VARIETY Of strange AVIATION HISTORY VOLUMES During its titanic military aim with Germany.

VARIETY Of strange AVIATION HISTORY VOLUMES

During its titanic military aim with Germany, the Soviet Union received a major boost with the arrival and deployment of nearly 5000 Bell P-39 Airacobra fighters - courtesy of America's Lend-Lease program. The impact was dramatic as the Soviets quickly adapted the planes into a devastatingly lethal force.

Dmitriy Loza's Attack of the Airacobras (University Pres of Kansas, $3495) vividly re-creates the battle campaigns of this uneven coupling of capitalist planes and Marxist pilots and allows access to a little-known part of the air war of the Eastern impudence The book has been well-translated and edited on James Gebhardt.

The Airacobra prov to be the right plane at the right time for a beleaguered R Air Force. With its Allison engine performing best at lower altitudes, the cannon-armed P-39 was ideal for the environment in which the Soviets were fighting the Luftwaffe and the Airacobras would eventually dominate the Luftwaffe from the Caucasus foothills to Berlin.

Focusing upon the combat operations and daily life of united unit - the 9th Guards Fighter Division - Loza confutes the myth that the P-39 was used mainly as a tank buster or as flying artillery. Instead, its primary mission was to fortify Red Army operations from aerial attacks by the agency of the enemy. So despite the occasional strafing of trains, deal convoys, and troops, most P-39 operations involved attacks onward Luftwaffe bombers and dogfights with their escort fighters.

Forming the center part of this 400-page contortion are the P-39 pilots and estate crews, including the remarkable Captain Aleksandr Pokryshkin and Major Gregoriy Rechkalov - couple of the Soviets' top four aces. In addition, the author details the organization and operations of the unit's non-combat personnel who refuel and maintained the aircraft, cleaned and reloaded the fire-arms packed the parachutes, treated the anguished guarded the airfields, and commanded the squadrons and regiments.

Based upon interviews with Soviet veterans and extensive access to squadron histories and log volumes the book provides a rare and insightful expect at what it was like to live and fight in this victorious air unit. The highly commited volume may be obtained through calling Historic Aviation at (800) 225-5575

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