Kapanina SU-26
The Sukhoi Su-26 in Svetlana Kapanina livery — Russia's unlimited-aerobatic monoplane flown by the most-decorated woman in aerobatic history — captured as a sport-scale RC model.
About
The Sukhoi Su-26 is the work of the Sukhoi Design Bureau, the famed Soviet OKB whose military-aerobatic lineage produced some of the most demanding fighter aircraft of the Cold War. The Su-26 was developed in the early 1980s as a single-seat unlimited-aerobatic monoplane, designed to give Soviet competition pilots a domestic alternative to the Yakovlev aerobatic line. The prototype first flew in 1984, and the type went on to dominate world unlimited-aerobatic competition through the late 1980s and 1990s.
This RC model is finished in the livery of Svetlana Kapanina, a Russian aerobatic pilot widely regarded as one of the greatest competitive aerobatic pilots in history. Kapanina has won the women's overall World Aerobatic Championship more than any other pilot in the history of the discipline — multiple consecutive championships through the 1990s and 2000s — and the Su-26 has been one of the airframes most associated with her career. The combination of Russian airframe and Russian pilot has been an iconic visual presence on the unlimited-aerobatic competition circuit for a generation.
The Su-26's unmistakable silhouette — short-coupled mid-wing layout, distinctive cowling shape inherited from the Sukhoi fighter lineage, and the broad fuselage characteristic of Russian aerobatic design — appears in foam, balsa, and giant-scale Su-26 RC kits at modern competition fly-ins. Kapanina-livery scale models are popular among RC pilots who follow the unlimited-aerobatic competition scene.
In the simulator
A demanding aerobatic mount with the distinctive Russian design philosophy. The Su-26 has a heavier feel than the smaller Western aerobatic monoplanes — more inertia, generous control authority, and the kind of stable-but-aggressive handling Kapanina's career was built on. Use it for the unlimited-aerobatic vocabulary: vertical lines, knife-edge passes, slow rolls, and hovering on the prop. Pairs well with grass strips and aerobatic-box landscapes. A natural sibling of the Yak 54 32 Percent (3D Planes pack) — different Sukhoi design philosophy, same Russian competition heritage.
