Brief History from Wikipedia

The Sukhoi Su-27, NATO reporting name: Flanker, is a Soviet-origin twin-engine, super maneuverable fighter aircraft designed by Sukhoi. It was intended as a direct competitor to the large United States fourth-generation fighters such as the Grumman F-14 Tomcat and the F-15 Eagle, with 3,530-kilometre (1,910 nmi) range, heavy aircraft ordinance, sophisticated avionics and high maneuverability. The Su-27 was designed for air superiority missions, and subsequent variants can perform almost all aerial warfare operations. It was designed with the Mikoyan MiG-29 as its complement.

The Su-27 entered service with the Soviet Air Forces in 1985. The primary role was long range air defense against American SAC B-1B and B-52G/H bombers, protecting the Soviet coast from aircraft carriers and flying long range fighter escort for Soviet heavy bombers such as the Tu-95 "Bear", TU-22M "Backfire" and Tu-160 'blackjack".

The Book

This book is part of a series that has recently become available, and covers one particular aircraft in great detail. It is aimed primarily at scale modelers, and provides enough information for a modeler to build a highly detailed model of this particular aircraft. All of the issue I have seen follow the same format, with a set of 1/72 and 1/48 line drawings of the aircraft, a series of black and white photos taken while the plane was in service, or just afterwards, a series of detail perspective drawings of various components of the aircraft, such as landing gear, cockpit details, structural features, and other items showing disassembled parts of the aircraft. In both volumes, there are two color photos of Finnish MS406’s dated 1942 and 1943, and at the end of each volume is a four view color drawing. Volume 22 features a French aircraft with Polish markings on the fuselage, while Volume 22a shows a Finnish MS-406.