Lechosław Musiałkowski has written two additional books for MMP: Polish Wings 19: Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-17 & Polish Versions (2015) along with Bomber Aircraft of 305 Squadron(2014). In addition, he has authored numerous monographs in Polish (Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej series), covering the B-25 Mitchell, Catalina, C-47, Boston (Havoc), etc.

A native of Krakow Poland, Janusz Swiatlon is an aviation history enthusiast and military modeler. He has retired from the Polish military after serving with the 6th Airborne Brigade. He has a long history of being published as an illustrator and author for many magazines and books from publishing houses as Osprey, Kagero, AF Editores, Chevron, and Mushroom Model Publications.

This latest installment in the Polish Wings series introduces the first supersonic fighters in the Polish Air Force, the MiG-19P, along with the first version of the MiG-21 to serve in the Polish Air Force. The front and back covers are by Marek Ryś. The front cover depicts MiG-19PM (sn 65210917) in flight. The rear cover shows MiG-19PM (sn 6521905) in flight.I counted 155 black and white photographs along with nine color photos. Janusz Światłońcontributes 16 color side views as well as top, bottom, and scrap views as appropriate. The great part of these color side views is they are backed up with period photos of the aircraft being portrayed.

Lechosław Musiałkowski kicks off this tome with the Polish Air Force procurement and training of the MiG-19P and MiG-19PM aircraft. Since there was no two seater available from Russia of the MiG-19, training required more time and more attention from the flight instructors to move the Polish Air Force into the supersonic age. Lechosław also details the differences between the first batch of eleven aircraft received from the second batch of 13 MiG-19P aircraft, along with providing serial numbers and tactical codes. He continues with the operational use and ‘losses’ up to when the decision was made to retire the MiG-19P in 1973 after serving for over 15 years. The second chapter addresses the MiG-19PM which was the first Polish interceptor to carry air-to-air guided missiles. Unfortunately, the missiles were not that accurate and the MiG-17PM carried no cannon armament. The third chapter introduces the MiG-21F-13, Poland’s first Mach 2 interceptor. Poland received its first MiG-21 in 1961 with the last MiG-21F-13 being retired in in 1973. Twelve Polish MiG-21F-13s were sent to Syria in late 1973.

The Table of Contents focuses on the following sections:

• Acknowledgements
• MiG-19P [Page 11, 20]
• MiG-19PM [Page 38]
• MiG-21F-13 [Page 50, 70]

Polish Wings 24 provides an interesting view into a lesser-known chapter in aviation history. What I love about this series is the combination of photographs and illustrations depicting a particular aircraft (see pages 20 and 70 below). Lechosław Musiałkowski provides an excellent introduction of the MiG-19 and MiG-21F-13 to the Polish Air Force, complete with all the inherent politics. All of the photographs are well-captioned providing additional insight and details.The Marek Ryś color profiles are supported with clear, well-captioned photographs that make this a great reference for some interesting modeling.

My thanks to Mushroom Model Publications and IPMS/USA for the chance to review this great book.

Highly recommended!