Unflown Wings: Soviet and Russian Unrealised Aircraft Projects 1925-2010

Much has been written about aircraft built in the former Soviet Union thanks to the work of Russian aviation writer Yefim Gordon, but Unflown Wings is the first comprehensive overview of CIS aircraft that didn't make it off the drawing board, complete with 3-view drawings, archival photos of desktop models and full-size mockups, and artist's conceptions.Throughout the book, Yefim Gordon groups the major design bureaus (Antonov, Sukhoi, Il'yushin, MiG. Tupolev, Myasishchev, Beriev) into separate chapters, and includes an additional chapter with the names of little-known Russian aeronautical engineers (e.g. Roberto Bartini). He is careful not to wastefully replicate the information from previous volumes in the Secret Projects and Red Star Series, so each unbuilt project is given a brief summary.Of all passenger aircraft projects conceived in the post-Soviet era, only the Antonov An-148 and Sukhoi Superjet have entered production, and even so, the rate of passenger aircraft production in the CIS is minimal compared to the rate of military aircraft production.The Russians have never ceased to conceive any fixed-wing plane of monstrous proportions. The Tupolev TB-6 of 1933-1934 had a wingspan of 311 feet, nine feet short of the Hughes H-4's 320-foot span, but larger than the wingspans of the Boeing 747-8 and 777X, Convair B-36 and Model 37, Antonov An-225 and An-124, and Airbus A380. By contrast, the planned Scaled Composites Stratolaunch airborne space launch vehicle will have a wingspan 74 feet greater than that of the TB-6. The Sukhoi KR-860 and Ilyushin Il-96-550 and Il-196 superjumbos designed in the 1990s had wingspans exceeding that of the A380, with the KR-860's wingspan measuring 288 feet. The Molniya Geracles twin-hull plane had the same span as the An-225, and the Beriev Be-2500 series and Be-5000 seaplane would have had wingspans exceeding 400 feet, far bigger than that of the TB-6 and the Stratolaunch. In summary, the biggest of the unbuilt Soviet warplane designs, the TB-6, happened to be designed under the watch of the most evil communist dictator of the first half of the 20th century.Unflown Wings is a bible for anyone interested in unbuilt aircraft conceived in the former Soviet Union.

The book is big, but it's an absolute treasure. It contained every single project that didn't make out the drawing boards from ALL Soviet OKBs. Also included are projects from university design institutes.Some of my favorites are the DSB-LK bomber (absolutely stunning aircraft) and Bartini A-57 (a seaplane heavy strategic bomber, the Soviets are creative thinkers).If you are an aviation enthusiast and loves aircraft, I recommend this book wholeheartedly.

This book seems to take all the unflown projects from his other books and places them in one convenient, authoratative resource. debated buying for some time but resoved something I had to have before got even more expensive or unavailable.

This is a wonderful book for any fan of Soviet / Russian aviation history as well as any fan of aviation history in general. For most readers in the West - and for quite a few Russian aviation aficionados - the achievements of Russia's aviation and aerospace industry remains an unknown. This book goes a long way in remedying that. It's coverage is bordering on the breathtaking in its scope as it brings up heretofore unheard of projects, prototypes, and concepts.Highly recommended!

I geeked out when I got this book; it contains EVERYTHING that the soviets did in the sky. I normally hate when people type in all caps but this book is huge, like dictionary thick and has great illustrations; but most importantly it simply covers so much. It is worth the price and more.

Sergey Komissarov is and authority in the matter

Fun read. Soviet paper airplanes were every bit as ambitious as those of any other country. Well illustrated and with thoughtful text.I will buy from these authors without hesitation.

This was a Christmas gift for my son. He has enjoyed the book immensely. Received by shipper in good condition and in time specified.

This is a mammoth book packed with information on projected aircraft that never actually made it to flight status. Some fascinating proposals are included, and it is especially good on the projects developed after the break up of the Soviet Union as aircraft manufacturers struggled to develop products with a wider, international appeal. Lots of artists impressions, photos of models and line drawings. Most of the line drawings are good,but literally one or two look as if they have been drawn with a blunt 6B pencil and then faxed to the printer. As many of these projects were in competition with, precursors of, or developed from other more successful designs that flew, you really need a copy of Bill Gunston' s Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft (1995) to hand in order to place these projects in context. The major design bureaux have a chapter each (though in a seemingly random order - it's certainly not alphabetical) and there is a fascinating and lengthy chapter on designs from lesser bureaux and individuals, followed by the final chapter on helicopters.As always there are some minor niggles- the book has laminated covers and no dust jacket, and I was amused by a three view drawing of the Tupolev Tu 109 with the caption 'outwardly identical to the Tu 108' which benefits from a three view drawing immediately above. And they're right -they are identical. Maybe the book would also have benefitted from an index and a bibliography, but this is a major work of considerable interest.It is interesting that until comparatively recentlyRussian and Soviet aircraft were poorly documented in English, and now there are many very comprehensive books on the subject - particularly this one and the Gunston Encyclopedia . Perhaps someone will do the same for French aircraft, because there appears to be little in English apart from Opdyke's French Aeroplanes before the Great War and Davilla's French Aircraft of the First World War. Green's Warplanes of the Second World War luckily covers French fighters, bombers and marine aircraft, but there seems to be no single volume coverage of the inter war years or post WW2. Unless I'm missing something?

1) Its HUGE.2) Its got a lot of interesting stuff in it.3) Some of the material is authoritative, sourced from OKB archives.4) Some of it is speculative, downloaded from the internet, occasionally just wrong.5) No index or real organisation of the material.Bearing these limitations in mind, you will probably find something interesting, just don't believe everything in it.

Fabulous book. Well researched and full of information on designs that were never built. Plenty of history and in depth information.

What a marvellous, marvellous book.I have absolutely no idea if anything has been missed but unless you are a super nerd, I don't think anyone need worry that this is the most comprehensive work covering its subject so far in existence. In fact, to try to better it would be an amazing feat.I've long had an interest in the 'what if' scenarios. I have no objections to any books on aviation but those which profile the rather more esoteric really energise my thought processes. This book, then, has me shaking with wonderment.The authors are to be highly congratulated on,not only such a comprehensive detailing but also in the way the book is laid out. The fact that it is in English just puts the cherry on the icing since my Russian is not really up the requirements of reading this.I shall now immerse myself in its 640 pages which may mean I shan't be able to review another book for years! As to value, I consider the price to be well worth the expense. It is a lump to pay out but we've all paid more - relatively speaking - for an awful lot less.

85 Jahre Entwicklungstätigkeit aller bekannten und weniger bekannten Entwicklungsbüros von Antonov bis Sukhoi werden ausserordentlich detailliert dargestellt. Für Studierende, wie auch gestandene Luftfahrtingenieure eine Fundgrube von Projektideen mit zum Teil überraschenden Parallelitäten zu westlichen Entwicklungen, aber auch originellen Vorschlägen zu Hubschraubern, Luftkissen-Fahrzeugen oder Raumtransportern. Auf 640 Seiten werden mit Bildern, Zeichnungen und Diagrammen Projekte beschrieben, die das Konstruktionsbüro nicht verlassen haben oder bestenfalls mal als Prototyp realisiert wurden, für spätere operative Varianten aber von nicht zu unterschätzendem Wert waren. Y. Gordon und S. Komissarov darf man für diese Historiensammlung Hochachtung zollen.