This latest edition in the Polish Wings series continues the look at Poland's MiG-29 force. This all starts near the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s when Poland picked the MiG-29 to replace its aging fleet of MiG-21 and MiG-23 aircraft. At that time the choice of options was rather limited as the Warsaw Pact was still in effect. Polish pilots and ground crew were sent to the Soviet Union to train on the type, at which time they returned to Poland to pass along their knowledge.

Then came the end of the Cold War and with it the making of new nations. Among those was the division of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Unable or unwilling to maintain their MiG-29 fleet, the Czechs sold of their MiG-29s to Poland in the mid-1990s. Later on, the Germans provided Poland with their MiG-29 fleet to bolster the size of the Polish AF fighter fleet.

This book covers the aircraft that were bought from Germany after reunification.  It also covers the two seat MiG-29UBs from all sources. To catch up on the Polish single seat planes and those from the Czechs, see the first part of this series. The MiG-29 is the only Russian aircraft in Polish service and has had a superb reputation amongst pilots and ground crews.

The book begins with a history of the aircraft in German service, which includes a tabular history of each airframe transferred to the PAF. All of this is in English. Then we get to the main event. This majority of the book is photos and superbly done profiles of each individual aircraft at various times in its life with the PAF. This includes the different camo schemes as well as any special markings the aircraft has received up to the current time. The photos are superbly done and quite crisp and clear. Apparently the German planes were well used as some were not overhauled and used for spares recovery. The very end of the book has cockpit photos.

Overall, it is an outstanding photo book and history of this important aircraft in the PAF. It is one that I  particularly enjoyed reading and one I can easily recommend to you.

May 2011

Review book courtesy of MMP Books, where you can order your copy of this and many other superb aviation and modeling books. Also available in the US from Squadron and in Australia from Platypus Publications

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly , please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.