Unflown Wings: Unbuilt Soviet/Russian Aircraft Projects Since 1925

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phil gollin

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I noted this book is listed on Amazon.co.uk, authors Dmitriy Komissarov and Yefim Gordon, published by Ian Allan.

Due 4th April 2013, 640 pages, cost £54.96, presently offered at £48.86.Probably will be available cheaper at a later date or from other on line retailers.
 
640 pages!!, omg, that should be close to the ultimate source of unbuilt soviet projects finally for non Russian readers!

My credit card is ready
 
We now have cover art, courtesy of Amazon:

2dqkoig.jpg
 
Why oh why oh why are publishers producing books with great content but covers that look like kids' sticker books?

Who teaches these book designers? I've done better.

Chris
 
What are the chances of the T-60, 1.42, or Voron being in there in detail?
 
SOC said:
What are the chances of the T-60, 1.42, or Voron being in there in detail?
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Do you have that Voron PDF that's been floating around? (Not sure if I got it from you or someone else.)
 
SOC said:
What are the chances of the T-60, 1.42, or Voron being in there in detail?
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I think the 1.42 should be in there, seeing as Y. Gordon wrote this:
$%28KGrHqJHJCoE7zRfR3,mBPDz-%29uqVw%7E%7E60_35.JPG


ISBN 1-85780-120-2
Publisher is Midland/ Ian Allan
It appears to be out of print.
 
sferrin said:
SOC said:
What are the chances of the T-60, 1.42, or Voron being in there in detail?
Click to expand...

Do you have that Voron PDF that's been floating around? (Not sure if I got it from you or someone else.)
Click to expand...

I don't think so?
 
Yes, the cover is very off-putting, unfortunately, but I don't think it would stop me from inspecting it further to be sure. However, buying it via the internet I might have over-looked it.
 
It'd be cool if it has info on the Ilyushin Il-12 bomber project and the Mya DVB 202, 302 and 402 projects too.
 
phil gollin said:
.

Due 4th April 2013, 640 pages, cost £54.96, presently offered at £48.86.Probably will be available cheaper at a later date or from other on line retailers.[/size]
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The Amazon website now says that this book is scheduled to be out June.

Unflown Wings is a must-read for anyone interested in unbuilt Russian aircraft of the Soviet era. It's also the first book to include all unbuilt Russian aircraft designed since the collapse of the Soviet Union (I don't know if this book includes unbuilt aircraft designed in the Ukraine, especially the Antonovs).
 
Looks an interesting book, but at 640 pages and £55 its obviously an enthusiast's book (so why the kiddie front cover?). It would be interesting to know the level of detail for each aircraft project included and whether there is much new information within it. Given we've had the Soviet Secret Projects series, the excellent OKB series and the older Gordon & Gunston 'Soviet X-Planes' (and the even older Osprey Russian Aircraft Enyclopedia) and other works like the Red Star series etc. is there really much left not previously published? I wouldn't want to spend that much money if the majority of the info is repetition of info and pictures already sat on my shelf or an abbreviated version of those contents.
 
Hood said:
Looks an interesting book, but at 640 pages and £55 its obviously an enthusiast's book (so why the kiddie front cover?). It would be interesting to know the level of detail for each aircraft project included and whether there is much new information within it. Given we've had the Soviet Secret Projects series, the excellent OKB series and the older Gordon & Gunston 'Soviet X-Planes' (and the even older Osprey Russian Aircraft Enyclopedia) and other works like the Red Star series etc. is there really much left not previously published? I wouldn't want to spend that much money if the majority of the info is repetition of info and pictures already sat on my shelf or an abbreviated version of those contents.
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Frankly, and I don't wish to underestimate it, Yefim Gordon and his co-authors probably know that it's wasteful to replicate the astronomical pile of info on unbuilt Russian aircraft projects obtained from their previous books into Unflown Wings. My best guess is that Unflown Wings will include an appendixes summarizing every Russian civil and military aircraft that never left the drawing board (just as every book in the Secret Projects series [except the Flying Wings book] contains appendixes summarizing every aircraft that was never built) and that it will provide a bulk of unbuilt Russian aircraft of the post-1991 era.
 
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Received my copy today.


Large, heavy book (640 pages) which shows that the Russian design Bureaux obviously had access to some very wacky-baccy.


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.... and Your first impression ???? PLEASE !!!
 
I'm ready to place my orden then. But please, can anyone write a few words about the contents?.
Can we expect many unbuilt projects previously unpublished from English sources?.

Thanks in advance
Antonio
 
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As this is the only book I have covering Soviet "might-have-beens" I cannot comment.


However as a stand-alone book it is interesting. It is of the old-fashioned, by bureau, then chronological, with a few paragraphs description and a three-view drawing, possibly with several photos or a cgi colour drawings and occasionally model photos.
 
