@ Speyer, Germany
December 2022
An overhead view of the Speyer Technik Museum’s Su-22. First built in Russia in 1966 as the Su-17 and later exported with the Su-22 designation, the M4 model was the last production version (Su-22M4 manufactured 1983–1990). This is the first variable-sweep wing aircraft of Russian/Soviet origin. Note the massive wing fences, a Soviet design cue, fixed to the upper surfaces. By obstructing span-wise airflow along the wing, they prevent the entire wing from stalling at once. Deciding to eliminate single-engine strike aircraft from its inventory, the Russian Air Force retired its last Su-17M4 along with its fleet of MiG-23/27s in 1998. Germany inherited a number of Su-22 aircraft from East Germany, although these did not serve in the Luftwaffe, but some of them were painted with a Luftwaffe color scheme for test and evaluation and subsequently decommissioned. This Su-22 was added to the museum collection in 1993.
