Research Catalog

Attack of the Airacobras : Soviet aces, American P-39's and the air war against Germany

Title: Attack of the Airacobras : Soviet aces, American P-39's and the air war against Germany / Dimitriy Loza ; translated and edited by James F. Gebhardt ; with an introduction by Von Hardesty.
Author: Loza, D. F. (Dmitriĭ Fedorovich)
Publication: Lawrence, Kan. : University Press of Kansas, [2002], ©2002.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Request in advance	D792.S65 L69 2002	Off-site

Description

xiii, 369 pages, 14 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps; 25 cm.

Summary

"During its titanic military struggle with Germany, the Soviet Union received a major boost with the arrival and deployment of nearly 5,000 Bell P-39 Airacobra fighter planes, courtesy of America's Lend-Lease program. The impact was dramatic, as the Soviets quickly adapted the planes into a devastatingly lethal force.
Dmitriy Loza's account, admirably translated and edited by James Gebhardt, vividly recreates the battle campaigns of this odd coupling of capitalist planes and Marxist pilots and shines a bright light on a little known part of the air war on the Eastern Front. The P-39 proved to be the right plane at the right time for a beleaguered Red Air Force. Built for short range and relatively low altitudes, the P-39 was equipped with a powerful engine and weapons that enabled it to out-duel and eventually dominate the Luftwaffe from the Caucasus foothills to Berlin.
Focusing on the combat operations and daily life of one unit - the 9th Guards Fighter Division - Loza refutes the myth that the P-39 was used mainly as a "tank buster" or "flying artillery." Instead, its primary mission was to protect Red Army operations from aerial attacks by the enemy. So despite the occasional strafing of trains, truck convoys, and troops, most P-39 operations involved attacks on Luftwaffe bombers and dogfights with their fighter escorts."--BOOK JACKET.

Series Statement

Modern war studies

Uniform Title

Modern war studies.

Subjects

Bibliography (note)

ISBN

0700611401 (alk. paper)

LCCN

2001002619

OCLC

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries