Customer Reviews

Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker: Air Superiority Fighter

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This book, like the others by the same author, are the most comprehensive books about russian aircraft. It covers history,development, production, deployment and even some comparison with contemporary western fighters. Despite this it is still a very readable book and does not get bogged down with technical jargon and numbers.

The author himself seems to have a real passion for aviation subject and this shows in the book, making it very enjoyable to read. Having said that however, the author does have a very slight bias towards russian aircraft. A VERY SLIGHT one.

Most of the information is in the text, though it has some interesting photos of key components or variants.

Overall, a very good book that has alot of background information yet still easy to read. A feat in itself.

As a technical work tracing the design, flight test and systems history of the Su-27, this is a fine work and invaluable for its photos and drawings.

That being said, the author is no historian, and it shows. He relates a story in which a pair of Su-27UB's visited the US in the early 90's and engaged with 1st Fighter Wing F-15's out of Langley AFB, Virigina. He then goes further to claim that the Eagles were completely unable to defeat the Flankers in DACT (dissimilar air combat training)and it was not published due to "USAF attempts to hide a mock defeat".

Simply put..it didnt happen. Aside from the fact that for diplomatic reasons it would never be permitted, it was technically not feasable to conduct said training at Langley. Mr. Gordon falls into the trap that many pro-Russian authors stumble into, in that he almost completely ignores USAF sources and takes Russian sources at face value. This is a similar failing to his work on the MiG-15, which is also available here.

In short, the book is great as a work on the Sukhoi 27, but as a work of history in comparison with other fighters in the world, and "training events" with them, it is little more than "fanboy" garbage and should be avoided.