Dariusz Paduch – författare

The IN COMBAT series is aimed for those who would like to quickly learn about fascinating history of specific vehicle, plane or ship. Every tome consist of most important information about history, versions and service of one combat machine. Book has tens of pages in A4 format and consists of dozens of interesting photos, colour illustrations, technical drawings and maps. In every tome there is a free gift in form of masks or decals for modellers. Minimonographs IN COMBAT are the answer to many requests from our readers who asked us to make such series. Yakovlev Yak-3 is considered one of the best World War 2 fighters, invariably praised by those who flew it in combat for its remarkable performance. The Germans also treated it with respect, which is perhaps best illustrated by Generalleutnant Walter Schwabedissen’s remark: The Yak-3 was a tough nut to crack for our pilots. It outperformed our machines in speed, maneuverability and rate of climb.

The MiG-3 fighter plane, like the history of the creation of the Mikoyan and Gurevich (Микоян и Гуревич) design bureau, is relatively well known to anyone interested in the history of Soviet aviation. Many books and articles have been published about this machine, but information about the circumstances of the birth of the project and the conditions of its creation are very brief and concise. MiG-1 and MiG-3 were the most numerous new generation fighters in Soviet aviation at the time of the German invasion of the USSR. They played a very important role in the first period of the war. Until now, it has been assumed in the literature that this applies mainly to the use of these aircraft during the battle of Moscow, as well as capital's and Leningrad's air defence, but MiGs also took on a large weight of air combat at the front in 1941.

Nakajima K-43 Hayabusa, code-named Oscar by the Allies, was the Imperial Japanese Army’s equivalent of the Zero fighter in service with the Imperial Navy. In combat units the machine replaced the aging Ki-27. Manufactured in large numbers, the fighter remained in frontline service until the end of the war. By the time its final version entered production, the development of its successor – the Ki-84 – had already started. The Ki-43 was a very maneuverable machine, but in many areas it was inferior to its adversaries. Despite its fragile design, poor armament and almost no armored protection, the Ki-43 was well-liked by the Japanese pilots and it became a symbol of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service. Hayabusa was the pinnacle of the Japanese fighter design development until the lessons learned in the Pacific laid the ground for new approaches to the construction of tactical aircraft.

The result of years of experimentation by the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Mitsubishi A6M Reisen is perhaps the best known Japanese World War II fighter type. The Zero, or "Zeke," in official Allied reporting, saw action in practically all battles waged by the Imperial Japanese Navy, from the attack on Pearl Harbor all the way through the defense of the Home Islands against the B-29s. During the first months of the war in the Pacific the Zero emerged as a world-class fighter, unrivaled in the air by anything the enemy could muster. However, with no worthy successor in sight, by 1943 the Zero was all but obsolete. Despite that, Japanese factories continued to build and deliver the type until the end of the war.