Sukhoi Su-27 (Famous Russian Aircraft) [Hardcover]

Yefim Gordon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 17, 2010

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.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

In the late 1960s, the Soviet Union became aware that the U.S. was developing a new generation of jet fighters. 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 This book describes in depth the development, operational career, history, and variants. 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.

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.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 591 pages
• Publisher: Midland Counties Publications Ltd. (February 17, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1857802470
• ISBN-13: 978-1857802474
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.9 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,608,861 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous modern combat aircraft monograph, January 2, 2008

By 

James L. Spingarn "bird&aircraft book lover" (Glen Head, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sukhoi Su-27 (Famous Russian Aircraft) (Hardcover)

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.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truely Breathless - Yefim Gordon's Best Work - 10 Stars, March 26, 2008

By 

paul_cheng "K.F." (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sukhoi Su-27 (Famous Russian Aircraft) (Hardcover)

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sukhoi's worldbeater, February 15, 2010

By 

Jim Davis (St. Charles, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Sukhoi Su-27 (Famous Russian Aircraft) (Hardcover)

A superb monograph of a superb aircraft family. Sadly, this book is becoming hard to find at a reasonable price.

This book is 600 pages of almost everything that is publicly available about the Su-27 family of aircraft. This includes not only the Su-27 proper but the various Su-30, Su-33, Su-34, Su-35, and Su-37 models and others too numerous to mention. In addition to the usual highly readable text there are plenty of photographs (almost all in color), line drawings, graphs, and tables.

In short this is a fantastic book with equally fantastic production values. The only thing I can fault is the very substandard cutaway drawing. It reproduced poorly and is marred and obscured by overly large numbers calling out the various features.

Other than that one could have wished for:

1.) An index. A necessity for a volume this size. If it was too much to place in the book itself an online index would have been nice.
2.) A glossary and list of acronyms.
3.) Maps, maps, maps. For a book aimed primarily at a non Russian audience this is really a serious shortcoming.

But don't misunderstand the nits I picked above. This is a five star book. If you have any interest in Soviet/Russian aircraft, pick it up if you can find it for a sane price or hope a 2nd edition is in the works. Much the same can be said for the other "Famous Russian Aircraft" titles.