Moore N.J. Soviet Strategis Bombers, the Hammer in the Hammer and the Sickle

Fonthill Media Limited 2018. — 425p. — ISBN: 978-1-78155-597-2.When thinking of Soviet strategic bombers, the Tu-95 ‘Bear’ is what usually comes to mind. It does for me, and good reason: the Bear first went into service in 1956 and shows every sign of continuing in service until at least 2040. It was the Soviet Union’s first true intercontinental strategic bomber.Yet the development of Soviet strategic bombers did not start and end with the Bear. With this book, I hope to open up to the reader, whether they are a devoted historian of Soviet aviation or just an interested reader, the whole, fascinating world of the development of strategic bombers in the post-war Soviet Union.There are, of course, other books on post-war Soviet strategic bombers, including several excellent reference books by the fine Russian air historian Yefim Gordon; these are referenced in the bibliography. There is also a good, comprehensive overview of the Tupolev jet bombers, which is a compilation of articles from the periodical World Air Power Journal; this excellent book is also listed in the bibliography. However, as far as I know, my book is the first book by a native English speaker to cover all the main post-war Soviet strategic bombers in one reference work, including the Myasishchev M-4/3M Bison and the piston-engined Tu-4.As is usual with my works, a term you will not see me use in this book is ‘Russia’ to refer to the Soviet Union or ‘Russians’ to refer to the Soviets.Although this convention is still used in most English-language Soviet histories, it is inaccurate and will not be used in this reference work. Russia, or the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, was the largest and most populous republic, but still just one of the constituent numbers that together made up the Soviet Union, or the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics, to give its full name translated into English. When I use the term ‘Russia’ in this book, during the period of the Soviet Union’s existence (1922 – 1991), it refers to a specific geographic region in the Soviet Union, not to the Soviet Union as a whole, and ‘Russian’ will refer to a person born in Russia, not just any Soviet citizen. When the discussion turns to events after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia will be used to describe that now-independent country, and Russia will be used to describe its citizens and products.Jason Nicholas Moore,
Seguin, Texas.
1 November 2016.