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Jiri Hornet for Letectvi & Kosmonautika	Book Reviews of Our Products *Aeroplane Monthly, (April 1998). The second book in the Red Beauty* series, featuring Soviet Yak fighters of the Second World War, this volume covers Yak-1 and Yak-7 combat operations, and compliments the first volume, which comprised a technical briefing on these aircraft. The publisher intends to follow it with monographs dealing with individual aircraft types. Despite the claim in the foreward that this book is "absolutely comprehensive in detail", its size alone makes such a claim untenable. However, the 32 brief chronological chapters (with a surfeit of cross-headings) provide a survey of operations and a useful outline of key events. There are 47 pages of monochrome pictures of poor to fairly good quality, plus six pages of colour side elevations which suffer from ragged linework and poor definition, possibly as a result of poor computer scanning at some stage. Given the relatively low standard of production, this is a rather expensive book, but its subject will make it desirable to specialists. Philip Jarrett *Scale Aircraft Modelling, (March 1998) When the first volume in this series on Russian aircraft was published I was somwhat damning in my review, largely with an eye on it's [sic] rather amateur layout and presentation. I take it all back! This second volume, Red Beauty 2: Yak-1 & Yak-7 Combat Operations* by Harold Stockton Jr. is professionally typeset, well laid out, and a cracking good read. It covers the operational history of the Yak light fighters, from their introduction into the VVS in 1941, until their last flights with the Yugoslav Air Force in 1947, and covers in detail the whole span of air combat on the Eastern Front. There are a large number of photographs, both of men and machinery, some of which are certainly new to this reader, and six pages of colour side views, although these are slightly marred by rather muddy colour rendering due to the computer scanning at the printers. Michael Short's excellent painting of a pair of Yak-7 [actually Yak-1b, ed.] aircraft on low level combat patrol is reproduced in full. As I have mentioned before, material concerning the Red Air Force and it's [sic] machines has been disctinctly sparse in the past, and although I have no way to check the veracity of some of the author's statements, he has done a prodigious amount of research, andis prepared quote sources, including a number from within Russia, always a healthy sign. The story is told in a largely chronological order, detailing units, combat reports and scores and more, including the Normandie Niemen unit's introduction to combat prior to the kursk battles in 1943. When I reviewed Volume One I felt it had limited appeal for the modeller, although the historian would find it of interest. This second volume, with it's [sic] extensive photocoverage, would be more useful, particularly in view of the forthcoming Yak-1 kits from Accurate Minatures. Indeed, having now seen this volume, much of the material in the first book links with that now revealed and the two books together should give you all you wished to know about the design, development and operational service of the Yak light fighters. Julian Edwards
Scale Aircraft Modelling
Scale Aviation Modeller International
Insignia
Quarter Scale Modelling
R/C Scale Aircraft
Small Air Forces Clearing House

Scale Aviation Modeller International, (February 1998)
   It has been a while, but at last you can obtain the second part to this histoical look at the Yak-1/7 fighter. This new title follows a similar format to that used for the first part. The 130 pages comprise 76 of narrative text, 46 pages of black and white photographs and the remainder is colour artwork.
   The narrative text looks at the start of the Yak-1's operational career and follows it through its initial use to the German 'Operation Taifun', the Soviet counter offensive, the destruction of the German forces, 'Operation Blau', 'Uranus', 'Satum' [sic] and 'Malyy Saturn'. This is followed by a look at the operations around Leningrad, Kursk, Kuban, and Orel. The final section of the title looks at other nation's use of the Yak-1/7, namely those used by the Free French Air Force, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.
   The final two sections of the title are appendix listing Soviet-American combat reports (7/11/44) and the Yak-1/7 compared with the Bf-109 and the Fw-190. At this stage of the title you get to look at the numerous pages of black and white photographs of the types. These include operational photographs with detail pictures of the personal markings carried by many Russian aces. Although there are no interior photographs, the quality of some shots is such that you can glean a great deal of information from each. There are numerous pictures with the engine cowlings off, so I am sure that many will find this of use when detailing the ICM kit, which includes an engine.
   Considering the number of new kits of the Yak-1 and 7 that have been released so far, and the fact that Accurate Miniatures will release a complete series of Yak-1's [sic] in 1/48th scale later this year, this title is one for all modellers with an interest in this specific era. The technical and photographic information included in this and the previous aprt make an excellent overview of the Yak's history and will be a good investment for all aviation historian's libraries.

