Soviet MiG-15 Aces of the Korean War (Aircraft of the Aces, 82)

This book provides one of our first detailed - WONDERFULLY detailed - looks at Russian Mig pilots in the Korean War, including marvelous first hand accounts of combat as well as excellent unit records. This is the first book on the subject that I've ever seen with this level of detail - it wasn't long ago when the Russians wouldn't even ACKNOWLEDGE they had pilots in Korea.When reading this book, it's important to keep in mind that Krylov and Tepsurkaev probably had to secure the goodwill of their Russian sources in order to get such great access. Obviously, these pilots aren't going to grant interviews to someone planning a hatchet job on their military careers. Thus, the reader shouldn't be surprised that the narrative advocates and honors not just the pilots themselves, but also their interpretation of the war. Thus, you will not see any mention that these guys weren't "supposed" to be there while at the same time field a lot of strident complaints about US conduct and kill claims (I still wonder why excess US claims couldn't have been North Korean or Chinese pilots?)This "bias" may be irritating to some, but the first person accounts and detailed Russian records make it a price abundantly worth paying. Furthermore, the authors weave their way through this political minefield by diligently researching and cross referencing both US and Russian records for every encounter. The results are a rather embarrassing parade of inflated claims by both sides, with people becoming great heroes and aces for stuff that simply didn't happen. Both sides were struggling to adapt to the new speed and range of jet combat, with afterburner smoke all too often being mistaken for a dying aircraft.If you haven't read Osprey books of this kind, you have to keep in mind that these books are about records, photos and paint schemes first and literature second. However, for those who want something dramatic, visceral insight is actually very easy to get: just skip to ANYTHING written in quotes. There you'll find a wealth of white knuckle accounts as flesh and blood as any: "There was no way out. I headed right into the shell bursts. The aircraft shook and was thrown from side to side as if it were taxiing on cobblestones. I gripped the control column tightly and sat there more dead than alive..."Obviously, the majority of encounters don't have the benefit of a personal interview, and are thus just what can be gleaned from combat reports: "Having fought his way past eight escorting Sabres, Snr Lt Evgeniy Stelmakh single-handedly attacked four B-29s and managed to shoot one of them down..."If you want to actually decipher who was where when, I strongly recommend that first you download a few maps of Korea. Even so, the majority of the book is a torrent of facts, names and unit numbers, and if you're not writing things down it'll make your head spin: "17th and 523rd IAPs joined battle with the attacking fighter-bombers, while 14 MiGs from 18th GvIAP, which had climbed to 10,000 m (32,500 ft), were directed towards the B-29s..."I truly feel this book is a fabulous, ground breaking first step towards an understanding of Russian pilots in the Korean War, and with the aforementioned caveats in mind, it can serve you wonderfully no matter what your interest. Here is where its true wealth lies.

Back in September 2006, when I reviewed Warren Thompson's F-86 SABRE ACES OF THE 4TH FIGHTER WING, I commented that it would be great if Osprey had a "MiG-15 Aces of the Korean War" book in the works. Well, here 'tis...and not only is Leonid Krylov's book interesting but it's sure to be controversial as well.Russia committed many MiG-15 units to the Korean conflict. It's only recently that details of this large-scale but top-secret involvement has been documented. SOVIET MiG-15 ACES OF THE KOREAN WAR is based on 17 years of research in Russian archives and interviews with 64th Fighter Air Corps pilots.First of all, Krylov does an admirable job of relating the Korean air battles from the Soviet side including many first-hand reminiscences and combat reports. By war's end 52 Soviet MiG-15 pilots claimed five or more kills, 13 of those claimed ten or more victories. In terms of F-86s alone, those MiG pilots were credited with downing 574 Sabres while losing 335 MiGs in return...and therein lies the rub.According to USAF sources, F-86s downed over 790 MiG-15s while losing 78 Sabres in return. 78 losses vs. 574 claims; 790 claims vs. 335 losses; hmm!?! If you factor in Chinese MiGs downed by F-86s, you'll probably get close to the 790 American claims but how to reconcile the 78/574 figures?!? In truth, Krylov's book could be subtitled: "Few of These Losses Tally with USAF Figures." To his credit, Krylov, time and again, points out the disparity between Soviet and American claims/loss figures but the overall impression is one of tremendous overclaiming by the Soviets.Pilots such as Oskin, Pepelyaev, Sutyagin, Shchukin and Kramarenko were obviously skilled pilots; some had been aces in WWII. They obviously triumphed over some USAF F-86 pilots - including a few top aces - but it will take monumental research to come to a final, accurate Korean air war tally.In the meantime, SOVIET MiG-15 ACES OF THE KOREAN WAR is a good start; an obviously well-researched and well-written overview of the topic. It includes over 70 rare photographs of pilots, aircraft and gun-camera scenes. (Given the awful footage MiG-15 gun-cameras produced, it's no wonder there is such overclaiming!) Yuriy Tepsurkaev also contributes nine pages of nicely done color profiles. I would have loved an index and also a map since the MiG pilots kept referring to Korea Bay, Cape Unzenly, etc.Short and sweet summary: Highly recommended.

