The U-2/Po-2 was the most produced aircraft - that started out as a trainer - in the world. Since it was conceived in the late Twenties, the aircraft was given a letter, designating what it was used for. In this case, the Polikarpov U-2 was given 'U' because 'U' stands for uchebnoy vtahroy which literally means "training" It wasn't until the early part of the Great Patriotic War (GPW) that aircraft were given the letter designators that associated that type with a specific manufacturer - in this case 'Po' standing for 'Polikarpov'.

While this book never claims to be the definitive history on the U-2/Po-2, the text supplied does a great job explaining the major sub-types of this aircraft. It's important to keep in mind that this book was developed with the modeler in mind, providing detailed photos, color profiles, etc. There are some photos of the machine in service but the majority of the photos are of the preserved post-war Po-2 in the Kbely museum. However, there are photos of other machines in and around Eastern Europe. For example, there are photos of the U-2 preserved in the museum at Krakow.

There are plenty of up-close photos showing most of the details of the Kbely machine. Externally, there is little difference between this Po-2 and the machines that served during the GPW. 1/48th drawings of the most common type - the U-2LNB are also provided. Rounding out the book are seven pages of color profiles.

This is an awesome book and comes highly recommended, especially if you're building either the Gavia 1/48th machine or the KP 1/72nd kit. I purchased mine from Red Star Models for US$17.95.