"Swifts" - aerobatic team, awarded the title of best in the world. Through their numerous appearances at international air shows, air parades and other events, the Swifts maintain the high reputation of the Russian Air Force, demonstrating the high-class aerobatics of Russian fighter pilots, as well as the tremendous capabilities of domestic aviation equipment.
Group Creation Prerequisites
The Swifts aerobatic team is part of the 234th regiment of the 16th Air Army, which was formed at the dawn of the 1950s. The regiment was intended mainly for participation in air parades held in the capital. The base was the Kubinka airfield near Moscow , where from the middle of the last century regular aerobatic demonstrations were held for cadets of aviation schools, government members and representatives of various diplomatic missions.
Also, pilots of the aviation regiment participated in the escort of aircraft of the heads of foreign states, who arrived in the USSR on official visits and aircraft with the first Soviet cosmonauts. In 1983, the pilots of the regiment began to develop a new model of fourth-generation fighters.
What do Swifts fly on?
The aerobatic team, later called the Swifts, was the first in the Soviet Union to use MiG-29 fighters, considered one of the best military aircraft. A supersonic fighter jet, distinguished by its lightness and maneuverability, was developed at the Mikoyan design bureau from the beginning of the seventies of the twentieth century. By the middle of the decade, the initial sketch of the future fighter was created. In addition to its flight characteristics, the new aircraft was supposed to have modern weapons and sighting equipment that equally met the requirements of close and long-range air combat.
The first tests of the MiG-29 took place in 1977. Having sustained a series of test flights, the aircraft was put into production in the early eighties. Currently, the fighter is available in two versions - single and double (combat training model). To date, about one and a half thousand cars of this model have been produced.
The appearance of the "Swifts"
The Swifts aerobatic team has been in existence since May 6, 1991. This date appears in the order to create the group. At the same time, a unique coloring of aircraft appeared. Its initial version was as follows: white fuselages combined with keels painted in bright blue. Blue lightning flashed on the sides of the cars. Black swifts were drawn on the air intakes.
In 2003, all aircraft of the Swifts aerobatic team underwent scheduled repairs, after which the equipment acquired a new color: a red-white hull with blue swifts on the top and bottom. Thus, the technique began to wear the colors of the Russian flag. The letters “MiG” appeared on the keels of the fighters. The Swifts aerobatic team demonstrated their program for the first time to foreign audiences in France during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Normandie-Niemen flight squadron. Since then, the group regularly shows the skill of high-class piloting at various Russian and foreign events.
Flight Features
The Swifts aerobatic team includes a variety of figures in their performances, performed both solo and by two planes simultaneously. The repertoire also contains many elements performed by the whole group. Aircraft of the group are able to carry out such aerobatic orders as “hammer”, “star”, “arrow”, “cross” and others. Often there are joint flights of the Swifts and Russian Knights aerobatic teams. So, at an air show in 2007, nine pilots of these groups completed the “barrel” in the piloting procedure “Big Diamond”. This figure was first produced by a composition consisting of different models of aircraft.
The basic structure of the Swifts aerobatic team consists of six pilots under the command of Air Force Colonel Sergei Ivanovich Osyaykin. The group commander during the flight serves as the leader. All members of the Swifts aerobatic team are qualified first-class pilots.
About the flights of "Swifts" compose songs. There are a variety of collection models of the aircraft of the aerobatic team in a reduced form. And a person who has ever seen the aerial performance of these aces is unlikely to forget the impressions of their unforgettable flights, because the group includes the best pilots in the country.