Kamov design bureau was established in late 1940s after successful demonstration of single engine ultra-light Ka-8 type and its improved derivate Ka-10, which was maiden flown on 30th of August 1949. Both were rather experimental types used for exploring of options how to utilize the helicopter and the latter one was adopted by the Soviet naval aviation into the regular service. Due to small dimensionsand small footprint given by coaxial rotors Ka-10s were for the first time deployed on Soviet Navy vessels and gave to both Experimental design bureau OKB Kamov and Soviet Navy valuable expertise with maritime helicopter operation. In total four helicopters weretest flown by the naval aviators with following order for ten serial ships. However, due to uncovered cockpit both types were really limited in its operational use and it just gave the background for further helicopter design for Kamov.

Mil design bureau, led by Mikhail Leonteyevich Mil, was one of the leading soviet plants promoting combination of helicopters and firepower. Mil was personally involved in the development of pre-war A-7 autogyro equipped with machine gun for its own defence and two more for ground targets destroying. However, this type did not reach mass production. But Mil was since that time thinking about arming the rotorcraft, especially after his practise during design of several Bratukhin helicopters, of which some models were intended for artillery spotting and clearly showed that helicopter can play an important role in the army and can be a part of front lineunits. When the Mi-1 helicopter was test flown for the first time on 20th of September 1948, it was clear a very versatile type was born. It became the first mass produced soviet helicopter with vide variety of special variants both for civil and military applications. It has just entered the regular service with the Soviet Army, when US forces used their Bell OH-13s for attack missions in Korean War.

North American P-51 Mustang, famed for its service in the US Army Air Force as a long-rage escort fighter over westernEurope, was no less successful in the other three major combat areas of World War Two: the Mediterranean, the China-Burma-India and the Pacific Theaters of Operations.

This publication is mainly devoted to the Marks IX and XVI of Supermarine Spitfire. The 20 page, A4 size booklet contains 15 sheets of 1:72 scale drawings with specification of external changes in various versions of the aircraft and colour profiles of 5 planes, all with English and Polish captions. Also attached are 3 folded A2 size sheets with 1:32, 1:48 and 1:72 scale drawings printed on their both sides. A masking foil sheet for painting the canopies of 1:32 Tamiya’s Spitfire Mk. IXc is a free addition.

The World War 2 fighters designed by A.S. Yakovlev’s and his team are rightfully considered the weapon of the Victory in the history of the Soviet Union and Russia. Their speed, maneuverability and firepower made them famous over the Eastern front. Yet until present days historians and aviation enthusiast continue to debate whether the design of these machines was adequate. The goal of this book is not to end these debates, but rather to present as precisely as the documents available to the authors allow the story of the first aircraft in the long lineage of Yakovlev’s fighters – the Yak-1 . Many new, sometimes unexpected facts about this important machine are presented in this book.

The pursuit of better performance continued until all the possibilities for improvement were literally squeezed out of the Yak-1’s mixed design characterized by an all-wooden wing. In the process, alterations to the basic design gave birth to new, more advanced types – the Yak-9 in 1942 and Yak-3 in 1944. Still, given the high degree of manufacturing optimization achieved at Saratov factory, it was decided to keep the fighter that was rapidly becoming obsolete in production. Its latest version – the Yak-1b – contributed significantly to the wartime effort of the Soviet Union. These developments as well as some interesting facts from the Yak-1/1b history are covered in the current volume.

Joe Singleton was an unlikely hero. A junior manager at a paints and varnish company at the outbreak of war, he was surprised to discover he had a hidden talent for flying. Despite RAF Fighter Squadrons crying out for replacements after the carnage of the Battle of Britain, Joe was posted to the rapidly developing world of night fighting. He flew first Defiants then Beaufighters as the technological race to field effective night fighters hotted up leading to the first tentative attempts to put radar inside an aircraft. He found himself in the thick of the very earliest stages of ground controlled interception and airborne radar engagements. But the grind of fruitless searches and patrols only served to highlight the futility of lives lost in training and the inherent dangers of flying at night with relatively primitive equipment. His skills finally began to bear fruit when piloting a Mosquito and he took place in several successful missions. But the pinnacle came on the night of 19th March 1944 when he scrambled to intercept a big German raid on Hull and he located and shot down a Junkers 188, then went on to shoot down two more, all in the space of thirteen dramatic minutes. He and his navigator survived the crash-landing that ensued, and he went on to be feted as a national hero. Three in Thirteen is a unique sortie-by-sortie account of his journey from bewildered recruit to celebrated expert, illustrated with extracts from Joe’s RAF logbook, and unpublished photographs and illustrations. Roger Dunsford’s extensive experience as an RAF pilot brings a vivid immediacy to Joe’s experiences combined with astute analysis of the planes, the tactics and the events of that fateful night.

