The MiG-17 is a subsonic fighter aircraft developed by the Soviet Union as a follow-on to the very successful MiG-15. The MiG-17 was flown by numerous air forces around the world and several countries, such as Poland were licensed to build MiG-17s.

The book focuses on the various MiG-17 variants operated by the Polish Air Force from 1955 onward. While the initial batch of MiG-17F and MiG-17PF aircraft operated by the Polish Air Force were purchased from the Soviet Union, the majority of the aircraft it used were actually built by Polish industry under a license obtained from the Soviet Union. The license-built aircraft were designated Lim-5 (fighter/interceptor) or Lim-6 (fighter-bomber) and there were a number of variants of each which were differentiated by letter suffixes to the designation.

The book is divided into sections for each version which include a brief description of that particular version as well as the tactical number of the aircraft built in each class and a short history of the operational use of the various versions. Each section is also extremely well illustrated with numerous black and white as well as color photographs of that version in service with the Polish Air Force. The photographs are crisp and clear and I understand that many of the photographs have never been published before, certainly not in Western Europe or the United States. The captions for the photographs are also very informative as many include explanations of paint colors or variations or point out how different units address faded or flaking off paint.

There are also numerous color profiles included in each section, often paired with color photographs of the aircraft depicted in the floor profile. Some of the profiles include not only one or both sides of the aircraft, but also a top view showing the wing camouflage pattern and colors. A really nice feature is two page removable insert illustration of all of the various stencils applied to the MiG-17 and their locations on the aircraft. One side of the insert covers the stencils applied to the sides of the aircraft, while the other side covers the stencils applied to the top and bottom of the aircraft – very helpful for us modelers.

I really enjoyed this book and I am now inspired to build a Polish Air Force MiG-17, my hope is that Eduard follows up their recent MiG-15 series with the MiG-17!

Highly recommended! Thank you to Mushroom Models Publications and IPMS-USA for the review sample!