Su-22M4 Yemeni Air Force (al-Quwwat al-Jawwiya al-Yamaniya)

Su-22M4, No. 26 Squadron, Yemen Air Force, San'aa Air Base, Yemen, 2009

Todays topic is this faboulous four-tone camo Sukhoi by YAF, pictured in San'aa.

I decided to add a little background of the aircraft I'm about to display...

Yemen has operated 50 or so fitters and some survived till today with No. 26 squadron based in San'aa. They have been fighting Sa'dah insurgency in Northern Yemen on a long term and on august 11th 2009 Yemeny armed foces started an "operation scorched earth" supporting the troops in offensive and performing raids over rebel held positions. Two of the fitters crashed returning to base on october 5th 2009, while in formation. There is a third fitter reported to be destroyed - military claims are all were lost due to technical problems, while the rebels claim they shot them down. The pilot ejected safely and survived the crash.



The kit is a KP repack by eduard. Very hard and demanding kit which requires lots of dry-fitting and sanding. Fitting of the molds is awful so this fitter doesn't "fit" very well.
Anyway Eduard added some resin goodies (cockpit, seat, flare dispensers,..) plus some great decals to go by and the final image of the kit repays all the hard work.