Soviet and Russian Military Aircraft in Africa: Air Arms, Equipment and Conflicts Since 1955 Hardcover – Illustrated, April 12, 2013

Apparently author Yefim Gordon doesn't sleep; he just writes and writes and writes, and collects great photos too. With co-author Dmitriy Komissarov, Yefim Gordon has scored again with what is in my view an outstanding book of modern military aviation. Soviet and Russian warplanes still carry a cloak of mystic, even though we in the West have now enjoyed two decades of openness about the birds from the proverbial other side of the fence. But there is a vast difference between seeing pristine Sukhois and MiGs at airshows in Europe and seeing them in the remote, unfamiliar and often secretive world of operational air forces on the volatile African continent. But here they are, in color photos and in very nicely done color artwork (profiles). As one might expect, some of the photos were taken in suboptimum situations from the photographer's perspective, but a poor angle or poor quality shot of a rare bird is far better than none at all. And as one might expect to find at African airbases some of the subjects are in less than combat-ready condition, which is to say that some are total wrecks. On the other hand one can see glimpses of African air forces flying some of the most modern, and most sophisticated Russian-built fighters. As a military pilot myself I can't help but wonder just how much of the combat potential in these complex machines is being tapped by the guys flying them in Africa. I suspect there are a lot of East European instructors doing the flying, but with planes like the Su-27 FLANKER it must take a lot of flying and frequent sorties to learn how to maximize all that potential. But in any case this subject is very interesting to see and this is a really great book, beautifully produced (as always for Hikoki Publications) and well worth the cost. Highly recommended for airpower professionals, aircraft enthusiasts and scale modelers.

Another home run for Yefim Gordon. This book is chock full of pictures and stories that I had never seen or heard. Little attention has been paid in the mainstream media or aviation publications for that matter to the little known wars waged on the African continent. This book goes a long way towards correcting that. Colorful side views abound with details of air combat and ground strikes. Worth the purchase price for the pictures alone. If you are a modeler as I am, this book will give you many ideas for future builds.

Another book from the author Yefim Gordon.Great pictures with many pictures.Very well written .Fine reading.I enjoy his books.In collecting for 50 years of aviation books ,he is the only one that writes 5 books a year.A great writer indeed.I'm always waiting for a new book from this author.Highly recommended Gary

Ten points i give for this.

I build models of some of the smaller Air Forces. This book covers all of Africa and provides many good references.

It is always disappointing to start a book where you know a little, and find the book is so wrong as to be untrustworthy - it then colours trusting the material where you don't have the knowledge to filter errors.All I have read so far is the section on Nigeria. But that contained a large number of errors about the 1966 coups (which it places in 1967). There is an interesting claim that British and South African mercenary pilots flew Il 28s for the NAF. No reference is given for this. The British were there for training, with rumours that they took operational sorties. But South Africa? In 1969? South Africa supported Biafra, and SA mercenaries fought with the Biafrans. The claims made about the NAF actions in the civil war, and losses, do not tally with other sources, but record keeping was poor and claims made by the two sides were written with propaganda more in mind.The post-civil war coverage is sparse, but focusing on Soviet/Russian aircraft probably explains that, as the main military use has been against Boko Haram, for which non-Soviet/Russian aircraft in service are probably a better fit. However, the NAF promotional material describes the use of Russian helicopters against BH, and yet this is not covered at all. The last operational mention is from 1978, which suggests that the book has not closely followed what is happening in Africa.The choice of photographs appears to be driven by what can be found on the Internet; there is little use (again, looking at Nigeria) of those recently published by the NAF or in other publications. As with the text, the photographs seem to be what was available from the 1960s/1970s and then stops.

