Customer Reviews

Cobras over the Tundra

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The story of the LendLease aircraft program, this book has a unique dual-language format. The first half of the book consists of text, in both English and Russian (on opposite-facing pages). I have a personal interest in this history of the Alaska-Siberia (ALSIB) Ferrying Route, since my mother had served as a civilian air-traffic controller for the program. The second half of the book contains numerous black-and-white photos, with dual language captions, of American and Soviet pilots and personnel at Fairbanks (Ladd Field) and Nome. I hoped to be surprised by a glimpse of my Mom as a beautiful young woman! (Alas, that didn't happen.) In 1999, when I worked for the "World War ll Through Russian Eyes" Exhibit, I met a Russian man whose parents had been ferry pilots for the ALSIB. It was a poignant moment for both of us, to realize that his parents and my mother had likely met on base! And poignant, for me, are the photos in this book of ALSIB personnel -- our parents' colleagues -- at work, or playing music and dancing during off-duty hours! Although not exposed to combat, a ferry pilot's duty was dangerous. Largely unknown to most Americans and Russians were the losses. My aquaintance related to me a tale of tragedy over the tundra. His father, flying a C-47 (Li-2), received the final transmissions from a pair of accompanying Airacobras. Caught in a sudden blizzard, their wings had iced up and they could no longer maintain altitude. The two LendLease warplanes, so precious to the Allied cause, were last seen descending into the inhospitable wilderness. "Cobras Over the Tundra" verifies that this was not an isolated incident. Sixty-eight planes were lost over Alaska, forty-one over Siberia. The book pays tribute to the dozens of courageous aviators who simply disappeared in the treacherous storms over the tundra, taiga, and sea routes. "They sacrificed to the altar of the Great Victory the most priceless thing -- life."

This books tells a relatively unknown story, the story about how American Lend-Lease aircraft were transfered to Russia. From the 14.500-odd planes that went to the Russians during WW2, almost 8.000 went by the ALSIB route (Alaska-Siberia). 2.618 of these were Airacobras, 2.397 of them Kingcobras. This book describes how it was done and by whom, both in English and in Russian. The focus is not on the planes, but on the people from those two great countries who helped each other against their common enemies: the cold and the Germans. Apart from the text, there are also many photo's describing the harsh conditions which both Americans and Russians had to face, most of the depicting the people, but there are some good shots of Airacobra's and Kingcobra's as well, though not as much as I hoped there would be. There is also room enough for other types, you'll find B-25's, A-20's, C-47's, P-40's as well. Good background material for the serious WW2 aircraft historian, giving a look behind the scenes and insight that not many other books about WW2 aviation can hope to match.

I was disappointed in this book. The P39 and P63 were my favorite fighter planes during WWII. I have been interested in getting more information about combat performance of these planes. It was interesting to read about the experiences of the ferry pilots but not much about the actual flying characteristics of the planes.