Yak-1 Vol I, Kagero

MONOGRAPHS SPECIAL EDITION No 5: YAKOVLEV YAK-1 - Volume I.

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 beginning of the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union against the Nazi Germany and its allies is among the least studied and understood periods in history. The Yak-1 was the best Soviet fighter of that period, but its role is often overlooked. Still, it was that aircraft that together with Polikarpov's I-153 and I-16 carried the main burden of air battles in the first days of the war.

The Yak-1 was designed under the most unusual circumstances. The Soviet leaders planned to have a new generation of fighters to be in production and mastered by the VVS pilots by mid 1941. Unprecedented measures were taken to speed up the development and introduction of new designs. Recently declassified documents permit another look at the events that lead to adoption of the Yak-1 prior to the German invasion and its development during the war.

Compared to two previous Russian editions, this book is enhanced with new and updated data obtained from newly available archival documents. Events and episodes that are well known to Russian historians and aviation enthusiasts and therefore often mentioned en passé in Russian books and magazine publications are presented in more detail for the Western reader. The authors intentionally did not compare the Yak-1's performance to that of British and US aircraft, and if the reader would like to do such a comparison, it is important to keep in mind that majority of aerial battles on the Eastern front occurred on altitudes below 5,000 meters and Soviet fighters were optimized to perform the best at these altitudes. It is also noteworthy that the Soviet aircraft was designed to maximize the use of inexpensive construction materials like wood and fabric and yet displayed very respectable characteristics.

In the preparation of this book we used materials from the Russian Military State Archive (RVGA), Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense (TsAMO), Central Naval Archive (TsVMA), Russian State Archive of Economics (RGAEh), Samara branch of the Russian State Archive of Scientific and Technical Documentation (RGANTD), Central State Archive of Moscow Region, State Archive of Saratov Region (GASO), Archive of the Yakovlev Design Bureau, Archive of the Museum of Saratov Aviation Factory.

Authors: Sergei Kouznetsov / Alexander Rusetski

Publisher: Kagero Publications

ISBN: 9788365437181

Description: 200 pages, Hardback, 268 b/w age photos, 55 drawings, 16 color profiles (19 views) 

Condition: NEW COPY.

Shipping weight: 1.00 Kgr.