Customer Reviews

Mikoyan MiG-29 (Famous Russian Aircraft)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is my second "Famous Russian Aircraft" book series purchase. The MiG-31 book I reviewed several months ago set a bar that this book on the MiG-29 BROKE! Any data from older versions of the MiG-29 that is not currently classified in Russia is in this book. Likewise Gordon has done a good job describing how the MiG corporation has evolved during the time of the MiG-29's production run. The only thing missing from this book is a good photo of the new MiG-29K for India and any sort of info on Laser Designator pods (references are made but all are vague) This seems to be normal for Gordon books and while there are two airshow pictures with LD pods in them no mention is ever made of name/designation etc.


I am amending all my FRA reviews with the below datasheet:
I weight the last three far heavier than the first three for my overall score

Translation errors (lower score for more errors) 4.5
On topic Data (Better is higher) 4.0
Pertinent comparisons to similar aircraft 5.0
Data errors from table to text (Lower for more errors) 4.0
Aircraft Sub-Variant data breakdown 4.5
Specific data on Weapons carried 4.5

Beautifully and comprehensively produced. Everything you want to and need to know about the MiG-29 -- and reasonably up-to-date. The photos, virtually all color and of excellent quality, are numerous. The text is well written and in idiomatic English. It covers every segment of this very important fighter's career from conception, early development, deployment and future with engineering and scale drawing showing how the aircraft came to be. The personalities involved are covered; sections on the naval and export versions are included in depth. Weaponry and wonderful close-ups are not forgotten as are comparisons between the Fulcrum and its competition as well as in-depth studies of the various models.

Perhaps as valuable as anything else, are many dozens of examples of exceptional artwork (side-views and four-views) of the MiG-29 in all its iterations (save, inexplicably, a color rendering of the Mig-29M2). There are cutaways, lineage charts of development, in fact anything you can dream up all for an amazingly reasonable price via Amazon.com.

Indispensable for anyone interested in this aircraft and as good as virtually anything produced on amy single plane. OUTSTANDING!

A superb monograph of a superb aircraft which may be the last MiG fighter to see service. Sadly, this book is becoming hard to find at a reasonable price.

This book is 500 pages of almost everything that is publicly available about the MiG-29 as of the publication date. In addition to the usual highly readable text there are plenty of photographs (almost all in color), line drawings, graphs, and tables.

In short this is a fantastic book with equally fantastic production values. Things that the Famous Russian Aircraft series does not provide but would add much to the package:

1.) An index. A necessity for a volume this size. If it was too much to place in the book itself an online index would have been nice.
2.) A glossary and list of acronyms.
3.) Maps, maps, maps. For a book aimed primarily at a non Russian audience this is really a serious shortcoming.

Another wish would be a greater number of specially commissioned drawings. The 6 view line drawings both of the MiG-29 proper and the various missiles are superb. What would be nicer would be some detailed cutaway and perspective drawings showing the internal details and arrangements of the various MiG-29 models. There are some provided and they are better than nothing but they look to be from technical manuals. Something more on the scale of what is seen in Air International would be more in keeping with the high production values of a book like this.

But don't misunderstand the nits I picked above. This is a five star book. If you have any interest in Soviet/Russian aircraft, pick it up if you can find it for a sane price or hope a 2nd edition is in the works. Much the same can be said for the other "Famous Russian Aircraft" titles. There is an Ilyushin Il-2/Il-10 volume on the way. I am looking forward to seeing how a WWII era aircraft is handled in this deluxe format.

This book is great in every way. It has alot of pictures of all the models ever created for the Mig-29. It describes the history of the airplane with great details, excellent purchase. Worth every penny.

Yefim Gordon sets the standard for books on Russian fighter aviation. His ability to obtain detailed insights into the development hurdles and operational experiences of Russian fighter developers is truly unparalleled. He has obtained the kind of insider access that most journalists could only dream of.

Filled with photographs and outstanding artwork, this beautiful volume contains details tracing the lineage and performance of the MiG-29 and its many variants that cannot be found anywhere else. Truly a masterpiece, and well worth the price.

A beautiful and complete book about Mig 29 History. Lots of pictures and detailed descriptions.

A book to have, with the complementary the SU 27. Bad luck, not enough French aircraft analyzed with so much passion and professionnalisme.

First Impression
The MiG-29 Fulcrum is one of the more well-known USSR or Russian military aircraft to the West and a number of books were published during the past 10 years. This new book is published by Midland under the "Famous Russian Aircraft" label. Other books published under this label were MiG-31 (Dec 2005), Su-27 (Dec 2007) and MiG-21 (Apr 2008). This book is heavy, hardcover with dust-jacket, 512 pages (glossy paper) in total. It contains countless number of pictures (mostly colour), colour profiles and line drawing of all types of MiG-29 and variants.

I also owned a copy of Yefim's earlier book (1999) "MiG-29 Fulcrum -Multi-Role Fighter" published by MBI. At the time, that book was already a great book covering every aspect of this aircraft. This new book by Yefim is a three-fold improvement and no other titles would contain more information/pictures on MiG-29 than this one. All the pictures, colour profiles and line drawings in this book are of the highest quality and just this aspect deserves more than 5 stars!!

The Book
A brief description of the 12 parts of this book:-
(1) Taking Shape - Design and concept (30 pages)
(2) Learning To Fly - Prototypes and testing (16 pages)
(3) The Family Starts Growing - Production and deployment (40 pages)
(4) The New Generation - MiG-29 in Service (18 pages)
(5) Pushing For The Navy - Russian Navy MiG-29 (40 pages)
(6) New Lords, New Upgrades - (20 pages)
(7) The 21st Century Generation - (52 pages)
(8) The MiG-29 In Action - (56 pages)
(9) The MiG-nificent Displays - Aerobatics (36 pages)
(10) The MiG-29 In Detail - Close-up photos and line drawings (106 pages)
(11) The MiG-29 vs The Competition - (18 pages)
(12) The Operators - Fulcrum in foreign services (68 pages)

As I said on the Su-27 book under the same label, I do not think there will be a better book on MiG-29 in the market for some years unless Yefim decides to do a revision in a few years time. All Russian military aircraft enthusiasts should not miss this one. This is a highly recommended item for a long time to come.

Very complete, nice pictures and drawings and detailed description and history of every aspect of the aircraft,....the best mig-29 book so far!

This book is stunning. The pictures are outstanding, and the text covers virtually everything an aficionado would possibly want to know about the MiG-29 in all its incarnations. There is even a picture (claimed to be the only one available) of a North Korean example. There are a few grammatical errors or unusual usages that have crept into the text as translation artifacts, but they do not detract from the technical descriptions. Yefim Gordon has clearly become the leading popular writer and expert on Russian aviation and aircraft. VERY strongly recommended for any fan of modern aviation or Russian aircraft.

This book is worth buying, a must have for all MiG 29 Fans.
As a scale modeller this book provides minute details from photos taken from almost every angle
The line drawing and 3 views are helpful too.

Highly Recommended.

Shailesh K.
India