This is one of those stories that's so crazy it is probably true.
Here's how it goes: A Russian movie company hires two Sukhoi pilots to film a couple of stunts. The pilots agree to take off without a canopy.
Apparently following a plot-twist in the film, the back-seat pilot ejects from the aircraft while the front-seater keeps flying.
(As a friend of mine notes: "Why use dummies when you can use real Russian pilots? Those guys are amazing." )
The front-seater later claims he flew beyond Mach 2.0 ... with an open canopy! And then he says: "While on this speed I even managed to pull out my fingers in glove for an inch or two outside - it became heated very fast because of immense friction force plane undergoes with the air."
Oh, and this was all done with Sukhoi's tail number 801, which is nothing less than the SU-35UB prototype -- one of the most advanced jets Sukhoi ever built!!! (See SU-35UB promo video below.)
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