Producer/Editor

This book is designed according to the successful formula set by its predecessor volumes on Pan American World Airways, Lufthansa, and Delta Air Lines. The same standards of accura­cy, relevance, and balance have been set, but inevitably, some problems arose.

With the aircraft specifications, we have been conscious of the dangers of misrepresenting performance by associating, for example, the maximum range with maximum passenger and/or cargo load. The term normal, where used, therefore, is not a retreat to a broad generalization, but normality correctly expressed. A Tupolev Tu-114, for example, could fly 10,000km (6,000mi), but could not do so with a full payload.

Spelling presented real difficulties. Transliteration from the Russian, a language with vowel and consonant sounds differ­ent from most others, has been and still is interpreted in English in several ways. Aeroflot’s predecessor airline has been spelled Dobroliot, Dobrolyot, Dobriolot, and the generally accepted Dobrolet, which latter, in fact, is misleading, because it omits the у sound. We have done our best to be consistent.

Some place names have changed according to political decree, and several major cities, Leningrad, Kuibyshev, and Sverdlovsk, for example, changed back to their pre-Revolution names (St Petersburg, Samara, and Ekaterinberg, respectively) even while this book was being written. We have attempted, in the text, the tables, and the maps, to be contemporarily correct.

With a current fleet alone in the region of 11,000 air­craft, it was impossible to attempt to include individual air­craft details as in the previous volumes—even if they were available. Instead, emphasis has been placed on the pre-war non-Soviet aircraft, and selected post-war types where the

listing did not preclude essential text, photographs, drawings, or other tabular data.

The computerized layout of the text and final design according to Ron Davies’s original plan was fashioned and polished by Kimberley Fisher, of Fisher & Day; and Paladwr Press is much indebted to her and Brian Day for their enthusi­astic support and professional advice. Printing, once again, was accomplished under the professional direction of Scott Piazza of The Drawing Board. — John Wegg.