Insignia, (Spring 1998)
   This study of the neglected Yak-1 and closely related Yak-7 fighters of the Soviet VVS provides a welcome look at some of the less well known aviation actions of WW2.
   This 144 page softback book features the combat operations and individual actions of pilots whilst using their Yaks. Of particular note are chapters on the Soviet women fighter pilots, the Free French Normandie Groupe and the Polish People's Army Air Force, formed in Russia in 1943.
   A further chapter deals with the bizarre events of 7 November 1944 when Soviet piloted Yak-1M [known now to be Yak-1b] fighters attached to the Yugoslav Partisans became involved in a dog fight with American P-38 Lightning fighters.
   108 black and white photographs are included in the 48 page picture section of this book, showing the Yak-1 and Yak-7 from its inception to late war. A twelve page colour section includes 18 colour profiles, unfortunately marred due to 'bit mapping' in the reproduction process. LS

Quarter Scale Modelling, (April 1998)
   This is the second book in the Red Beauty series from Snow Leopard Productions, the first having been reviewed in an earlier issue of QSM [Vol.2 Issue 1].
   In this new volume, author Harold E. Stockton Jr., provides an incredibly detailed account Yak-1 and Yak-7 operations during the Great Patriotic War, 1941-1945.
   Presented chronologically, the account describes every stage of each aerial campaign, with due reference to the ground battles, and within the context of the Eastern Front as a whole.
   Tables provide comparative Luftwaffe and V-VS losses at each stage, and the narrative is littered with details of dates, units and individual pilots, including the famous Soviet women pilots.
   The scholarship of the author is quite breathtaking, and an extensive list of reference backs up his research.
   Appendices give a campaign map and detailed performance comparisons between the Yaks and Bf-109s and Fw-190s.
   The last third of the book is devoted to an excellent collection of contemporary monochrome photographs, including the prototype, Red Beauty herself. Many of the photos are taken at front-line Soviet airfields, and are excellent reference sources; those modellers with the new quarter scale Yak-9 kits from ICM/Signum will certainly appreciate the 'cowlings off' shots when detailing their models' engines.
   Finally, there are several apges of colour side views, which I imagine were very good in the original artwork, but which seem to have been degraded somewhat during the scanning process. The endpaper has a reproduction of the excellent Michael Short painting 'Tiger Killers', which also graces the book's front cover.
   Overall, this is a work of very high quality, thoroughly recommended to modellers with an interest in this hitherto hazy era of military aviation. PL

R/C Scale Aircraft, (Volume 14, Issue 3)
   This is a book about the great fighters that played so great a part in the defence and subsequent recovery of Russia in theGreat Patriotic War. Some of it reads as though thanslated directly from the proud words that have appeared in Soviet Publications to award credit to the men and machines of the Soviet Air Force. Nevertheless, this stands alone as an English language account of the Yaks and their battles. In particular, the book is dedicated to two Mustang [P-38] pilots and two Russian Yak pilots who were killed over Kosova (familiar?) in Yugoslavia.
   There are 7 colour pages with a fine painting of a Yak-1M [Yal-1b] in action, and 17 colour profiles, plus a further 48 pages of B/W pictures which cover the variations of the type.
   What is not there is the family tree to explain the development of the Yaks from the -1 which went on into the -3 and the most used -9 which came out of the -7. [The family tree is included in the first volume, Red Beauty.]

Letectvi & Kosmonautika issue: 9/1998, by: Jiri Hornat, who supplied the English translation from the original Czech language article that he wrote.
   After WW-II the information on Soviet wartime planes was scanty, a fact caused by the chronic, morbid effort on the part of Soviet officials to conceal everything possible, and perhaps by the lack of sufficiently qualified authors. Therefore the first books, from which it would be possible to quote more extensively, were publications by a later famous British author William Green - who, however, had a sinister inclination to "invent" data that was not on hand. The breakthrough to this unfortunate situation was made by the book Soviet Aircraft by the Czech writer Vaclav Nemecek, published at the end of the sixties. Then, more books on the theme given appeared in the world. But even so we still knew very little about the subject - which was in the forefront of our interests, i.e. about the Soviet fighters of WW-2, and among them also about Yakovlev fighter planes. Therefore we were interested in any new book, which dealt with them. In the end the authors' "mace" returned to Russian hands and the whole process was crowned by the superb books Yak Fighters of the Great Patriotic War by A. T. Stiepaniets (published in 1992), and Premier Yak by S. Kuznietsov (1995).
   But our knowledge of wartime Yak fighters was still not complete: the above mentioned, latest Russian books almost omitted operational histories of the appropriate types of aircraft, i.e. very important aspects of their existence, which, moreover, are very atttractive for readers. In the light of the fact, now we can welcome with even warmer feelings a book by a new U.S. publisher, Snow Leopard Productions, which deals just with this aspect of Yak-1 and Yak-7 history (a book on operations of Yak-9 and Yak-3 will apparently follow). the feat was not accomplished in a superficial way: descriptions of Yaks' operations are set into a frame of all the main surface army actions and battles, starting with the battle of Moscow via the battle of Kursk up to the fall of Berlin. The data is accurate and formulated with precision; the reader finds many numerical designations of Air Force units, starting with eskadrilas up to Air Armie. In the key parts of the text there are even tables giving the numbers of planes lost in fights. Therefore the text is something that professional and amateurish (there is an absolute majority of the latter ones) [sic, editor] students of the history of air struggles on the Eastern Front of WW-2 just need.
   The book pays attention also to another painful part of these fights: knowledge of pilots of the wartime Yaks, which we did not lack - thanks in the first place to French and Polish publications - about the Normandie-Nieman and Warsaw regiments (whose histories and here also are described in depth), but about the Soviet Yak pilots themselves we knew less than little. The greatest attention is in the book paid to Lydia (Lilya) Litvak, the most successful Soviet woman pilot of the war. Her story is worthwhile reading, indeed. The text of Red Beauty 2 is not completely free of shortcomings, but they are, in almost all cases, limited to misprints in aircraft designations (e.g. SB-2 instead of SB, LaGG-5 instead of La-5, repeatedly we can read the designation Yak-M, the use of which was fully refuted in the case of operational Yak-1s by the above quoted books Yak Fighters of the GPW and Premier Yak) and, in isolated cases, misprints of the names of places (Byelgograd instead of Byelgorod); but these are all minor points. Nevertheless, we have to say that contrary to the information printed in the book, Czechoslovak Air Force never used piston-engined Yak fighters - and gained its La-5FNs and La-7s in a bit different way, than the book - whose text comes to a close by eloquent comparisons of the combat efficiency of Yak-1s and Yak-7s to Messerschmitt Bf-109s and Fw-190s - mentions.
   The other highlight of this book is the suppliement, containing more than 100 black and white prints of Yak-2s and Yak-7s - this quantity deserves praise - of which more than half have been new to this reviewer's eyes, and 18 original color side- views. The photos do not portray only planes and their details (in widely varying conditions), but also pilots, their supremes [pilots, editor] and mechanics. However, most of them show aeroplanes; this brings many supplementary data to aviation enthusiasts and may inspire many plastic kit builders - just like the above-mentioned color side-views, which are, - in absolute majority - accompanied by the names of the pilots of the real planes ans always by the designation of the units, which used them; such data is not used very frequently in other publications.
   Also due to this fact the book Red Beauty 2 is really rare - in fact it is even more: unique. Therefore it is worth not only reading and studying, but also worth having it. If you already possess this book, please, look forward to future titles from Snow Leopard Productions. Jiri Hornat

