"Major General of Aviation Vasil'yev ... traces in detail the history of Soviet long-range aviation from its inception up to 1972. He discusses the development of the force from the early days of the Il'ya Muromets bomber to the modern-day super-sonic jet bombers. He describes the evolution of the organizational structure of the bomber arm of the Soviet Air Force from the Civil War period to modern times. A great deal of attention is of course devoted to bomber operations during the Great Patriotic War ... Unfortunately, what could be called the 'modern era' of Soviet long-range aviation (the post-1967 period) is not covered in depth in this book"--Page vii.