The German assault on Denmark and Norway in April 1940 effectively cut off all surface communications between neutral Sweden and the Western Allies. Diplomats and VIPs still needed to travel to and from Sweden and exports and imports of highly valuable goods needed to be maintained. To gain support for the war against an all-conquering Germany, it was also important to give the Swedish public the opportunity to read British newspapers and magazines. The only realistic way to maintain these links between Sweden and Britain was by air, and a civilian service was immediately established by BOAC. This book covers the history of the flights and the aircraft used. It also has details of the markings and color schemes throughout the war, illustrated with many rare wartime photos and color profiles by the author of all the aircraft types. The BOAC link between Sweden and Britain originally operated by Lockheed Super Electras.Throughout the war, a variety of aircraft would also operate the service, including Hudson, Lodestar, Whitley, Dakota, Liberator and of course the Mosquito, all being demilitarized as the Swedes did not allow armed aircraft to operate on their airfields. From the Norwegian perspective, and helping the allied war effort, the thousands of young Norwegians who fled to Sweden were keen to join the Allied fight against the Nazis. Unhappy with the lack of capacity provided by BOAC, a Norwegian transport unit was established, operating as a detachment of BOAC set up with the focus on carrying people. Keen to keep up exports and allowing Swedish nationals the freedom to travel, Swedish airline AB Aerotransport established their own service to Britain in 1942 with DC-3s, and later B-17s converted to carry passengers and cargo. From 1944, the USAAF Air Transport Command established their service to fly out Norwegian refugees and to return interned bomber crews, operating civilian registered CB-24, C-87 and C-54."The Stockholm Run" book by Nils Mathisrud was awarded the best Swedish aviation book of the year, 2017.

With 158 victories under his belt and dying in the Egyptian sky on the 30th of September, 1942, aged only 22, Hans-Joachim Marseille became a legend of the World War II aviation. Besides his being an exceptional pilot, he owes his reputation to his unconventionality and aversion to authority, which caused him much trouble with his superiors; his chivalrous attitude, moreover, led him to return to his base with a wounded enemy or a damaged plane on several occasions. This behaviour and his formidable combat skills made him famous in Germany as well as among allied pilots, who both respected and feared him. Having collected testimonies from veterans who experienced Marseille, American authors Colin D. Heaton and Anne-Marie Lewis wrote an extremely well-documented biography that traces the short but intense life of this unique aviator, who entered the Hall of Fame or fighter pilots at only 22 years old.

Here is an authentic memoir of a remarkably wide range of Western Front experience from the very beginning of the Great War until the end. Strange was 23 years old when he learned to fly, and was at the Central Flying School when war broke out. He hurriedly packed his kit and reported to Royal Flying Corps headquarters, to join No. 5 Squadron. He was on active duty throughout the whole of the war, seeing service over the Western Front from August 1914 until the enemy’s surrender. In 1915 Strange transferred to No.6 Squadron and went on to form and command No.23 Squadron, but due to illness he did not accompany it to France. There followed a valuable period training others, taking charge of the Machine-Gun School at Hythe, and also other schools of aerial gunnery, before he returned to the Front. There he commanded the 23rd Wing, and finally took command of the 80th Wing from June 1918 until the end of the war. Along the way we see no shortage of insight into exactly how Allied airmen eventually prevailed. Strange died aged 75 in 1966, having continued his association with aviation over the years and adding a Bar to his DFC in the Second World War.

In The Way of the Eagle, Philadelphia native Charles Biddle ’s account of flying in World War I, we have a classic aviation memoir, long out of print, that provides new insights into America’s participation in the Great War.Biddle volunteered and was active in France from 1917, where he flew as a volunteer, initially for the French in Escadrille 73, and then in the American 103rd Aero Squadron (the Lafayette Escadrille), and then the 13th Aero Squadron and 4th Pursuit Group (which he commanded).His memoir was published shortly after his return to the United States and so provides an immediacy that is lacking in other books that were written later. It is important in that accounts of U.S. pilots from this period are relatively rare, even as he also paints a compelling picture of a group of Americans fighting as volunteers for the French. Biddle’s U.S. compatriots soon established their own capability and wrung free of French direction—and as this book reveals it was largely because of their combat prowess.For his service Biddle was awarded the French Legion of Honour, the Croix de Guerre, the American Distinguished Service Cross and the Belgian Order of Leopold II. After the war, Biddle rejoined his family law firm in Philadelphia. He died in 1972.

Sixty Squadron RAF, which covers the period from the disastrous maelstrom of the Somme offensive to final victory, 1916-1919, is one of the classic histories of the Great War. It is the story of a squadron whose members were awarded 1 Victoria Cross, 5 Distinguished Service Orders, 1 Bar to the DSO, 37 Military Crosses and 5 Distinguished Flying Crosses. Pilots of No. 60 Squadron included Harold Balfour, Albert Ball, A.D. Bell-Irving, "Billy” Bishop, K.L. Caldwell, and the young T.B. McCudden, who was killed in action, but whose own accounts of the fighting have also become legendary. Organized in April 1916, No.60 Squadron went to France the next month. It participated in not only the Somme campaign but Arras, Passchendaele and the March 1918 offensive. Group Captain A.J.L. Scott has written in this book not only of the aces under his command but of their German opponents. His account begins with the early stages of scouting and closes with the final concepts of offensive aerial combat during World War I. In the intervening period No.60 Squadron achieved an impressive 274 victories over enemy aircraft. Many of those mentioned in these pages, first published in 1920, remained in aviation in the years after the war and during World War II, with considerable success.

