One of the most famous aerobatic teams in our country is Swifts. And many of us saw their flights firsthand, because they very often carry out various demonstration flights. And today we will briefly tell you about them.
The history of the creation of aerobatic team Swifts
The Swifts in distant 1991 were born at 237 bases of the Russian Guards Aviation Regiment, named after Proskurovsky. This aerobatic team includes the best and bravest pilots of a little-known air base called Kubinka, located near Moscow. They operate not without the famous MiG-29 type aircraft.
The main task of this aerobatic team was and remains to prepare and conduct air parades. And, frankly, they perform their task simply for the upper class. No wonder that they recruited some of the best pilots to this group. Which, by the way, remains one of the best pilots in the world today.
Almost at the beginning of the pilot group, it was identified as an escort to the aircraft of famous politicians and serious foreign diplomats. In addition to them, the pilots were engaged in escort aircraft, in which there were also the first Soviet cosmonauts. In general, Swifts had a fairly large track record, which over the years only expanded. As a result, they are very popular today.
To date, the Strigi aerobatic team is honorably located in one of the largest centers specializing in the display of various aircraft. Over the years they have perfected their flight experience and today they easily do single and even group aerobatics of any complexity. And this is by no means all pilots.
It is worth noting that the pilots who served on the 237 base were the first to set about mastering, at that time, the latest MiG-29 aircraft. It was in 1983. And already after 7 years, in 1990, they set about performing the most complex aerobatic complexes. In particular, they began to master all the features of aerobatics of 6 aircraft, being in dense formation. The distance between them did not exceed three meters, while they performed simply unimaginable sets of shapes.
Starting flights of the Swifts group
Since 1988, two MiG-29 aircraft have visited air shows of various states, conducting their demonstrations. At the same time, when the question of world fame of the pilots arose, they began to take care of creating a concrete, bright and no less memorable image.
It was during this period that they invented the color that we can see today. The pilots took the white fuselage as a basis. Blue lightnings were placed along the sides of the aircraft, and black swifts appeared on the air intakes under the influxes against a red background. It is on this basis that the aerobatic team got its name. The official birthday of the group is May 6, 1991, when the pilots made their full coloring, showing truly aerobatics.
Over the next two years of flying, the aerobatic team gave more than 50 different performances. They included, as our Russian holidays and events, and foreign. A little later, the guys took part in the famous MAKS-93 air show. Then went to Malaysia, where they were awarded an honorary award, as the best aerobatic team in the world.
Joint flights Swifts with Russian Knights
A lot of important stage career Swifts were and are their flights with another aerobatic team - Russian Knights. The first flights with a joint composition were made before the beginning of the twentieth century. However, since 2002, both aerobatic teams have gained a lot of joint flight experience. And now they act simply with first-class programs, striking absolutely everyone with their skills.
And today, they are a large group with general programs, in which up to a dozen different aircrafts take part at the same time. And if you have not seen their speeches yet, then I definitely recommend visiting their joint flight. A lot of good impressions you definitely get.
The program speeches group Swifts
One of the main reasons why Swifts love so much is that they rarely repeat their stunts. Their repertoire is very large, and, both in single flights, and in group. Moreover, due to the different combination of flight orders and a wide variety of performance techniques, they win the hearts of Russian inhabitants. And not only them. And they usually perform the following flight procedures:
- Pyramid.
- Hammer.
- Star.
- Arrow.
- Cross.
- Wing.
One of the most famous cases occurred at the MAKS-2007 air show, when Swifts, together with the Russian Knights, a group of 9 different planes performed such an element of the air program as a barrel, and they made it in a pilot order called a large diamond. In simple words, this spectacle is simply not to describe.
It is worth noting that this could not be repeated by any other aerobatic team in the world. So we can be proud of our Russian pilots. After all, this is one of the few things that we have done the first, and, so far, the only ones.
The aerobatic team Swifts lately pleases all of its viewers with new elements of their program. In particular, a group of six aircraft performs a loop, and they do it not just like that, but with the landing gear released and the headlights on. Anyone who has already managed to see such a spectacle - praise our guys.
And it should be said that the skill of our pilots did not go unnoticed even abroad. They receive high marks of flying in many countries of the world. Which, naturally, deservedly so.
Crash aerobatic team
But, despite all the professionalism of these pilots, it was still not possible to completely avoid the accident. For all 24 years of the pilot group existence, only two accidents were recorded. Fortunately, in both of them, none of the pilot was injured.
The first happened in 2006 - the aircraft of the Russian aerobatic team almost immediately after takeoff fell to the ground. The entire crew successfully catapulted, which later saved their lives. According to available data, at the airport, where the crash occurred, the plane made refueling. However, almost immediately after takeoff, birds accidentally flew into two engines, which caused a terrible accident.
The second incident occurred a little later - in 2009. During the joint flight with a famous team of aerobatic teams called Russian Knights, a crash occurred between two SU-27 planes belonging to a friendly group. However, neither the planes nor the pilots of the Strizha aerobatic team were noticed among the victims.
More, in the history of the piloting group, no serious incidents occurred. The Russian pilots, unequivocally, know their business and carry it out on the upper class. For which they receive constantly deserved rewards.
