Late-afternoon shot of Su-17M4 12409/03(y) of 20GvAPIB, seen landing at its homebase Templin/Gross Dolln. A fascinating afternoon it was. We were hiding and waiting more ore less in the vast woods surrounding the huge airbase. At last and rather late, they were going to fly. The 'weather flight' had just left and suddenly a big fire was made in front of the runway. Apparently, the black smoke was needed to guide the Fitters back to base. Exercise? Failure of radar?

Anyway, the Fitters were withdrawn back to Russia in April 1994 and the Su-17's were scrapped. The Su-17M4 was very simular to the export-version Su-22M4, which saw service in the GDR, Poland, Bulgaria and Czech Republic. Hungary used the slighty less sophisticated Su-22M3.