Sukhoi
Su-26
Photo: Robert Deering 6/15/2013
Denton Municipal Airport (DTO)
Denton, Texas

Sukhoi Su-26

The Sukhoi Su-26 is a single-seater aerobatics plane from the former Soviet Union, powered by a single radial reciprocating engine. The Su-26 has mid-mounted straight wings and fixed landing gear, the main gear mounted on a solid titanium arc.

The Sukhoi Su-26 made its first flight in June 1984, the original four having a two-bladed prop. The production switched to the Su-26M, with refined tail surfaces and a German-made MTV-9 3-blade composite propeller. Further refinements were made, and the model won both the men's and women's team prizes at the 1986 World Aerobatics Championships. The modified Su-26M3 with the new M9F 430-hp engine dominated the 2003 and 2005 Aerobatic World Championships as well as the 2004 European Championships.

HISTORY

Sukhoi Company (JSC) is a major Russian aircraft manufacturer, headquartered in Begovoy District, Northern Administrative Okrug, Moscow, famous for its fighters. It was founded by Pavel Sukhoi in 1939 as the Sukhoi Design Bureau (OKB-51, design office prefix Su).

After the collapse of Soviet Union, each of the multitude of bureaus and factories producing Sukhoi components were privatized independently. In 1996, the government re-gathered the major part of them forming Sukhoi Aviation Military Industrial Combine (Sukhoi AIMC).  In parallel, other entities, including Ulan Ude factory, Tbilisi factory, Belarus and Ukraine factories, established alternate transnational Sukhoi Attack Aircraft (producing e.g. Su-25 TM).

The Sukhoi AIMC comprises the JSC Sukhoi Design Bureau located in Moscow, the Novosibirsk Aviation Production Association (NAPO), the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association (KnAAPO) and Irkutsk Aviation. Sukhoi is headquartered in Moscow. Finmeccanica owns 25% + 1 share of Sukhoi's civil division.  The Russian government merged Sukhoi with Mikoyan, Ilyushin, Irkut, Tupolev, and Yakovlev as a new company named United Aircraft Corporation.  Mikoyan and Sukhoi were placed within the same operating unit.

Source: Wikipedia