Hmmm ??? Would be interesting to know how it compares - both in quantity of additional types - and quality in comparison to Rusian Secret Projects !??

Deino
 
Could it be possible for have a scan of the contents posted here?.

My infinite gratitude in advance,

Antonio
 
and index if possible while my copy on the way
 
I don't have a scan, but this is the entire table of contents:
Introduction ...3
01. Projects from Tupolev OKB ...5
02. Projects from Polikarpov OKB ...105
03. Projects from Il'yushin OKB ...129
04. Projects from Mikoyan OKB ...159
05. Projects from Sukhoi OKB ...195
06. Projects from Yakovlev OKB ...263
07. Projects from Myasishchev OKB ...305
08. Projects from Antonov OKB ...350
09. Projects from Beriyev OKB ...385
10. Projects from various design bureaux and individuals ...429
11. Helicopters and other rotary-wing aircraft ...595


Unfortunately, there is no index included. Also, I can't compare contents between Unflown Wings and the previous Soviet Secret Projects books, because I never managed to find the Soviet SP books. Sorry, but I hope this is at least a little bit of help.
 
anyway, thanks! at least number of pages devotedto various OKBs looks promising
 
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I am a longtime stalker of this site with a pretty good library on special projects built up over the years with all the usual suspects in my collection including the histories of the OKB's written by the authors


This book is good enough that it has prompted my first post, whilst virtually all of the material is contained in other books the fact that it is all now in one quick reference volume makes it worthwhile and even when the exorbitant cost to ship it to my home in Oz is taken into consideration. I would recommend it to all with a serious interest in the topic.
 
Tupolev section will be good, as Yefim will have got everything he needed from OKB archives via Vladimir Rigmant. Interested in the other sections more.
 
Then, although belated, but nevertheless a warm welcome here, sallows01 !
Thanks for your quick review, as I understand, those, who already have bookshelves filled with literature
about Soviet aviation by the metre, probably won't find many news ?
 
Then, although belated, but nevertheless a warm welcome here, sallows01 !
Thanks for your quick review, as I understand, those, who already have bookshelves filled with literature
about Soviet aviation by the metre, probably won't find many news ?
Click to expand...

My fear is about that possibility...my bucks will fly to another tittles then
 
pometablava said:
Then, although belated, but nevertheless a warm welcome here, sallows01 !
Thanks for your quick review, as I understand, those, who already have bookshelves filled with literature
about Soviet aviation by the metre, probably won't find many news ?
Click to expand...

My fear is about that possibility...my bucks will fly to another tittles then
Click to expand...
I guess it all depends on the value you set on a few revelations, certainly there were more than just one or two low profile projects that I had not heard of previously however there certainly are not any major surprises to regular viewers of this site. The internet has made it so easy to share and search for any project that may be of interest that the days of shocking reveals in published works that take years to create are, in my opinion, over. The temptation to post the project you have just found out about, and the ease at which you can share it with your peers now is just too tempting.
To me the value is in the ease of reference, Yefim appears to churn out book after book (and I seem to always end up buying them) and in many of them whole sections appear to be repeated, abridged or mildly updated, this book will be very reminiscent to regular readers of his works but I do think that the fact so much information is now in just one location give it some value.
 
Normally my interests are on the NATO side, but having a few books on Soviet kit I found a copy of this book on Amazon for £35 and free delivery and it arrived yesterday.

As a complete novice on the subject I was delighted to have a book which covers the whole gamet of the Soviet Russian projects from Bombers to helicopters in one volume. The author has packed the book with reasonably sized photos and drawings and there is none of the padding which I usually hate. As a scrapbook to dip in to see Russian projects and as a starting point for research here and in more specific tomes it passes my Hippo book test.

In fact I like it so much I wish there were a similar overview tome for the British, French or US projects. Now that that various archives are more available may be someone will do the same. Probably not as it would be too difficult. In the meantime I am enjoying this Russian example.

Oh and I am afraid I still prefer the Western stuff
 
For some strange reason, Amazon in the U.S. is still unable to get their hands on the books (to fill my order, among others), while their U.K. branch has had them for several weeks. A puzzlement.....
 
gatoraptor said:
For some strange reason, Amazon in the U.S. is still unable to get their hands on the books (to fill my order, among others), while their U.K. branch has had them for several weeks. A puzzlement.....
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Not really its published and distributed in the UK, the US books will be in a shipping container en-route or being processed
 
Well, Amazon (U.S.) finally got their allottment, since they now show delivery from 8/5 to 8/9. (And I had ordered the book last October!)
 
I got mine today, and was amazed at the size. This book built like Shturmovik! ;)

Obviously I haven't had a real chance to go through it, but a quick flip-through has already turned up things that I knew nothing about. I'll echo the sentiment - this one is a keeper.
 

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