Product Details
Sukhoi Su-27: Famous Russian Aircraft (Famous Russian Aircraft S.)

Sukhoi Su-27: Famous Russian Aircraft (Famous Russian Aircraft S.)
By Yefim Gordon

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Product Description

In the late 1960s, the Soviet Union became aware that the U.S. was developing a new generation of jet fighters that had an exceptional range, heavy armor, and great agility in the air. These U.S. aircraft, the F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Hornet, and F/A-18 Hornet dominated U.S. air power for three decades. In the context of the Cold War, the Soviets could not be seen to be lagging behind the Americans. Their response to these new U.S. aircraft was the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker, which was designed as a long-range air superiority aircraft and interceptor.

The first of the modified pre-production aircraft appeared in 1981, but it was not until 1984 that significant numbers of the Su-27 started to enter service. Eventually some 680 Su-27 were built for the Soviets, of which 400 remain in service with the Russian Tactical Air Force today. Outside of Russia, the Su-27 is also in service with the Chinese, and on the inventories of the air forces of Vietnam, Malaysia, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Syria, and Angola.

This book describes in depth the development, operational career, history, and variants within the Su-27 family. The book incorporates color and black and white photos to portray some of the various camouflage schemes carried by the type in Soviet, Russian, and other air forces over the past two decades.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #173316 in Books
  • Published on: 2007-12-01
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 544 pages

Editorial Reviews

About the Author
Yefim Gordon is one of Russia’s leading aviation writers and publishers. He is the author of many books on Soviet aviation and currently lives in Moscow.

Customer Reviews

Truely Breathless - Yefim Gordon's Best Work - 10 Stars5
First Impression

I have been anxiously waiting for the delivery of this book and honestly, I was not disappointed at all. This book is heavy, hardcover with dust-jacket, 592 pages (glossy paper) in total. It is filled with countless number of pictures (most colour), colour profiles and line drawing of all types of SU-27 and variants.

I owned a copy of Yefim's earlier book (1999) "Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker - Air Superiority Fighter" published by Airlife. I thought that one was already a great book and gave it 5 stars. With this new book in front of me, I could only say that the earlier one was some sort of an "Executive Summary" only. All the pictures, colour profiles and line drawings in this book are of the highest quality and I would have no hesitation in giving it 10 stars!!

The Book

A brief description of the 12 parts of this book:-
(1) A Fighter Is Born - Design and concept (27 pages)
(2) The Recipe For A Better Fighter - Prototypes and testing (46 pages)
(3) The Family Starts Growing - Production and deployment (42 pages)
(4) Enter A New Generation - Su-27 variants (56 pages)
(5) Ship Ahoy! - Russian Navy Su-27 (70 pages)
(6) The Su-30 Family - (44 pages)
(7) Big Head Flanker - Su-34 in detail (30 pages)
(8) Flankers In Service - (32 pages)
(9) Show Business - Aerobatics (32 pages)
(10) The Flanker In Detail - Close-up photos and line drawings (128 pages)
(11) The Su-27 vs The Competition - (24 pages)
(12) Flankers Far And Wide - Flankers in foreign services (48 pages)

I do not think there will be a better book on Su-27 in the market for some years unless Yefim decides to do a revision in a few years time. All Russian military enthusiasts should not miss this one. This is still a bargain at this price.

Fabulous modern combat aircraft monograph5
As with the other titles in this series, this is a first-rate edition on one Russia's latest and best combat aircraft, the Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker,in all its versions. It covers its history from conception through development and deployment. It tells of the people involved and covers everything an enthusiast might want to know with great attention to the engineering and details. The story is told in idiomatic English.

The color photography is excellent and comprehensive and the extensive color artwork is very high quality and illustrates virtually every version and color scheme that has adorned the aircraft in all the air arms it serves with. The line art is superb as well. This is an excellent offering in all respects, which I highly recommend, and offered by Amazon at a bargain price, too.