The Supermarine Spitfire is not only one of the most famous British icons, but it is arguably the most widely-recognised and popular aircraft in the history of aviation. For many generations it was said to be ‘every schoolboy’s dream’ to fly a Spitfire, and Flying the Icon: Spitfire aims to give the reader an insight into what that requires.To mark the 80th anniversary of the first flight of Prototype K5054 on 5 March 1936, author Jarrod Cotter presents something entirely different from the previously published histories of the Spitfire. Having spent a great deal of time talking to Spitfire pilots past and present, attending flight operations briefings and Spitfire pilot training courses, he has used his ‘insider’s’ perspective to produce a book solely on flying this most iconic of all fighters.With the use of original wartime Air Ministry Pilot’s Notes, historic flight test documents, modern flight reference cards and pilot’s reports, this book details how the Spitfire was and is flown, and what the pilots thought and think of it nowadays. Included are quotes from test pilots Jeffrey Quill and Alex Henshaw, two of the most respected and well-known personalities who flew this icon.To provide an extreme range of the fighter’s evolution, the variants included comprise Prototype K5054, the Mk.I, Mk.IIa, Mk.Vb, Mk.VIII Mk.IXe/XVIe, PR.XIX and the post-war F.18/22/24. To keep with the theme of the book, it is comprehensively illustrated with pictures of Spitfires flying and pilots in Spitfires. This book is a must-have guide, giving enthusiasts the best possible idea of how to fly the icon that is the Spitfire!

The period between the two World Wars is an extremely interesting but largely unknown part of the German aviation history. Signed in June 1919 and promulgated in January 1920, the Treaty of Versailles included many measures to limit the Germany's rearmament: it revoked the right to having tanks, artillery and military aviation, which caused the dissolution of the Luftstreitkräften. However, the Treaty did not damage the aeronautical industry as much, which indeed managed to bypass the restrictions of the Versailles Treaty regarding building vehicles and equipment, especially in other countries. For pilot training and equipment testing, Germany could count on the secret aviation school in Lipetsk, USSR, allowing the Weimar Republic to develop aeronautical expertise without France and the UK knowing. The school of Lipetsk closed in September 1933, a few months after the Nazis seized power in Germany. In 1935, the Third Reich restored its air force: the Luftwaffe, which will become in 1939, on the eve of World War II, the most powerful military aviation of the Western world. Historian Jacques Pernet – an expert in German and American aviation – and journalist and writer Jean-Charles Stasi vividly tell us the story of German aviation in this richly illustrated book.

15 accurate, authentic renderings of classic fighters. You can color them.Also captions with detailed technical data and scale plans. • Hawker Hurricane• Messerschmit Me 163 Komet • Focke-Wulf Fw 190• Grumman Hellcat & Ki 61• Boulton Paul Defiant & Messerschmitt Bf 109 E• Lavochkin La-5FN• F4U Corsair• Polikarpov I-16• Bell P-39 Airacobra• Supermarine Spitfire• Hawker Typhoon• Messerschmitt Bf 109 G• Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero• Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-15• Messerschmit Me 262 A Schwalbe

After the first successful flight by the Wright brothers in 1903, the age of aviation was born, and by 1910 army commanders in the United States and Europe began ordering aircraft and experimenting with them. But at the outbreak of World War I in 1914, no-one could yet possibly know how significant a role they would play in the fighting. Aerial reconnaissance, observation and photography impacted the fighting in many ways, but little has been written about it. Balloons and airplanes regulated artillery fire, infantry liaison aircraft followed attacking troops and the retreats of defenders, aerial photographers aided operational planners and provided the data for perpetually updated maps, and naval airplanes, airships, and balloons acted as aerial sentinels in a complex anti-submarine warfare organization. Reconnaissance crews at the Battles of the Marne and Tannenberg averted disaster. The story told here involves the early American Lafayette Escadrille pilots who were looking for heroic deeds and romantic adventure in aerial combat, as well as the German, British and French aces of popular imagination. But the real value of military aviation lay elsewhere; balloonists, unsung heroes, were an essential part of the observation chain, and forever altered the nature of artillery operations. Observation spotters from planes further enhanced the benefit of being able to extend the target range well out of the line of sight and direct artillery fire, though communicating information was far from easy and systems from weighted message bags through light flashes, smoke signals and wireless messages were tried and honed. Eyes All Over the Sky fully explores all the aspects of aerial reconnaissance, and its previously under-appreciated significance. Also included are the individual experiences of British, American and German airmen; true pioneers of aviation warfare.