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I know there is a generalized album for Sukhoi aircraft here, but I was looking through my photos and rediscovered a batch of photos I had put together and burned for a fellow modeler who was making a Frogfoot model. I'm pleased to share them with you here.

Bear in mind that these are photos of preserved airframes, I unfortunately arrived in the Czech Republic too late to see their Frogfoots still in active service.

I'll start with a few general views of the Frogfoot closest to me, that being former Czech af 1003 which resides in relatively complete condition at the Brno Technical Museum:

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GV-02.jpg

GV-01.jpg

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Staying with A/C 1003; here's a bit of the nose area:

Note the prominent flat areas around the hinges at the top of the avionics access panels on both sides of the nose

FF-10.jpg

FF-09.jpg

While 1003 no longer has her gun, her blast panel and surrounding vent arrangement is easily accessible to see.

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And of course those big nose probes so many Sukhoi aircraft seemed to have.

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Here's some of A/C 1003's backside:

She does retain one of her engines, here'sa bit of the tailpipe and the final engine stage:

RF-04.jpg

RF-10.jpg

Up the vertical a bit, she is missing her fin cap:

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A bit of the RWR tail spike and brake chute compartment that is missing it's end cap:

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Nice tractor! Hard to believe it's not a piece of farm equipment with all those rivets!

RF-03.jpg

RF-07.jpg

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Now a back leg:

Starting inside the right main bay, the first two photos show the front end of the bay and the actuators for the gear doors:

LG-10.jpg

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Here's a bit of the bay roof showing a recess for the retracted wheel:

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This is the back left corner and the retraction strut, the next photo follows the strut outside to the gear leg:

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This series moves counter clockwise around the right main gear leg, starting from the rear:

LG-05.jpg

LG-04.jpg

LG-03.jpg

LG-02.jpg

LG-01.jpg

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Moving on to another former Czech af machine; this is A/C 5007. I saw this aircraft quite nicely preserved and maintained at the Czech air base at Namest nad Oslavou in 2006:

Opened up nose avionics compartments:

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Cockpit:

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CP-01.jpg

And a backside shot:

RF-01.jpg

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To round it out; here's a shot of one more former Czech af Frogfoot A/C 9098 at the Kbely Museum in Prague:

GV-06.jpg

And a K-36 ejection seat, of the sort fitted to the Su-25, on display at the Brno Technical Museum:

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CP-07.jpg

CP-06.jpg

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Hope you've enjoyed looking.

Feel free to add any of your own pictures of Frogfoot family members!

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The A-10 IS ugly. The Frogfoot is beautiful by comparison.

To me, Frogfoot was the perfect name for this beast. The nose high attitude coupled with the main landing gear that looked a bit like frog's back legs getting ready to launch the whole thing straight of the ground in an instant. The aircraft trully does look like it's ready to jump.

They are substantial aircraft and intimidating even sitting quiet in museums. Not quite as intimidating as members of the Su-7/17/22 "Fitter" line, but certainly not a plane to be taken lightly.

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How about the proposed three seat trainer version....???

Su-25UZ.jpg

From Ildar Bedretnikov's 'The attack aircraft Su-25 and its derivatives'

Or... the folding wing Su-25UTG that was built but never put into production.

Photo taken by me at a MAKS airshow....

Su-25_01.jpg

Su-25_02.jpg

Su-25_03.jpg

Ken

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Ken, what would the third seat be utilized for ?

So they could train two pilots for the price of one.

The thinking was that they could have an instructor and trainee - plus a third trainee maybe at an earlier stage of training.

Or a cadet for a familiarisation flight, or a desk pilot regaining currency etc.

According to the book 'Due to insufficient funding the project was suspended in 1993'.

Also, does the Navalized Frogfoot not have folding wings ?

Gregg

No - the 'standard' Su-25UTG does not have folding wings - they don't normally 'go to sea' with the ship, so there is no need - like the T-45 Goshawk.

The folding wing version I photographed at MAKS 99 was a mockup - it was later fitted with a 'real' folding wing, but the project was stillborn, probably due to lack of funding.

Ken

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Ah, thanks Ken ... That would have truly been a "Family Model" ...

Sp. the Frogfoots that fly of the carrier are only for training then ?

To be fair, the T-45 doesn't need a folding wing due to it's tiny size like the A-4 Skyhawk ...

Thanks again for the explanations ... :whistle:

Gregg

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Nice pics.

Has anyone actually compared the plans for the SU-25 to the A-9 to see how close they really are?

Julien

There's only a superficial resemblance between the two....... but, hey, we all know that those Soviets copy everything :jaw-dropping:

I suppose, given the design parameters, two teams working thousands of miles apart, would come up with similar shapes.

The Sukhoi T8 BTW, was a private venture by Sukhoi.

They had to fight the aviation ministry to get their ideas for a simple, rugged, subsonic ground-attacker accepted.

Ken

Edited by Flankerman
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The Sukhoi T8 BTW, was a private venture by Sukhoi.

They had to fight the aviation ministry to get their ideas for a simple, rugged, subsonic ground-attacker accepted.

Ken

man id hate to think what woudl happen if we had ended up with that abortion called Il-102! :jaw-dropping:

if T-8s are denoted by a lack of tail intake - there sure are a lot of T-8s around, esp in africa!! though im thinking these mgiht be georgian produced 'early' su-25s instead?

back to some pics :jaw-dropping:

armenian special scheme

2hwznee.jpg

DR congo

29osxo3.jpg

Turkmenistan

wk0fnd.jpg

North Korea

358bdpu.jpg

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The A-9 was actually a bit more graceful looking than the Su-25 family ...

Except for basic layout, I don't see a whole lot in common ...

northrop_a-9.gif

I have had the chance to see one of the YA-9s at March AFB's museum and it was a good looking jet ...

Gregg

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There's only a superficial resemblance between the two....... but, hey, we all know that those Soviets copy everything :whistle:

I was not saying they did copy the A-9, just that they looked the same.

2 teams one solution type of thing.

Julien

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