Soviet fighter aviation suffered terribly at the hands of the Jagdwaffe in the first year of the war in the east and, with the arrival of JG 51 and its Fw 190s on the Stalingrad Front in September 1942, things only got worse. However, help was on its way in the form of the La-5. Tougher, faster, and with a greater rate of climb than its predecessors, most were flow by a new generation of better-trained pilots led by combat veterans. These new fighters soon found themselves pitted into action on the Central Sector against the equally new Fw 190As of JG 51. From then on, these two fighters would battle it out in the skies over the Eastern Front. This book tells the complete story of the battles between these two important fighters.

Author Biography

Dmitriy Khazanov is one of Russia's leading experts on the history of Soviet aviation in World War II. He has written 15 books and a great number of articles, which have been published in Russia, the UK, Germany, Finland, France and Japan. Aleksander Medved is a retired air force colonel who has written 11 books and a number of articles on the history of Soviet and foreign combat aircraft development in World War II. Khazanov and Medved have previously co-written a handful of monographs on subjects such as the MiG-3 fighter, Pe-2 dive-bomber and Er-2 long-range bomber. Jim Laurier is a native of New England and lives in New Hampshire. He attended Paier School of Art in Hamden, Connecticut, from 1974 to 1978, and since graduating with Honours, he has been working professionally in the field of Fine Art and Illustration. He has been commissioned to paint for the US Air Force and has aviation paintings on permanent display at the Pentagon. Jim created the cockpit views, armament scrap views and Engaging the Enemy artwork featured in this volume. Gareth Hector is a digital artist of international standing as well as an aviation history enthusiast. Gareth completed the battlescene artwork and cover artwork. Andrey Yurgenson is one of the world's leading aviation artists. Since the early 1990s, he has illustrated a wide range of articles on the history of Russian aviation in Russian and other aviation magazines, as well as more than 20 books (including a number for Osprey). Andrey created the three-view artwork featured in this volume.