This book is about real men – the pilots and navigators of the famous Po-2 (U-2) ‘crop duster’ aircraft. Operating this plane didn't require exceptional skills or abilities during initial flight training; after all, it wasn't a fighter or a long-range bomber. However, the tasks the crews had to perform demanded immense personal courage and complete dedication. As one veteran recalled: ‘The U-2...

During the Great Patriotic War, the following joke circulated: Why is the Li-2 so fat, the Il-2 so 'humpbacked', and the Pe-2 so thin? Because the Li-2 was speculating throughout the war, the attack aircraft carried the burden of the war on its shoulders, and the Pe-2, like a prostitute, was thrown into various roles – sometimes as a reconnaissance aircraft, sometimes as a fighter, sometimes as...

This book by the renowned Russian historian, Doctor of Historical Sciences V. Telitsyn, is the first to describe the history of the Spanish Civil War without ideological bias, which fundamentally distinguishes it from similar publications that appeared in the USSR. It is a truthful and unembellished account of Soviet military specialists and advisors fulfilling their patriotic duty abroad, a...

The book recounts the confrontation between the German air force and the air defense system of the Volga region during the Great Patriotic War. Based on numerous previously inaccessible archival materials, eyewitness accounts, and other documentary sources, the authors recreate a comprehensive panorama of events that took place in this region from 1941 to 1944.