Jason Nicholas Moore – författare

The Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik became the aerial representative of the Soviet response to the German invasion on the Eastern Front during the Second World War. The Il-2 was designed as a low-level close-support aircraft capable of defeating enemy armour and other ground targets. Hardly a fighter, the Il-2 was exclusively engineered to take an enormous amount of punishment and still keep the pilot, rear gunner and critical mechanical components unharmed. In the end, the Il-2 would become the most important aircraft to the Soviet Union in the defence of the homeland against advancing hordes of panzers. At its height, production of the Il-2 hit a peak of 300 aircraft per month and variants boasted potent 23-mm cannon, 200 anti-tank bomblets and 4 x 132-mm rockets. The Il-2 became a highly respected and highly feared adversary. Soviet air crews dubbed the Il-2 as the 'Flying Tank' for its incredible ability to withstand a tremendous amount of damage and still release its payload only to return home intact. Not only did its rear gunners shoot down Luftwaffe aces thanks to its 12.7 -mm machine gun, the Il-2 was also used as a fighter and German pilots were amazed to see 20-mm cannon shells bouncing off its armour plates. Crews were also known to weld additional armour to their Il-2s. The Shturmovik proved so effective that many Soviet crews were recipients of the Gold Star of Hero of the Soviet Union. Even today, the Il-2 is regarded as the Russian equivalent of the Spitfire.By the war's end, some 36,000 Il-2s were produced and became the symbol of the Eastern Front.

Although one of the best medium bombers of the Second World War, fast, tough, and with an excellent bomb load, the Tu-2 is little known in the West. This book provides a comprehensive history of this important aeroplane, complete with its developmental history in the Second World War and later, and its long postwar history, both with the Soviet Union and other countries. First produced in 1942, the Tu-2's initial production ended in 1943, then as its combat capabilities became clear, it was reinstated into production. Because of the stop in production, the Tu-2 was not used in large numbers until the last year of the war, where it proved a very useful weapon indeed. Neither its development nor production stopped with the end of the war, and it was developed into additional variants, including an all-weather fighter. In addition to its service in the Great Patriotic War, it saw service in the Korean War with the Chinese Air Force. This book also features accurate colour profiles of the Tu-2 in the colours of the various nations it was in service with postwar, as well as colour profiles from its wartime service with the Red Air Force.

The history of Soviet strategic bombers after the Second World War is a fascinating one: from the reverse-engineering of interned American Boeing B-29 bombers into the first Soviet strategic bomber, the Tu-4; to the huge jet and turbo-prop powered aircraft of today's Russian Air Force. This comprehensive history of these aircraft will deal not just with the development of aircraft that entered service, but of experimental aircraft as well, and projects that were never even built will also be explored. The service life of these bombers will be covered, including both active and retired aircraft, and their use outside of the Soviet Union, in places such as the Middle East and Afghanistan, will be described in detail. The Soviet Union built some of the first jet-powered strategic bombers, and the Tu-95 Bear, the only swept-winged turbo-prop bomber to ever enter service, remains in service to this day. Less successful aircraft, like the graceful but problem-plagued supersonic Tu-22 Blinder, and the Mach 3 Sukhoi T-4 will also be examined.

Soviet bombers were a varied lot during the Second World War, ranging from single-engined biplanes such as the 1920's era Polikarpov U-2 to the excellent and modern twin-engined Tu-2 medium bomber. Although the use of four-engined strategic bombers was mostly limited to use of the huge Pe-8 bomber, the Soviets used many other aircraft for both strategic and tactical bombing. As the bombers of the Red Air Force were mainly tasked with supporting the Red Army, most of the bombers were used for tactical bombing, attacking tanks, troop convoys, trains, and airfields. This book will deal with both strategic bombers and tactical bombers, but will concentrate on the smaller tactical bombers, as this is where the Red Air Force's emphasis lay. Such types as the Il-4, the Su-2, the aforementioned Tu-2, and the most important bomber of all, the Il-2 Shturmovik attack bomber, will be described in great detail, including not only details on the aircraft themselves, but how they were deployed in combat. The one truly strategic bomber, the Pe-8, will not be forgotten, and neither will the comparatively tiny U-2 biplane, which was so effective in its use as a night-time "nuisance" raider that the Germans copied the tactic wholesale. Accurate colour profiles in some number will accompany the text in this comprehensive work on Soviet bombers.

The Soviet Air Force had just started to re-equip with modern fighters when the Germans opened Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. Hundreds of fighters were destroyed in the first few days, but many of these were obsolete biplanes and monoplanes. The remaining fighters, including more modern types such as the MiG-3 and LaGG-3, tried to stem the Nazi advance. This book details the development of the Red Air Force fighters, from the dark days of Operation Barbarossa, to eventual triumph over the ruins of Berlin. Starting with obsolete aircraft such as the Polikarpov biplane and monoplane fighters, the Soviets then settled on two main lines of development; the inline-engined LaGG-3 and its radial-engined derivatives, the La-5 and La-7, and the inline-engined Yakovlev fighters, which were produced in greater numbers than any other series of fighters. Not only are these aircraft described in great detail, but experimental fighters are also dealt with. In addition to the descriptions, accurate colour profiles are provided illustrating the evolution of these aircraft in terms of design, camouflage, and markings. From the fixed undercarriage I-15bis biplane of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, to the superb La-7 and Yak-3 fighters of the last year of the war, the fighters of the Red Air Force are all covered in this comprehensive book.

Long-ranged maritime reconnaissance aircraft were a part of British wartime strategy since the First World War, in the form of flying boats. During the Second World War, the flying boats were increasingly replaced by land-based aircraft, such as the American Lend-Lease Flying Fortresses and Liberators. After the war, these aircraft were replaced by a purpose-built aircraft, the Avro Shackleton, which traced its ancestry through the Lincoln and Lancaster all the way back to the early Second World War bomber, the Manchester. The road from the Manchester to the Shackleton was a long one, and it is described comprehensively. The Shackleton itself went through two major changes - from the MR.1 to the MR.2, then from the MR.2 to the MR.3. Along with a detailed technical description of the Shackleton and its weaponry, photographs and accurate colour profiles accompany the text, to illustrate the Shackleton. This aircraft is compared and contrasted with its post-war piston-engined counterparts. Its former use with the United Kingdom and South Africa is also described. The current survivors, especially an MR.2 (WR963) in the United Kingdom and an AEW.2 (WL790) in the United States, are described in great detail.