Famous Russian Aircraft - Sukhoi Su-57

sferrin said:
SOC said:
Antonio said:
How about projects/alternative designs/intermediate steps?
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There are a few described but no images.
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Worth buying or no?
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It's worth it I'd say. For one, being an FRA series book, it's absurdly well illustrated. As far as I could tell after a quick glance it was pretty comprehensive up to that point, including a few pages of Checkmate coverage. I haven't checked it for "accuracy" yet, i.e. compared it to Butowski's book to see who's got conflicting information if any.

Plus, you get the hilarious Gordon-isms, like suggesting FELON was chosen as an insult, or that people say the weirdo engine noise it's made at some points was "howling" because a "howler" is another Western term for a huge joke and they obviously want to do nothing but insult Russia with every breath.
 
Sukhoi alsp promot a Naval Version of the Su-57, the Su-57K, there are also pictures of modells of the su-57 on board on the "Shtorm" class aircraftcarrioer project. They have folding wings and ,like the Su-33, folding stabilsators, the nosewheelgear is made for CATOBAR. But I couldend find any picture who shows details about the Su-57K tailhook. This would be interesting to see, because if I look at the belly of the Su-57 it looks like there is not enough space after the rear weaponsbay for a tailhook.
 
It might not be what the actual Su-47 flew with either

I think the MKK style cockpit was either aspirational or from the Pak-fa internal weapons bay program. But rather then taking the chance to shed light he stole that image :(

https://www.flightglobal.com/the-generation-gap/19253.article
While the S-37 undoubtedly provided a dramatic sight in the skies over the flight-test research centre at Zhukovski, near Moscow, the suggestions are that the cockpit interior is significantly more conservative. Moscow sources suggest that it contains only very basic analogue flight instrumentation.
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Like Sean said, Book Depository delivered it (to California) within a week. Good price too compared to other vendors.
 
Below is a short review of the book Famous Russian Aircraft: Sukhoi Su-57 by Yafim Gordon and Dmitriy Komissarov ISBN: 0 781910 809938 in which I will go over the highlights, strong points and weak points of the book from the prospective of a Aviation Historian. The hope is that this will help inform someone who is thinking of buying the book and let them know what to expect.

The Good:
There is a lot of good in this book. It is a lavishly done 400 page in depth dive not only into the Su-57 but also the development of two of its immediate predecessors (Mig1.42 program and Sukhoi S-37/Su47) that fundamentally shaped design decisions for the plane. There are a ton of color photo's covering all aspects of the planes in the books. Every detail is covered both in text and pictures. If you are a model maker this book is a dream come true. The amount of detail this book provides can't be understated everything from the names of project leads to subtle changes in airframes over the course of several prototypes. The amount of research that must have gone into this book boggles the mind. While a perfect book for the aviation enthusiast there a few problems that make the book more problematic for a researcher.

The Bad:
While the authors are obviously expects in the field of Soviet and Russian aircraft they are also fairly obviously not very familiar with western aircraft. There are numerous mistakes throughout the book in regards to western aircraft, moreover the book is not always consistent on its statistics, for example claiming that the F-22's central bay contained either 4 or 6 air-to-air missiles at different points in the book. The sheer number of these mistakes is regrettable and may be in part die to the second issue of note. That being that the authors are really bias when it comes to Russian aircraft superiority to all other combat aircraft. While some bias is always to be expected the book often veers almost into fantasy levels. Whether this was a requirement by the Russian government for access to the program or just something the authors were already predisposed to is unknown. That being said it would be minor issue if not for the last problem and the only really major one I have as a historian with the book.

The Ugly:
The biggest and only serious gripe I have with this book (as well as most of the books by these authors) is the complete lack of sourcing and citations. As a historian with a major aerospace museum I would not be able to use this book for reference other than the photo's due to this lack of sourcing, and what little informal references that are named sometimes are not reliable (no popular mechanics is not considered anywhere near a reliable source of analysis on aircraft) This is a pity since it also means that it is impossible for me to judge how accurate the authors were with their facts on the Russian planes, based on the level of detail I believe the authors did a good job but combined with no sources, and their numerous mistakes with western airplanes I have to take everything said with a grain of salt. However it should be noted that unless I come across a contradiction in a publication that is more reliably sources I will take the information presented in the book as fact.

Should I buy the book?
The short answer to that question in my opinion is a big YES. While the book may not be verifiable as being usable as a source book for academic work that should not take away from what is a obviously well researched book that gives great insight into the minds and methodology that went into creating a amazing plane the Su-57. The book will continue to sit on my bookshelf for use on a personal level for many years to come. Though I do hope that if the authors somehow read this that they try in future editions and books to please include the source materiel since it is obvious they spent a great deal of time and effort to make this wonderful book.
 
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Merged topics.

As a correction, the F-16 did not enter service with the AIM-7. It was tested with AIM-7 but it wasn't used, though later blocks were nominally capable, and F-16s didn't get equipped with a medium range AAM until the AMRAAM entered service (except for F-16 ADF variant).
 
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SOC said:
Plus, you get the hilarious Gordon-isms, like suggesting FELON was chosen as an insult, or that people say the weirdo engine noise it's made at some points was "howling" because a "howler" is another Western term for a huge joke and they obviously want to do nothing but insult Russia with every breath.
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Having been part of a naming panel, I can say that that using names to take a dig at Russian stuff would have been part of the discussion process. Whether that was why it was chosen, I have no idea, but I am sure it crossed people's minds. Definately a factor I considered when putting forward my own proposal (sadly it was not picked).
 
Desertfox said:
SOC said:
Plus, you get the hilarious Gordon-isms, like suggesting FELON was chosen as an insult, or that people say the weirdo engine noise it's made at some points was "howling" because a "howler" is another Western term for a huge joke and they obviously want to do nothing but insult Russia with every breath.
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Having been part of a naming panel, I can say that that using names to take a dig at Russian stuff would have been part of the discussion process. Whether that was why it was chosen, I have no idea, but I am sure it crossed people's minds. Definately a factor I considered when putting forward my own proposal (sadly it was not picked).
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FLATPACK for the Mikoyan 1.44 / MFI was an obvious joke.

Several codenames were altered due to being too compilatory (MiG-15 FALCON to FAGOT, Tu-22 BEAUTY to BLINDER).
 
Since we're on this topic anyone notice that Yefim Gordon hasn't published anything in a while ? Im guessing the war has hampered his ability to access the archives he normally uses ?
 
alberchico said:
Since we're on this topic anyone notice that Yefim Gordon hasn't published anything in a while ? Im guessing the war has hampered his ability to access the archives he normally uses ?
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Yefim Gordon uses archives?

I've heard some interesting stories on the origins of his "Yefim Gordon Archive".
 
alberchico said:
Since we're on this topic anyone notice that Yefim Gordon hasn't published anything in a while ? Im guessing the war has hampered his ability to access the archives he normally uses ?
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His newest book available on Amazon is from 2022 about Russian special mission aircraft Il-22 command posts and A-50 AEW and such
 
Springtime said:
His newest book available on Amazon is from 2022 about Russian special mission aircraft Il-22 command posts and A-50 AEW and such
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I was thinking about this recently, while a lot of people rag on him (arguably for good reason) there's still nothing else remotely like his books out there, at least for such a wide range of aircraft. I hope that won't be his last book.
 

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