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Description of  The Soviet Air Force (Epic of Flight)

This is one of the volumes of Time-Life's splendid series "Epic of Flight". Like all of Time-Life's publications, the book itself is handsome and inviting. It features an attractive, embossed cover, quality paper, and scores of illustrations. Some are in color: reproductions of patriotic ("propaganda") posters, detailed paintings of various aircraft. Most are black-and-white photos spanning a period of one hundred years. The text covers the history of Russian aviation, from Tsarist times to the height of the Cold War. In 1884, Aleksandr Mozhaiski built a steam-engine monoplane with a wingspan of 40 feet. Although it failed to fly on its own it glided to a safe landing its publicized exhibition launched the empire's passion for flight. Soon elite aero clubs opened in St. Petersburg, Kiev, and Moscow, attracting designers and builders of all nationalities. Nikolai Zhukovski, Andrei Tupolev, and Igor Sikorski were three whose names became famous.