Book Review of
Yakovlev Yak-3
In Combat No. 88002
Author: Dariusz Paduch
Kagero Publishing
ISBN: 978-83-66148-91-8
By Ray Mehlberger
MSRP: $24.95
ISBN: 978-83-66148-91-8
By Ray Mehlberger
MSRP: $24.95
HISTORY:
The Yakovlev Yak-3 (Russian: Яковлев Як-3) was a single-engine, single-seat World War II Soviet fighter. Robust and easy to maintain, it was much liked by both pilots and ground crew. One of the smallest and lightest combat fighters fielded by any combatant during the war, its high power-to-weight ratio gave it excellent performance and it proved to be a formidable dogfighter.
Marcel Albert, a World War II French ace who flew the Yak-3 in the USSR with the Normandie-Niémen Group, considered it a superior aircraft to the P-51D Mustang and Supermarine Spitfire. It was also flown by Polish Air Forces (of the Polish People's Army formed in USSR) and the Yugoslav Air Force, after the war.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Role: Fighter
National origin: Soviet Union
Design group: A.S. Yakovlev Design Bureau
Built by: Plant No.292 (Saratov), Plant No.31 (Tbilisi)
First flight: 28 February 1943 (Yak-1M)
Introduction to service: June 1944
Retired: 1952 (Soviet Air Forces)
Primary users: Soviet Air Forces, French Air Force (Normandie-Niemen), Polish Air Force, Yugoslav Air Force
Produced: March 1944 – August 1946
Number built: 4,848
Developed from: Yakovlev Yak-1
Variants: Yakovlev Yak-11, Yakovlev Yak-15
THE BOOK:
Kagero is based in Lublin, Poland.
This book is soft-cover of 98 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ½” page format. It comes in a self-sealing clear envelope.
The cover are shows a color illustration of a Yak-3 shooting down a German Fw-190. The Yak-3 is in a wave pattern of grey and dark green over a light grey undercarriage. It has a white outlined Soviet red star on the sides of its fuselage and rudder. It carries a white fuselage number 5, followed by an arrow.
The book contains 94 black and white photos. Which include 23 photos of pilots and officers, cowling and air intake, 4 photos of the engine, 4 photos of the cockpit canopy and interior, 3 photos of the Yak-3 under maintenance, 2 photos of the Yak-3RD’s jet engine, 2 photos of a Yak-3U, 2 photos of a crashed Yak-3, a Yak-3 in a museum, a Yak-3UTI, 2 photos of a Yak-11 and a Czech Yak C-11U prototype.
There are 16 data lists, 14 color side view illustrations and one 4-view color illustration, there are two 1/48th scale 2-views as line drawings, also line drawings of wheels, wings, and inner fuselage bulkheads in 1/48th scale and a 4-view in 1/72nd scale,
The text and captions are in Polish and English.
Inserted into the book is a black sheet that has die cut canopy masks etc. on it (hard to see the masks at all on it in a photograph. Sorry!)
This book will be of great interest to modelers planning on building a Yak-3 and to aviation historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers, the N. American distributor of Kagero books for this review sample.
All Kagero titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
The Yakovlev Yak-3 (Russian: Яковлев Як-3) was a single-engine, single-seat World War II Soviet fighter. Robust and easy to maintain, it was much liked by both pilots and ground crew. One of the smallest and lightest combat fighters fielded by any combatant during the war, its high power-to-weight ratio gave it excellent performance and it proved to be a formidable dogfighter.
Marcel Albert, a World War II French ace who flew the Yak-3 in the USSR with the Normandie-Niémen Group, considered it a superior aircraft to the P-51D Mustang and Supermarine Spitfire. It was also flown by Polish Air Forces (of the Polish People's Army formed in USSR) and the Yugoslav Air Force, after the war.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Role: Fighter
National origin: Soviet Union
Design group: A.S. Yakovlev Design Bureau
Built by: Plant No.292 (Saratov), Plant No.31 (Tbilisi)
First flight: 28 February 1943 (Yak-1M)
Introduction to service: June 1944
Retired: 1952 (Soviet Air Forces)
Primary users: Soviet Air Forces, French Air Force (Normandie-Niemen), Polish Air Force, Yugoslav Air Force
Produced: March 1944 – August 1946
Number built: 4,848
Developed from: Yakovlev Yak-1
Variants: Yakovlev Yak-11, Yakovlev Yak-15
THE BOOK:
Kagero is based in Lublin, Poland.
This book is soft-cover of 98 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ½” page format. It comes in a self-sealing clear envelope.
The cover are shows a color illustration of a Yak-3 shooting down a German Fw-190. The Yak-3 is in a wave pattern of grey and dark green over a light grey undercarriage. It has a white outlined Soviet red star on the sides of its fuselage and rudder. It carries a white fuselage number 5, followed by an arrow.
The book contains 94 black and white photos. Which include 23 photos of pilots and officers, cowling and air intake, 4 photos of the engine, 4 photos of the cockpit canopy and interior, 3 photos of the Yak-3 under maintenance, 2 photos of the Yak-3RD’s jet engine, 2 photos of a Yak-3U, 2 photos of a crashed Yak-3, a Yak-3 in a museum, a Yak-3UTI, 2 photos of a Yak-11 and a Czech Yak C-11U prototype.
There are 16 data lists, 14 color side view illustrations and one 4-view color illustration, there are two 1/48th scale 2-views as line drawings, also line drawings of wheels, wings, and inner fuselage bulkheads in 1/48th scale and a 4-view in 1/72nd scale,
The text and captions are in Polish and English.
Inserted into the book is a black sheet that has die cut canopy masks etc. on it (hard to see the masks at all on it in a photograph. Sorry!)
This book will be of great interest to modelers planning on building a Yak-3 and to aviation historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers, the N. American distributor of Kagero books for this review sample.
All Kagero titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Highly recommended.