I thought the book was interesting read it though some political stuff but that was due the very real war with little or know thoughts that killed hundreds of thousands and made homeless millions more Korean people with out anything being resolved.

The story of the air war over Korea has been told and retold almost exclusively by US historians. Until the fall of the Iron Curtain we were led to believe that the exchange ratio of F-86 Sabres for MIG-15 fighters was an incredible 10:1, a figure that was later downwards adjusted by the USAF to 8:1. Modern research indicates the air battles over Korea were much less one sided than previously thought with the kill ratio now being downwards adjusted to as low as 1,3:1 in favor of the F-86 when opposed by Soviet flown MIG-15s. This book finally tells the story from the Soviet point of view and for that reason alone it is worth reading. As expected for such a condensed account, the book traces the highlights of air battles waged by the various Soviet units deployed to Korea. It is a somewhat tedious read, but by no means an uninteresting one. The artwork is nice and just for once, unlike other volumes in the Osprey e-books series, the orientation of the art work does not require you to turn your head by 90 degrees to properly admire it.

Seems like it was written in the days of the old Soviet Union. At the beginning the authors talk about how they're aware that pilots often over claim in their victories, and often cite USAF records when in conflict between Soviet claims and reality. But as the book goes on, you sense an attitude from the authors that USAF records couldn't possibly be accurate, and Soviet records can't be wrong. In the second to last paragraph in the book the go on a bit of a tirade slamming UN victory claims over what Soviet records show as actual losses, but continue to push the Soviet pilot claims as the gospel, and ignore actual loss records of USAF, USN, RAF and RAAF records. They maintain that UN claims were wildly inaccurate vs Soviet losses. That there is always some over scoring on all sides, is common. But they authors seem to forget that a lot of the claims against MiG-15's were against North Korean pilots, and we'll never truthfully know how accurate that is because North Korea has never granted access of their loss records to anyone. Perhaps in the deep vaults of the Russian military archives it's known, since the Sovs were supplying the MiGs, but it seems those records are not available to researchers.Just be aware that this books seems to be written with an ax to grind. Good color plates though, for the modeler.

We can see that in the beginning the MiG is a superb machine, while fighting against propeller driven planes and 1st gen fighter jets. But when the F-86 comes into play and by the end, with increasing number and advanced tactics, some of the MiG flaws starts to appear.There is a lot of combats and pilots narratives. The book does not get too repetitive by stating "combat took place on that day over that area, claiming "Y" UN fighters with "Z" losses, being "Y" confirmed/not confirmed by UN forces."

Although a wide literature can be found about the USAF heroes in the Korean War, the Soviet paper was secret till recent years, but it included several pilots with over 20kills in that war.This book offers an exhaustive view of the "Honchos" in that war, written unit by unit, day by day.All kills are discussed, comparing gun camera footage, Soviet and North Korean papers and compares it to USAF accounts.The book also includes a lot of contemporary footage (B/W, of course) and a lot of colour profiles of great interest for the modeller.A must for every enthusiastinc in History (Both sides must be accounted), Modellers and MiG and VVS fans.

this book has alot of information and artwork but alot of repetition.

Nice book in perfect Osprey style. Nice selection of pictures, some very rare, and a good number of colors profiles. A must for everyone interested in Korea air war, with the view of the life of the " enemy " pilots. Strongly recommend

Sehr gut recherchiert, viele neue Erkenntnisse, Fotomaterial teilweise von schlechter Qualität aber sehr interessant, sehr guteFarb- und Risszeichnungen dazu.

Good account from Russian side of Korean War. I would have liked more illustrations of Russian aircraft used in Korea as well as more details of all of the Russian aircraft used in that conflict.