As the Cold War intensified throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the Soviet Union felt that they needed to take action and create an airframe that would stand up to the F-15 Eagle that had just come online in 1972. Fearing that the Eagle and the F-16 Fighting Falcon would give the United States the edge in any air conflict that could have erupted, the Soviets went all-out on the twin-tailed rocker. It’s not a fly-by-wire aircraft…the MiG-29 is still an aircraft that will talk back to the pilot if it isn’t liking what’s going on. But it tends to be a very wicked aircraft to fly: it resists spins, it can pull maneuvers up to 9 g, and it can rip to Mach 2.25 in the right air.

This isn’t a real MiG-29. But it is one spectacular scale replica of an aircraft used by the Swifts, the demonstrator team of the Russian Air Force. Whoever is in charge of the controls of this remote control machine might not be be a pilot but there’s no doubt as to their skill at the controls. I’ve seen legitimate helicopter pilots who can’t fly an R/C helicopter for shit. They get the remote control, they get it off the ground, and the next thing you know there’s a lot of shredded plastic everywhere. This is art.