Chinese Aircraft; China's aviation industry since 1951

Manchester: Hiroki Publications, 2008. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Very good/Fair. The format is approximately 8.5 inches by 12 inches. 312 pages. Illustrations (many in color). Index. DJ has significant wear at top front edge and other wear and soiling. Contents address The Chinese Aircraft Industry, Fighters, Bombers, Strike Aircraft, Trainers, Airliners, Transports, Special Mission Aircraft, Light Utility Aircraft, Helicopters, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Yefim Gordon (born 1950 in Vilnius, Soviet Union) is a Lithuanian aircraft photographer and author who specializes in Soviet aircraft and Russian aviation. Gordon graduated in 1972 from the Polytechnic Institute Kaunas as an engineer/electronic technician. Since 1973 he lives in Moscow, where he collected photographs and books on the history of Soviet aviation. This collection became a large archive. Since the 1980s he is a professional aviation journalist and writer. He has authored and co-authored about 100 books on Soviet and Russian aviation in Russian, English, Polish and Czech, published articles in nearly 100 journals and photo reports. He also works as a photographer. The 2018 edition of Jane's All The World's Aircraft shows 50 of his photographs. Gordon is co-owner of the Moscow aviation publisher Polygon Press Ltd. His works are also distributed by Midland publishing (now Ian Allan Publishing), Hikoki Publications Japan and Crécy publishing ltd. As a co-author, he regularly collaborates with Dmitryi and Sergey Komissarov. Shrouded in secrecy, output from the Chinese aviation industry was, until recently, largely unknown in the West. In the 1950s, when communist China and the Soviet Union were on friendly terms, the Soviet Union assisted in the establishment of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) by delivering combat aircraft and training Chinese personnel. Following the 1960s' rift between Moscow and Beijing, the Chinese authorities set up an indigenous aircraft industry, and as they gained experience, versions of Soviet aircraft started appearing together with their own designs. Chinese Aircraft provides a full description of all aircraft types including the Shaanxi Y8, the Chengdu JF-17 (FC-1) light fighter, which is now entering service with the Pakistan Air Force, the Shenyang J-10, and the KJ-2000 AWACS aircraft based on the Il'yushin IL-76. It also details the factories and design institutions representing the industry over the years, including Chengdu, Guizhou, Shenyang, Xian, and Chiange and compares early and late designs to show how those organizations developed. A special section deals with experimental types and the latest research and development while further sections are devoted to aircraft weapons, unmanned aerial vehicles, and Chinese aircraft exports on a country-by-country basis. Numerous color profiles and three-view drawings are also included, along with the logos of production enterprises and design institutions to form a comprehensive guide to Chinese aircraft and China's aviation industry. From a review by Cmdr. Peter Mersky (Ret.) This massive encyclopedia of the current fleet of Communist Chinese aircraft and the equally huge bureaucratic organization that houses them and their widely varying missions that threaten world peace has to be one of the most inclusive and perhaps intimidating aviation works to appear in several years. Although the threat of a new Russia following the demise of the Soviet Union is also rising amid the political ashes of the USSR, it is the new and increasing power of mainland China that now has the western world's focus, and with good reason. In truth, that threat has never left us. This new voluminous book should start a few alarm clocks ringing. Actually, the bells have been ringing since Vietnam, but it is only now that we have begun hearing them. I hope this new warning is not too late. After a brief but informative history of military aviation in China, the book launches into a type-by-type, mission-by-mission discussion of every type of aircraft flown by the Chinese army, navy, police force, as well as unmanned vehicles. It is amazing just how many planes are used in this huge country. And, although there remain many types originally supplied by the Soviet Union, such as the MiG-21 Fishbed fighter and the Tu-16 twin-jet Badger bomber, there are quite a few original designs, a few of which may look like American designs right down to their twin tails and their forward-placed canard control surfaces.