Famous Russian Aircraft: Mikoyan MiG-23 and MiG-27

Both the MiG-23 and MiG-27 (NATO: Flogger) would serve throughout the world's air forces, including a host of neutral nation's air forces during the Cold War. The MiG-23 interceptor was developed during a period when Soviet and US-NATO aircraft designers were working on several swing-wing and variable geometry (VG) wing designs. The US-NATO designated "Flogger" was actually the third Soviet design to bear the designation, though the only one placed in full-rate production (at four Soviet aircraft factories for most of its production history). This volume continues the fine Soviet aircraft histories of Yefim Gordon and Dmitriy Komissarov, and is produced on high-quality art paper, fully illustrated with color & B&W photos, three-view drawings, and a whopping 560-pages of technical, production, and operational histories of the aircraft that served - or are still serving - in foreign air forces. The massive volume is organized into 11 chapters, three appendices, and an index. These include: * * Choosing the right-way; a review of operational and design background information of the MiG firm' * * Third Time Lucky: focus begins on the final Flogger design; * * MiG-23 Fighter versions * * The MiG-23 in detail; an extensive review of everything external and internal with the aircraft design; * * In Soviet service; a review of Soviet Air Force's squadrons that the interceptor versions served with; * * Strike Versions: The beginning; development of the MiG-27, from its origins as a modified MiG-23 variant; * * The duck-bills: New Role, New Name: emergence of the MiG-27 as a separate design aircraft; * * The strike version in detail; * * The strike version in Soviet service; * * Foreign Floggers in action; an review (pages 371-388) of foreign service operational uses of the aircraft; * * The operators; coverage of all foreign air forces flying either MiG-23 or MiG-27 variants. The three appendices include: No. 1 - Mig-23 family specifications No. 2 - Mig-23 family production (full listing of production aircraft, by production Version, Serial Registration / Tactical Code Number (Red 23, etc.) and Year Manufactured; No. 3 - Accident attrition; a series of know crashed, with photos from local sources where possible. The Index is extensive (three pages) and covers everything from individual squadrons to associated missiles, avionics, facilities associated with the aircraft (test and development, production facilities, etc.). One would not find a more thorough volume on this unique, often maligned, aircraft design. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

This book is a surprisingly deep and enjoyable dive into two of the most misunderstood Soviet fighters—the MiG-23 and its ground-attack sibling, the MiG-27. Even if you’re not a hardcore Cold War aviation fan, the authors make the story of these swing-wing jets interesting and accessible. The book mixes history, development, technical detail, and real pilot experiences in a way that never feels heavy. You get a clear picture of why the MiG-23 had such a mixed reputation in the West, and at the same time you see how it evolved into a far more capable aircraft than most people give it credit for. The MiG-27 section is equally good, especially if you’re into strike aircraft and the Soviet approach to low-level attack missions. The photos, diagrams, and color profiles are excellent—classic "Famous Russian Aircraft" series quality. If you enjoy Eastern Bloc aviation or just want a balanced, informative look at two important but underrated jets, this book is absolutely worth the read.

This book has everything a MiG enthusiast could possibly desire....line drawings, comprehensive photographs and a complete written history. Having examined MiG-23s and MiG-27s myself, this book brought back past memories and even has pictures of aircraft I saw in person.

Received this book as a birthday gift. The book is very detailed. If you want to know about the various MiG-23/27 aircraft this is all you will need to buy. Very Impressed!

This is probably the most well presented, organized and illustrated book coming from Yefim Gordon. The MIG-23/MIG-27 itself is not as interesting as the Su-27 family to me but I like to browse and read the book because it just very well organized with the content, diagrams and pictures. Many which are exclusive. Never seen anywhere else in the western world. The written content is to be expected from a non-native English speaker and some sections rather long drawn out but you have many gems spread throughout this big book

I have a love-hate relationship with Yefim Gordon and his writing partner Dmitriy Komissarov. I love the fact that every one of their books strives to be the definitive, end-all reference book on a particular aircraft, a passion which has given us the "Famous Russian Aircraft" series. Each one of these bad boys is a massive brick of a book, packed with hundreds of photographs and diagrams, detailed descriptions of every variant built or conceived, extensive operational histories, and lists of every aircraft built and their eventual fate. What I hate (okay, "irritated to a variable degree" by) is how they stubbornly refuse to enhance the readability of their work (glossaries and maps are for decadent Westerners!), and how painfully self-indulgent they can be. After all, there's a reason why you never read about the great Russian editors in literature class. Having gotten that off my chest, this is the first all-new FRA book in two years, and one of the better recent books in the series. The authors have mostly kept themselves in check, and aside from their insistence on calling Ukraine "the Ukraine" and indulging in a conspiracy theory about Mathias Rust, have side-stepped the political commentary which frequently mars their work. The book is somewhat similar to the Su-7/-20/-22 and Tu-22/-22M FRAs in essentially being two books joined together in the middle with a brief transitional chapter. After the introduction, there's a chapter describing some of the unbuilt and one-off aircraft developing along the way to the definitive MiG-23, and a chapter on the first development aircraft. The third chapter covers the evolution of the fighter versions of the MiG-23, describing each variant of the type from the "1969 model" to the MiG-23MLDG and a number of proposed upgrades that never left the drawing board. Next up is a chapter which is devoted entirely to a technical description and photographic walkthrough of the type. Chapter 5 presents a fairly in-depth history of the aircraft in Soviet service, focusing mainly on the 1979-88 Afghan War. The strike versions are handled in much the same fashion, their four chapters followed by a chapter on "Floggers" at war outside of the Soviet Union. Finally, we get a lengthy chapter focused on all of the foreign and post-Soviet air forces which operated the type, followed by a detailed production list and brief descriptions of many of the accidental losses which have occurred since 1970. Even though it's still a pretty substantial reference, this book flows a bit better than much of the authors' recent output. It helps that the "Flogger" had a lengthy, convoluted development phase, saw quite a bit of combat, and was always something of a problem child. For once, they're actually pretty frank about how flawed the early variants were, how difficult they could be to fly, and how difficult they were to maintain. As always, the illustrations are excellent, ranging from close-up views of cockpit instrumentation, hundreds of black and white and color photographs, to a large number of color profile views and multi-view diagrams. What stops me from giving this five stars is the lack of care given to the final edit by Crecy Publishing. The text is riddled with typos, run-on sentences, sentences that end without punctuation, unclosed parentheses, and sometimes combinations of the above. Occasionally the captions don't relate to the photo being described. I imagine that Yefim Gordon's breakneck publishing schedule doesn't help matters, but the three previous FRA books, all of which were revised editions, didn't suffer quite as heavily. That aside, this is undoubtedly the definitive English-language book on the Flogger family, and I'm eagerly awaiting the Su-25 and revised MiG-31 FRAs due out later this year.