Sukhoi Su-15 : Pen & Sword Aviation : 9781473823907 : 1473823900 : 01 Jul 2015 : In the late 1950s, the Sukhoi Design Bureau, already an established fighter maker, started work on a successor to its Su-9 and Su-11 single-engined interceptors for the national Air defense Force. Similar to its predecessors, the new aircraft designated Su-15 had delta wings; unlike the Su-9/Su-11, however, it had twin engines and lateral air intakes freeing up the nose for a powerful fire control radar. First flown in May 1962, the Su-15 officially entered service in 1965 and was built in several versions, the late ones having cranked-delta wings and a more capable radar. Being an air defense fighter, the Su-15 frequently had to deal with intruders. Unfortunately the aircraft gained notoriety in two separate incidents involving shoot-downs of Boeing airliners (a 707 in 1978 and a 747 in 1983), both of which were South Korean and had intruded into Soviet airspace on what was very probably clandestine spy m