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.

Have you ever wonder which fighter planes are mostly used in war against Iraq?

In "Desert Storm' operation as well as the recent Iraq attack, many F-16s were used so much that it is called the 'workhorse of the US Air Force"

Prototyped in 1965 as the YF-16, the F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American multirole jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force. A lightweight fighter, it evolved into a successful multirole aircraft, successful on the export market and serving 24 countries. It is nicknamed the "Viper", after the Battlestar Galactica starfighter.

F-16 models are denoted by sequential block numbers to denote significant upgrades. The blocks cover both single- and two-seat versions. A variety of software, hardware, systems, weapons carriage, and structural enhancements have been instituted over the years to gradually upgrade the F-16 and retroactively implement the upgrades in previously delivered aircraft.

F-16 have been widely used throughout the past few decades and are still used extensively today.

On 7 June 1981, eight Israeli F-16s, escorted by F-15s, executed Operation Opera, their first employment in a significant air-to-ground operation. This raid severely damaged Osiraq, an Iraqi nuclear reactor under construction near Baghdad, to prevent the regime of Saddam Hussein from using the reactor for the creation of nuclear weapons.

In the first week of June 2008, more than 100 Israeli F-16s and F-15s were engaged in maneuvers over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece. The aircraft reportedly flew more than 900 mi (1,450 km), roughly the distance from Israel to Iran's Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, and the exercise included refueling tankers and helicopters capable of rescuing downed pilots. Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov cautioned Israel against using military force against Iran.

Dogfighting armament includes AIM-7 Sparrow, AIM-9 Sidewinder, IRIS-T, AIM-120 AMRAAM anti-air missiles, as well as the staple M61 Vulcan gatling gun. Ground strikes are carried out with payloads including AGM-65 Mavericks, Paveway-series laser-guided bombs and the B61 nuclear bomb.

The only real F-16s that I have seen are during air shows where pilots do acrobatic maneuvers and my son will scream with flight as the combined decibels of the F-16s reached deafening levels.

With pictures I took from this air displays (I must add it is difficult to capture these photos), I will sit down and toy with some papers to make an F-16 paper airplane. Some look mediocre while others look quite real.

In fact, recently, my neighbour, John and I sat down and experiment to make the F-16 and it turns out to be another of our origami creations. I proudly display this new creation right on top of my computer.