INTERMEDIATE BUILD SU-33 SEA FLANKER
Chris Clay builds Kinetic’s 1/48 Su-33 Sea Flanker, one of Mikhail Simonov’s finest designs
Despite its superpower status, the Soviet Union wasn’t known for its naval fighters, and it didn’t field suitable ships or modern interceptors until the end of the Cold War. While the Soviet/Russian Navy had operated Moskva-class helicopter carriers and Kiev-class heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers, just the latter had fixed-wing assets, with Yakovlev’s vertical/ short take-off and landing Yak-38 Despite its superpower status, the Soviet Union wasn’t known for its naval fighters, and it didn’t field suitable ships or modern interceptors until the end of the Cold War.
While the Soviet/Russian Navy had operated Moskva-class helicopter carriers and Kiev-class heavy aircraft-carrying cruisers, just the latter had fixed-wing assets, with Yakovlev’s vertical/ short take-off and landing Yak-38 Forger. By the late-1980s efforts to operate conventional aircraft began to bear fruit, and in 1989 the Soviet Navy began trials with the newly commissioned carrier Tiblisi, which was officially designated as a heavy aircraft- carryi…
