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"I
painted this picture in 1996 because I'd been working on other naval
subjects, both WWI & WWII, arising out of conversations with a
brother-in-law of mine then serving as a helicopter pilot in the Royal
Navy who, after much leg-pulling about my long standing interests in
the RAF and my support through my work of the Royal Air Force
Benevolent Fund, got me a voyage on HMS Nottingham (a batch two Type 42
Destroyer) to assist me in a better, closer, understanding of things
naval and more specifically, modern naval aviation, which led to this
portrayal, triggered by our maneuvers in the Bay of Biscay and a chance
meeting up with a Russian warship, a Sovremenny class destroyer.On return to
dry land I set to researching modern Russian naval aircraft and
was so attracted by the design lines of this plane that I decided to
have a shot at it. I made two paintings, a small sketch and then a full
blown larger version, shown here.I discovered that the SU 33 D (NATO name ‘Flanker-D’) was at the time a Russian front line naval version of the Flanker 27 and a carrier-based multi-role fighter aircraft produced by the Russian firm Sukhoi originating in 1982. As a derivative of the Su-27 it was initially known as the Su-27K. The main differences from the Su-27 being that the Su-33 can operate from an aircraft carrier and is capable of aerial refueling.
The
above painting depicts 2 aircraft from
the complement then aboard the Russian aircraft carrier "Admiral of the
Fleet Kuznetzov", Northern Fleet Task force, during February1996. Development
historyIn
1969 Russia decided they needed a new fighter capable of
outperforming all current U.S. aircraft including the F-15 Eagle and
the F-16 Falcon. Sukhoi OKB won the contract, and began building what
was to become the world's best fighter
jet. Initially designated project T10, the
aircraft had to be capable of lookdown/ shootdown capability,
and be capable of destroying targets at long ranges. On May 20th, 1977
the
first prototype designated T10-1 took off but evaluation showed the
T10-1 did not live up to expectations for either maximum
range or maneuverability, proving inferior to its western
counterparts. The prototype had aerodynamics problems, engine problems
and fuel consumption problems. The T10-2, a follow-up prototype,
crashed
because of fly-by-wire software failure killing the test pilot and no
more T10's were tested but a new design was
introduced loosely based on the old T10,
designated T10S which developed into the Su27
Flanker. The T10S prototype flew on April 20, 1981and proved to have no
equal anywhere in the
world in range, maneuverability, and combat
effectiveness.I'm always
seduced by great design from a visual point of view, which was my
initial attraction to the subject matter, but equally, it is an
impressive engineering masterpiece.Legendary."Deborah
Susan
Jones : Editor
