gear were too delicate to operate on uneven dirt airfields. High-altitude and long range were unnecessary in Soviet combat conditions, where most of the aerial combat took place below an altitude of 5000 meters (16,500 feet) and occurred over the battlefield or no more than 100 miles beyond it. The American P-51 “Mustang” may have been a great aircraft in western Europe but it was almost useless on the Eastern Front where maneuverability was a prime requirement.The book describes the combat service and the VVS air units that used the aircraft. It also discusses the Soviet evaluations of the American and British aircraft. All the aircraft were tested and evaluated at LII and NII VVS.Some of the significant aircraft supplied to the Soviet Union were:• Britain: Hurricane, Spitfire, Hampden, Albemarle.• US: P-39, P-40, P-63, A-20, B-25, C-47, PBN and PBY-6A “Catalinas,” and OS2U-3 “Kingfishers.” A few P-47s and P-51s were supplied. Some examples of AT-6 “Texan” trainers and P-38 “Lightnings” were also provided. The story of the interned B-29s that the Soviets copied to make their Tu-4 bomber is also briefly told.Approximately 18,700 aircraft were supplied to the Soviet Union.A couple of other books related to this subject are:• “Russia’s Life-Saver: Lend-Lease Aid to the USSR in World War II” by Weeks (2004). This is an excellent account of the lend-lease effort to the Soviet Union. The book discusses a variety of subjects: ammunition, aircraft, industrial equipment, tanks, and so forth. There is considerable discussion on the influence of the aid on campaigns on the Eastern Front.• “Tupolev Tu-4: The First Soviet Strategic Bomber” by Gordon, Komissarov, and Rigmant (2014). The book describes everything you would ever want to know about the Russian / Soviet Tu-4 bomber developed from the American B-29 from about 1945 to 1947. I found Chapter 2 on the reverse engineering effort and Chapter 3 on the production effort the most interesting.

Not a cheap book but gets into the weeds about the Lend Lease program to Soviet Russia in WWII.

To find more about the P-39 and the P-63.

Received as a gift.Up until now, the generally available books on Lend-Lease Aircraft in English were US Aircraft in the Soviet Union and Russia, by Gordon and the Komissarov’s which covered a much larger period of time, and the books by Pearcy and Butler which were more UK centric and did not cover the odd-ball one-offs that made into the Soviet Union like the Armstrong-Whitworth Albemarle, the Lockheed Ventura or Supermarine Walrus.Mr. Kotelnikov remedies this with a great volume that also provides insight to Soviet design practices and design philosophies that came into play as they received the American and British Lend-Lease aircraft and how best to utilize them. Each aircraft receives coverage of the Soviet analysis and how it was adapted. For example, the De Havilland Mosquito gets 3.75 pages of excellent coverage including a brief discussion of the evaluation performed by TsAGI.There are a few minor translation errors as in describing a belly landing or ground loop as “crawled further on its belly”, but nothing that hinders the book in any way.There’s not much here for the modeler aside from 29 pages of color plates that predominantly heavy on Bell aircraft and variants of the Consolidated Catalina. One thing I would have liked to seen was some detail photographs of the installation of the re-engined M105 engine as discussed on page 169 and again on pages 174-175.As of the date of this review, this is undoubtedly the best easily available English language publication on the Soviet use of Lend-Lease aircraft. This is a must buy for anyone interested in Lend-Lease aircraft or WWII Soviet aviation.

This book is a first-rate study about Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union in the form of Aircraft provided to them during the Second World War. This brick-like volume contains 656 pages, jammed with black and white photographs & charts, as well a detailed written text and 100 side-view colour plates depicting various aircraft types as they appeared while in Soviet service. I've long held an interest in the aid provided to Russia during WW2 under Lend Lease, and this is the most comprehensive work I've come across on the subject of the aircraft provided to Russia by the Allies. If I had one quibble with this work it would have to be with the format (size) of the book, which is a bit smaller than I would have preferred -- but that being said, it's a small quibble to say the least. A larger format would have done more justice to some of the photographs and would have been especially beneficial in giving the lovely colour side plates their due. That being said, this is well worth the price of admission if the subject matter is of interest to you. Amazon also featured this book very competitively priced compared to other sources -- in fact, Amazon.ca had the best price, hands down!

Si tratta di un’opera veramente completa e ben fatta, consigliata a tutti gli appassionati della materia.

A beautifull book ,well written and many rare pictures.If you have an interest in soviet aviation ,this book is a must.The price is good.This book has a place in my Soviet section.

Everything you ever wanted to know about lend lease aircraft in Soviet service; the most interesting part is to see the view that they took on various models and of their equipment; for instance that the bombers were heated or that the cockpit plexiglass was very transparent and did not crack.It speaks volumes about the technical situation in the VVS during the war.Can't tecommend it enough to any serious student of the Ostfront.

Fantastic book - worth the price to anyone interested in Soviet air force in WWII.