Origami And Folded Paper | Origami And Folded Paper Guide

In fighter plane recognition, many people will think of F-14 Tomcat, F-16 Fighting Falcon and the likes. Not many will think of Russian makes especially those that have had air crashes during war missions

Su-27 is one such example. It was Russian made and did not make an impact in military history.

For those who are not familiar with Su-27 or have not heard of it at all, I have done some research and summarised its history, capablities and military missions here.

First, the Russian started this Su-27 Flanker project in response to the US embarkment of the F-15 Eagle. In fact, the specifications of Su-27 and the F-15 Eagle was remarkably similar.

The Su-27 is has a long range, heavy armament, and very high agility. The Su-27 most often flies air superiority missions, but can be deployed in multiple roles.

The Su-27 can be armed with Up to 6 medium-range AA missiles R-27, 4 short-range heat-seeking AA missiles R-73; it can also be armed for ground strike missions with air-to-surface armament.

It is designed with swept wings which blend into the fuselage at the leading edge extensions and is similar to a delta, although the tips are cropped for wingtip missile rails or ECM pods. The wings are not a true delta, however, because it retains conventional tailplanes, with two vertical tailfins outboard of the engines, supplemented by two fold-down ventral fins for additional lateral stability.

The Sukhoi design, which was altered progressively to reflect Soviet awareness of the F-15's, emerged as the prototype T-10 (Sukhoi's 10th delta wing design), which first flew on 20 May 1977. The aircraft had a large delta wing, with two separate podded engines and a twin tail. The 'tunnel' between the two engines, as on the F-14 Tomcat, acts both as an additional lifting surface and hides armament from radar.

The Su-27 has seen some operational combat. Recently, in the 2008 South Ossetia War, Russia was using Su-27s to gain airspace control over Tskhinvali, the capital city of South Ossetia.

Around 680 Su-27s were manufactured by the Soviet Union and Russia. This total includes only Su-27s and not later derivative aircraft.

However, while it seemed to have lost its 'glory', something brought it back. The internet age has seen many new PC games played among youngsters and one of the hot spots is military welfare. Su-27 is being featured in the flight simulator game Su-27 Flanker where players can virtually try to control the cockpit, become a virtual pilot and outwit and win. PC games are addictive. Another popular PC game, World of Warcraft is known to be highly addictive.

But for me, I am not into PC game. Whenever I see a fighter plane I like, Su-27 Flanker in this case, I will try to replicate it physically. Since buying plastic models of various fighter planes can be expensive, I have found a way to replicate it through the use of paper origami. Through the years, I have managed to replicate many different type of fighter planes just using paper and a pair of scissors. These paper planes include F-16 Falcon, F-14 Tomcat, F-22 Raptor and many others.

I must add that not only these paper airplanes look like the real deal, it also gives me tremendous satisfaction after I successfully created one. You may also find different ways to bring back some memoirs of fighter planes that you love. At least, we can through our creations, pass down the history of such fighter plane invention to our next generation, in our very own way.