The
latest Mushroom Model Magazine Special focuses on the carnage left behind
after the initial campaigns on the Russian Front by the Luftwaffe and
Wehrmacht. A cross-section of the 20,000 Soviet aircraft destroyed in the
first months of Operation Barbarossa are featured in this new book.
 The
book comprises 144 pages in 9.5" x 6.5" format, with soft covers
and including an eight pages colour profile section. Introductory text
is brief. A selected bibliography is followed by a Glossary of Terms for
Soviet aircraft and organisation, eight pages of background text and a few
interesting tables describing aircraft production by type, deployment by
district, Soviet Order of Battle as at the German invasion, Soviet
aircraft captured and maps of the German advance. The main section
of the book commences on Page 23. Over 150 pages of captioned pictures of
captured, damaged and destroyed aircraft lays out a staggering vista of
the destruction over these first months of Operation Barbarossa. This
section is absolutely packed with images. Each page displays two, three or
four photos. Due to the small-format of the book, some of these pictures
are a little small to really show off the detail that undoubtedly exists
in the original photographs. All photos are captioned with information
about location and date, where this is available. There is minimal
reference to colours applied to the aircraft in the captions. Apart from
the sheer bulk of pictures, the greatest strength of this book is its
logical organisation by aircraft type. Twenty-one aircraft types are
depicted with between one and nineteen pages devoted to each. The bulk of
coverage is the early fighter types - I-152, I-16 and MiG-3 - with strong
coverage of bombers too. I particularly like one of the black and green
disruptive schemes on a damaged Pe-2. The eight page colour profile
section includes nineteen paintings of fighters, trainers and bombers in a
good variety of schemes. This book provides a feast of photos and
information to modellers and students of VVS aircraft. Recommended |
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