Book Review of
Defending Rodinu
Vol. 1: Build-up & Operational History
of the Soviet Air Defence Force 1945-1960
Author: Krzysztof Dabrowski
Europe @ War Series No. 20
Helion & Co. Ltd.
ISBN: 978-1-915070-71-5
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $29.95
ISBN: 978-1-915070-71-5
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $29.95
HISTORY:
When WWII ended in 1945, the Soviets had numerous conventional anti-aircraft guns and piston-engined fighters in service, but with rapid advances of aviation technology much of this was facing obsolescence.
Worse, the war ravaged country was facing new challenges at the end of the war, did not bring in time a universal peace, but instead a new rivalry with the West in a Cold War, which could at any time turn hot, both figuratively and literally.
Western competitors for world domination, primarily the United States, could boast a huge bomber fleet capable of delivering devastating nuclear strikes.
Developing and fielding technology and qualitatively new ground-based defences and fighter aircraft became a most urgent imperative and in a relatively short time remarkable progress was achieved in these fields.
Guided surface to air missiles were developed and fielded and jet-powered fighters entered service, their performance ever improving from high –subsonic to supersonic speeds. Similar advances were made in the fields of air-to-air armaments and detection and early warning technology.
While nuclear armed western bombers never appeared in the skies over the Soviet Union, numerous foreign reconnaissance aircraft did. Thus. The Soviet air defence arsenal was tested many times in actual combat against actual and perceived violators of their airspace and other challenges , in which the Soviet air defences experienced both embarrassing defeats and exhilarating victories.
Relegated to dusty files for decades, this is the story of Soviet air defences in arguably the hottest period of direct U.S.-Soviet Cold War confrontations.
Vol. 1 of Defending Rodinu examines the development of the Soviet air defence forces from the immediate aftermath of WWII, up until 1960. It looks at the development of dedicated interceptor aircraft, surface-to-air missiles and the radar network needed to support these, along with a detailed history of the attempts, successful and otherwise, to intercept and destroy Western aerial intruders.
THE BOOK:
Helion & Co. Ltd. is based in the UK.
This book is of soft-cover of 76 pages (2 are blank) in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” page format.
The cover art shows a color photo of a Yak-25 over a color side-view profile illustration of a Mig-17F (profile repeated again in the book)
The back cover shows 2 more color side-view profile illustrations of a Mig-17 PFU and another Yak-25 (again, both repeated in the book).
The book contains contents, acknowledgements, a few introductory notes and a bibliography.
There are 76 black and white photos in the book, 8 maps and a newspaper headline.
There is a diagram of the S025 SAAB system.
Leaders, officers and pilots.
The P-8, P-12M, P-20 and P-30 air surveillance early warning and ground control radar units.
The KS-19 100mm anti-aircraft gun, the KS-30 anti-aircraft gun, the KM-32 and the AZPS-60 87mm gun.
Missiles shown are:
The S-25, the Wasserfall single radar controlled to line of sight missile, the V-300S-2, 2 of the AV-75’s on trucks, G-301 air to air missile and the R35 infrared homing short range air to air missile.
Aircraft shown are:
The Lavochkin La-11, Mig-15’s, Sukhoi Su-9’s, Yak-25’s, Tu-4, Mig-17’s, Mig-19 PM’s, the La-250 which was a failed prototype, (all lend-leased) PB4Y Privateer, RB-29A, B-50, P-63 King Cobra, Grumman F9F Panther, Douglas DC-3, RB-45 Tornado, RB-47H’s, P2-V Neptune, KC-97, C-130 Hercules, U-2, Su-9, an Su-2 that is wrecked, Yak-29’s, Mig-19 and a Junkers JU-86.
The chapter of color side-view profile illustrations shows:
A Lavochkin La-11
8 illustrations of the Mig-15
A Mig-17F
A Mig-19
A Tupolev Tu-4 bomber
2 illustrations of the Lavochkin La-25A
A Yak-25
A Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer
A F-9 Panther
A RB-29A
A RB-47H
A RB-45C Tornado
A C-130A-II Hercules
There is a 5 ½ page bibliography at the end of the book and information about the author.
Krzysztof Dabrowski is from Poland. He has a lifelong interest in the subject of military aviation and has written dozens of articles on a variety of related subjects for magazines and the ACIG org/ACIG info, Aerohisto and the Boresight websites.
His particular area of interest is air warfare during the Cold War, the aircraft involved and the experiences of their crews. He has published a number of books on related topics.
