Ilyushin Il-28 Book Review

By David L. Veres

Review

Author Nikolay Yakubovich deftly distills the “Soviet Canberra” in IIyushin II-28 – number 130 in Warpaint’s vast range of aircraft monographs.

His handy handbook spans just 68 pages – including covers. And tables, extended captions, and dimensional and performance data augment the account.

Contents recap the total topic: design, development, deployment, and disposition. Bomber. Attack. Training. Reconnaissance. Armament. Instrumentation. Exports. Variants. Modifications. And more.

Much more: like the radical role British propulsion technologies played in Il-28 genesis.

The picture-packed effort includes photos, interior shots, close-ups, tech-manual excerpts, and pull-out 1/72 plans. Profiles survey the swath of Beagle warpaint. And three pages of color “in detail” images nicely wrap things up.

Fascinating facts tincture text. Yakubovich claims, for instance, that just six of 42 Beagles in Cuba during 1962’s “missile crisis” were actually nuclear-capable.

But the translation sometimes proved clumsy, confusing, and, frankly, odd – problems that unfortunately vex Warpaint’s other Soviet subjects.

Additionally, does Yakubovich really mean Czechoslovak “events of 1968” – not 1967? And that’s Cairo West air base in Egypt – not “Kair-West airfield”. Sources for all those body quotes would be nice, too.

Finally, why no model kit commentary? And I’d love to see photo confirmation of that Afghan tail insigne on page 35!

Still, most readers probably purchase Warpaint titles for pretty pictures – not for proper prose. And this one certainly satisfies. It’s a concise, convenient project reference.

Recommended!

My sincere thanks to Guideline Publications for this review sample!