The Sukhoi Su-27 is a long range air superiority fighter, comparable to the American F-15 Eagle. The proto-type T10-1 (code-named Flanker A) piloted by Vladimir Ilyushin completed a successful test flight on 20 May 1977 in Zhukovsky.

The Irkut Joint-Stock Company also referred to as the Aircraft Production Association of Irkutsk, is the manufacturer of the Su-27UB (U for Uchebro or training, B for Boevoi or combat) two-seat version of the Sukhoi Su-27 fighter. Variants of Su-27UB are the Su-30 interceptor and Su-30MK tactical fighter. The Su-27 is the most powerful Sukhoi jet fighter ever to be born and has astounded air show audiences around the world with its incredible agility.

At the 1989 Paris Air Show, Sukhoi Chief test Pilot Victor Pugachev cheekily unveiled "his" now famous "COBRA" manoeuvre, a dynamic deceleration achieved by pulling the aircraft's nose away from the direction of flight and momentarily reaching or exceeding an angle of attack of 90 degrees.This was a manoeuvre which could not be emulated by any Western fighter.

The "COBRA" manoeuvre was actually designed and used as a flight-test test point by Mikoyan's Chief Test Pilot Valerii Menitsky, but Victor Pugachev impudently stole it and claimed it as his own.

A shipboard version of the Su-27, also known as the Su-33, with canards and folding wings, has been tested on Russia's first big carriers, and there is a two-seat attack version, the Su-27IB or Su-34, with side-by-side seating in a reshaped nose just like the "platypus". The Su-27IB variant will replace the Su-24 "Fencer" in the tactical bomber role and was displayed by Sukhoi during the Paris Air Show ' 97.

The Su-27 "Flanker-B" are proudly flown by the Russian Air Forces Demonstration Team of Aviation Techniques called the Russkiye Vityaze or better known in English as the Russian Knights.

Flanker's

• Sukhoi Su-27 - The real story of the most powerful Sukhoi jet fighter ever to be born.

• Flanker's Short Biography - by Vadim "Watson" Krivosheyev.

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This page was updated on Friday January 17, 2003.