This is a neat book on the subject.
I want to sincerely thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample. Casemate is the N. American distributor of Helion books and all Helion titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
When WWII ended in 1945, the Soviets had numerous conventional anti-aircraft guns and piston-engined fighters in service, but with rapid advances of aviation technology much of this was facing obsolescence.
Worse, the war ravaged country was facing new challenges at the end of the war, did not bring in time a universal peace, but instead a new rivalry with the West in a Cold War, which could at any time turn hot, both figuratively and literally.
Western competitors for world domination, primarily the United States, could boast a huge bomber fleet capable of delivering devastating nuclear strikes.
Developing and fielding technology and qualitatively new ground-based defences and fighter aircraft became a most urgent imperative and in a relatively short time remarkable progress was achieved in these fields.
Guided surface to air missiles were developed and fielded and jet-powered fighters entered service, their performance ever improving from high –subsonic to supersonic speeds. Similar advances were made in the fields of air-to-air armaments and detection and early warning technology.
While nuclear armed western bombers never appeared in the skies over the Soviet Union, numerous foreign reconnaissance aircraft did. Thus. The Soviet air defence arsenal was tested many times in actual combat against actual and perceived violators of their airspace and other challenges , in which the Soviet air defences experienced both embarrassing defeats and exhilarating victories.
Relegated to dusty files for decades, this is the story of Soviet air defences in arguably the hottest period of direct U.S.-Soviet Cold War confrontations.
Vol. 1 of Defending Rodinu examines the development of the Soviet air defence forces from the immediate aftermath of WWII, up until 1960. It looks at the development of dedicated interceptor aircraft, surface-to-air missiles and the radar network needed to support these, along with a detailed history of the attempts, successful and otherwise, to intercept and destroy Western aerial intruders.
THE BOOK:
Helion & Co. Ltd. is based in the UK.
This book is of soft-cover of 76 pages (2 are blank) in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” page format.
The cover art shows a color photo of a Yak-25 over a color side-view profile illustration of a Mig-17F (profile repeated again in the book)
The back cover shows 2 more color side-view profile illustrations of a Mig-17 PFU and another Yak-25 (again, both repeated in the book).
The book contains contents, acknowledgements, a few introductory notes and a bibliography.
There are 76 black and white photos in the book, 8 maps and a newspaper headline.
There is a diagram of the S025 SAAB system.
Leaders, officers and pilots.
The P-8, P-12M, P-20 and P-30 air surveillance early warning and ground control radar units.
The KS-19 100mm anti-aircraft gun, the KS-30 anti-aircraft gun, the KM-32 and the AZPS-60 87mm gun.
Missiles shown are:
The S-25, the Wasserfall single radar controlled to line of sight missile, the V-300S-2, 2 of the AV-75’s on trucks, G-301 air to air missile and the R35 infrared homing short range air to air missile.
Aircraft shown are:
The Lavochkin La-11, Mig-15’s, Sukhoi Su-9’s, Yak-25’s, Tu-4, Mig-17’s, Mig-19 PM’s, the La-250 which was a failed prototype, (all lend-leased) PB4Y Privateer, RB-29A, B-50, P-63 King Cobra, Grumman F9F Panther, Douglas DC-3, RB-45 Tornado, RB-47H’s, P2-V Neptune, KC-97, C-130 Hercules, U-2, Su-9, an Su-2 that is wrecked, Yak-29’s, Mig-19 and a Junkers JU-86.
The chapter of color side-view profile illustrations shows:
A Lavochkin La-11
8 illustrations of the Mig-15
A Mig-17F
A Mig-19
A Tupolev Tu-4 bomber
2 illustrations of the Lavochkin La-25A
A Yak-25
A Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer
A F-9 Panther
A RB-29A
A RB-47H
A RB-45C Tornado
A C-130A-II Hercules
There is a 5 ½ page bibliography at the end of the book and information about the author.
Krzysztof Dabrowski is from Poland. He has a lifelong interest in the subject of military aviation and has written dozens of articles on a variety of related subjects for magazines and the ACIG org/ACIG info, Aerohisto and the Boresight websites.
His particular area of interest is air warfare during the Cold War, the aircraft involved and the experiences of their crews. He has published a number of books on related topics.
This is a neat book on the subject.
I want to sincerely thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample. Casemate is the N. American distributor of Helion books and all Helion titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Highly recommended.