The book is dedicated to the dramatic history of the creation of the world's first single-seat attack helicopter Ka-50 "Black Shark" and its two-seat version - reconnaissance and attack all-weather helicopter of round-the-clock use of the Ka-52 "Alligator." The book is based on documents from the personal archive of the General Designer of Kamov OJSC S.V. Mikheev, memoirs of project managers, test pilots and many other people involved in the appearance of an unparalleled rotorcraft, which caused heated debate among domestic and foreign aircraft manufacturers and slight panic in NATO countries. Fortunately for the North Atlantic Alliance, the Black Shark was not born at the best time for our country. But her heir, Alligator, is now proving the superiority of the Russian helicopter school in the Syrian Arab Republic. In preparing the material, genuine drawings and unique photographs from archives and private collections were widely used, many of which are published for the first time.