Stalin's Falcons began the Great Patriotic War on aircraft that were noticeably inferior to German ones - with the latest modification of the Messer Bf 109F, neither Yaks, nor MiGs, nor Laggies could fight on equal terms, not to mention about outdated “donkeys” and “seagulls”. Only in the summer of 1942 did the USSR close the gap by launching the LaGG-5 fighter, a little later renamed La-5. However, the Germans did not stand still - already in the fall the first Focke-Wulf-190s (front-line nickname - “Fokker” or “Fokka”) appeared on the Eastern Front. Our designers responded by creating the souped-up La-5FN and the legendary La-7, the best Soviet fighter of World War II. The Germans countered with the development of the “long-nosed” (“Langnasen”) ultra-high-speed Fw 190 and Ta 152H, but it was already too late...

Comparing the same type of fighters of Semyon Lavochkin and Kurt Tank, a new book by leading aviation historians answers the main questions: who won this air arms race? Why was there definitely a “fear of Messerophobia” among the “Stalin’s falcons” at the beginning of the war, but there was no particular fear of the Fw 190? Whose fighters turned out to be better in the end - Soviet or German? “Lavochkins” versus “Fokkers” - who wins?