Books on the Aircraft of Petlyakov

Armada's "Pe-2 Diving Bomber" Part 1

     Published by Armada in 1999 - this is number "13" in a series of various similar books. Purchased from the Aviation-Bookshop.com in September 2006. The book is similar to the layout of a Squadron/Signal "In Action" book. It has 48 pages including colour profiles on three pages (the covers). There is very little text (a good thing) so the book is dominated by its numerous black and white photo's. These are printed on semi-glossy paper of average quality. Thankfully there is a short Introduction in English and all captions are in Russian and English. Hoorah! There are six pages of 1/72nd scale plans showing all major variants. The photo's are largely original. Apart from this there are practically no explanatory sketches. Recommended for the modeller.

Crowood "Petlyakov Pe-2 Peshka"

     ISBN 1 86126 588 3 - published 2003. I have several of the Crowood Aviation Series in my collection and they are generally good if not aimed at the Model Aircraft making brigade. This is somewhat of an exception to that rule. It does seem as if western authors have a slightly more colourful approach to their work than their eastern counterparts. To this end this book, by Peter C. Smith of Bedfordshire in the UK, (of all places) seems a far easier read than the work of Yefim Gordon. In over 207 pages there are 8 pages of colour pictures of museum examples and the remains from aviation archaeology. This includes interior shots of examples in restoration. This lifts this book above the standard of the equivalent Il-2 Shturmovik book by Crowood reviewed elsewhere on this web site. Peter also borrows a bit more from western research and quotes RAF Intelligence Reports at length in an early description of the Pe-2. With these exceptions the layout of the book resembles the Il-2 one very closely. The photo's are excellent throughout and there are many detailed shots of use to modellers. However there are no scale plans and very few engineering scrap views apart from in an early section in which the aircraft is described. Without a doubt this is a much better effort than the Crowood Bf 110 book reviewed elsewhere on this web site. This book is recommended to the modeller but it does pale in comparison to the HT Model Special featured opposite. Once again I got this Crowood book very cheap off EBay. It is well recommended at that cheap price!

HT Model Special "Petljakov Pe2 & Pe-3"

     If you buy one model-maker's reference on the Peshka then make it THIS one! As the publisher's name suggests this is produced just for model makers. As such we are in model making NIRVANA here. There are 3 pages of history at the front, all written in Slovak. However, the copy I bought off EBay also had a neatly presented translation into English thrown in by the publisher as an after-thought. Sadly these are loose-leaf and will fall out and get damaged. Hopefully future editions will incorporate the English into the main body of the book? We can only hope. To their credit the photo & drawing captions are dual language - Slovak & English. "HT Model" appear to be a Slovak modelling magazine, thus the presentation is in lush glossy colour throughout and it does have the appearance of an up-market glossy magazine - if printed on thicker paper. After page 5 the rest of the 79 pages are just pictures and drawings. There is every possible engineering schematic reproduced here. They pack a LOT of photo's in which does mean they are a little small. The drawings are of variable quality as they appear to have been lifted from multiple sources. However the publisher was clever enough to intersperse photo's and drawings for areas such as the cockpit consoles. Differences in variants is highlighted by series. I suspect the Slovak Model Kit Manufacturer MPM had access to this sort of material when they put together their 1/48th scale kits of this aircraft. From page 31 we start to get full colour photo's Museum examples. These are in trusty 'walkaround' style and include interior shots. These photo's continue through to page 51. There are three pages of scale plans and two of colour side profiles. This is pretty much all you could ask for and I was very impressed. HT Model is certainly one to keep an eye on. I have not heard of these guys anywhere else. The book had no ISDN number and no publish date so I don't even know how this got on the international market. However, I am glad it escaped and found its way onto EBay. I couldn't recommend this more for the modeller.

Profile 216 "Petlyakov Pe-2"

     Profile 216 "Petlyakov Pe-2" from Profile Publications. Published in 1971 this was part of a series that was intended to be collectible into binders. Hence it starts at page 109 and runs through to 132! Thus, in these 24 pages you get some history, colour three view illustrations, colour side profiles, technical specifications and a range of black and white photo's. There is one page of close-up photo's showing the interior with a couple of line sketches for illustration. I picked this up off EBay and was impressed how such a 36 year old publication has stood up to the test of time. It only feels a little dated. I have seen far worse efforts from the 1990's! Recommended.