Small Air Forces Clearing House issue: #84, by: Jim Sanders.
   In Part I, Harold Stockton described the development of the Yak-1/7 with reference to the political, military, and technological events preceding the German invasion of Russia. Part II is the "story of the Soviet's combat philosophy and use of the Yakovlev Yak-1 and Yak-7 fighters". In telling this story, the author makes a good case for his claim that the Yak-1 and Yak-7 "were equals to the very best British, German, Japanese and American fighters in the world at the beginning of 1941, and were not insignificantly inferior to the above named countries' fighter aircraft even at the the war's end in 1945. It can categorically stated that in 1945 there was only one fighter design better than the Yak-1 and Yak-7 below 4,500 meters (14,765 ft), anywhere in the world. This sole fighter was also a Yakovlev design, the Yak-3."
   In 76 pages of text and tables, the author describes all the offenses and counter offenses from the time of the German invasion, when the Russians lost 6,997 aircraft between June and October 1941, to the fall of Berlin when the Russians lost 8,611 aircraft between 29 October 1944 and May 45 (1,450 in East Prussia alone from 13 Jan. to 25 Apr. 45). The war in the air is described in relation to the war on the ground, and, while emphasis is on the fighter aircraft, the contributions of other aircraft is not neglected. A serious problem is the absence of any maps tp help the reader follow the ebb and flow of battle. All who remember the location of the Kuban Bridgehead, stand up.
   Of particular interest to SAFO readers are the eextensive chapters on the Normandie Groupe and the Lotnictwo Ludowego Wojka Polskiego. These describe, in detail, the formation and combat activities of these units. In describing the Warsaw Uprising, the author again shows that he does not avoid controversy: "Many people wrongly assume that the elimination of the Polish AK was the Soviet's sole reason for denying aid to the resistance fighters inside Warsaw. A more plausible reason could be the Soviet mentality over the horrendous losses they had suffered in every campaign they had been engaged in since the beginning war. If Poland was to be liberated with the aid of the Soviet's force of arms, then Poland was going to be made to bleed like the Soviet Union had bled. Since Soviet lives were being lost at a phenominal rate, then why not Polish lives also? One must consider the fact that the Soviets lost 265,554 killed in the campaigns to reach the Vistula river, which included their L'vov-Sandomierz Offenses. The Polish losses at Warsaw of 6,00 AK and over 200,000 civilians, were a small price for the Soviets to apy for their maskirovska operations against the Germans."
   A unique addition to the historical record is a short chapter on the combat between Yugoslav Yak-1Ms [Yak-1b, ed.] and American P-38s on 7 November 1944 in which two American and two Yugoslavian [Russian, ed.] pilots lost their lives.
   The book contains 45 pages with two or three well-produced photos of Yaks on each page. A final section consists of 20 color side-view drawings of Soviet Yaks and an excellant color painting of two Polish Yaks attacking a German train in the Warecko-Magnuszew area of Poland on 23 August 1944.
   While Red Beauty 2 will arouse a great deal of controversy, it is still an important addition to the library of anyone seriously interested in the Great Patriotic War. Jim Sanders

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