As opposed to covering a specific aircraft type or service of the Soviet / Russian military the prolific Gordon / Komissarov duo have attempted something different in this series ( Soviet and Russian Military Aircraft in the Middle East: Air Arms, Equipment and Conflicts Since 1955  and  Soviet and Russian Military Aircraft in Asia  the other volumes so far) - namely to cover in some depth the use of Soviet and Russian military aircraft use in a specific geographical area - in this case Africa.After a brief introduction and acknowledgement section the authors then launch into individual countries. Each gets a description of Soviet / Russian aircraft used, first ordered by type (fighters, training aircraft, ground attack aircraft, bombers, transport aircraft, helicopters) and then within that chronologically. The authors have compiled a vast amount of information and have - important for people researching the subject in earnest - also mentioned where the claims differing sources are inconsistent. This can take from half a page to tens of pages, depending on the amount of aircraft in use and the time these were operated.Following that comes a section on operative use, with a focus on combat (normal attrition and accidents are covered in the prior section). For the countries, where the number of aircraft is sufficient to provide the information, the authors also compiled lists of type(s), in service dates, identification numbers, etc., which is information for the truly committed enthusiast.If you have read any of their other works, the writing style will be relatively familiar, with the focus here being of course more on the use of the equipment than on its technical specifications.An added benefit of the book is that it will also provide the reader with lots of insight into the various air battles and wars that had been fought in Africa over the second half of the 20th century - very few of these had no participation of Soviet or Russian equipment at all.An aspect, which may irk the odd reader is that the coverage is of course only of the Soviet / Russian aircraft, and not of the complete air forces in question. This simply means that one has to enrich one's reading with other books to cover that aspect - the authors never claimed to have the same in-depth knowledge of the Western aviation landscape.Another disclaimer is that the book covers all African users of Soviet military aviation but one - the exception being Egypt, which was placed into  Soviet and Russian Military Aircraft in the Middle East: Air Arms, Equipment and Conflicts Since 1955  instead (a logical choice).Overall the book provides readers with a wealth of information and can only be recommended. Not necessarily for the completely casual enthusiast but at the same time splendid for those looking for real in-depth coverage on military aviation in Africa. Soviet and Russian Military Aircraft in the Middle East: Air Arms, Equipment and Conflicts Since 1955Soviet and Russian Military Aircraft in AsiaSoviet and Russian Military Aircraft in the Middle East: Air Arms, Equipment and Conflicts Since 1955

its overall a good buy although there are errors which are to be expected - but the quality of profiles , pictures and enough background material etc make it a lavish publication on this rare subjecti would recommend to use this in conjunction with African Migs from Tom Cooper - the advantage is - this book not only covers all known serial numbers but also covers all types incl choppers (some superb Mi-24 profiles, transport aircraft and bombers) .The bonus and clincher was the inclusion of the Algerian airforce (almost 35 pages and the Libyan airforce - - there is enough additional material to make it worth a buy - superb pictures and profiles.So while the Famous Russian Aircraft series has died - atleast this has 2 more books to follow - Middle East and Asia - Keep it rolling Yefim.

It is difficult to find anything bad with this book ! Well written and informative text, clear sharp and not known to me photos, Perfect colour side views , thorough treatment of all African countries, including known aircraft lists with serial numbers and c/n's !Superb book layout and binding with hard covers.One of the best books I have bought lately, although this does not come as a surprise because generally the Hikoki books by these two authors are exceptional .

Yefim Gordon’s book covers, as the name implies, Soivet and Russian military aircraft in Africa from the Cold War up until today (including the Libyan conflict and some of the unrest following it). Included are ‘true’ military machines, as well as transports and helicopters with civil registrations but used mainly by the armed forces. Chinese copies of Soviet designs are also included, while planes and choppers operated by the police are not covered. Do note that Egypt is not included, as it is instead found in the Middle Eastern volume of the same series (due to its involvement in the different conflicts there in spite of being situated in Africa).The coverage includes pictures (the vast majority in color), loads of side-profiles, a (rather) comprehensive history country by country, including both the acquisitions as well as use of the aircrafts in question, and tables of known serials (note that in most cases the number of known serials is quite a lot smaller than the known number of aircraft in use). The book is well laid out, and a joy to read cover to cover, or just browse through.This is in my opinion a ‘must have’ for those interested in African aviation or Soviet/Russian military aircrafts, covering a lesser known part of their story. There are two reasons why this book doesn’t get a full five stars from me: firstly, for the historian, the lack of endnotes or similar to indicate sources are somewhat irritating. In some cases the source is given as pictures or ‘seen at airfield X in year Y’, but e.g. when stating what number or model of a certain aircraft have been delivered, some kind of a source would be nice. I do have a rather high opinion of Yefim Gordon as a writer and expert in the field of Soviet aviation, so it is not so much that I don’t believe the numbers or facts he state, but his sources would still be nice to have.The second reason is more of an issue for the modeler, and that is the lack of three-view drawings of the different painting schemes. While there is a host of exotic side profiles to get inspired by, the detailed stencils and views from above/below are generally missing.