60 kilometers from Moscow, not far from the city of Kubinka, the eponymous airbase is located, which until the summer of 2009 was a joint airfield. Since 2011, the base has been the seat of a mixed aviation regiment, including the An-12, An-24, Tu-134 and others, as well as Mi-8 helicopters. And since that time, the Kubinka airdrome has been the Aviation Technology Display Center of the 4th Center for Combat Training and Retraining of Flight Personnel, or in abbreviated form TsPAT-4, TsPP and PLC.
At the same time, until 2011, the 237th Guards Aviation Technology Display Center was deployed at the airbase, which included the Swifts and Russian Knights aerobatic teams flying on MiG-29 aircraft and the OKB them. Dry. Despite talk of relocation, the Kubinka military airfield is still the seat of the Swifts and the Russian Knights, which proudly represent our country at all air shows in the world.
Aerobatics Aviation Group "Russian Knights"
They were born on April 5, 1991, and already four and a half months later they were already talking about them abroad - the first Polish air show in Poznan revealed their names. From that very day, the development of the Sukhoi Design Bureau by specialists of a single design for all fighters began. The United Kingdom in 1991 for the first time witnessed the aerobatics of the group, and since then it has been invited to participate in all Russian and foreign air shows. What is the secret of the uniqueness of Russian Knights? The fact is that this is the only team of pilots performing aerobatics on heavy fighters. Demonstration flights presented to us by the Kubinka airfield include programs with the participation of four and six aircraft, two airliners demonstrating synchronized and on-board aerobatics, as well as a single flight with aerobatics.
History of the Swifts
This aerobatic team, known throughout the world, was born on May 6, 1991. In fact, their story begins in 1950, when the new 234th Fighter Aviation Regiment was formed. Today, the Swifts are part of this regiment. Its main task was the preparation and holding of traditional air parades over the capital, the first of which took place in 1951, on the first of May. From the mid-1950s, ground-based and flight displays of military aviation began, the launch pad of which was an airfield located in the city of Kubinka - flights were shown to students of military academies, as well as to the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff and all the leaders of the Soviet Union, pilots also showed their skills to military delegations foreign states. The beginning of the 1960s marked the expansion of the Swifts functionality - they began to accompany planes of heads and heads of foreign states arriving in the capital of our country. “Swifts” are also famous for escorting an airplane with the first Russian cosmonauts.
Emergency cases
History remembers only two cases of emergencies that occurred with both groups. The first tragedy occurred in 2006, when the MiG-29UB Strizhi plane crashed immediately after taking off from the Bolshoi Savino airport in Perm. At the same time, the crew was not injured, having successfully ejected, and the cause of the accident was commonplace - birds got into both engines. The second case was recorded in 2009 in a joint flight of the “Swifts” with the “Russian Knights”. Two Su-27 fighters from the second group crashed, again no one was hurt.
Kubinka today
In December 2004, the Kubinka airfield opened its first aero club in Russia - the Cuban Aviation Technical Sports Club ROSTO (DOSAAF), which is still one of the largest in the Moscow Region. This institution was erected just at the site of the Aviation Technology Display Center. Today, training sessions on practice that precede actual flights are held here. The fleet consists of domestic and foreign aircraft. The territory is equipped with a dining room, as well as a hotel complex. Everyone can take a parachute training course today and take a parachute jump from a four-kilometer height, there are also courses on domed parachute acrobatics.
At the same time, the process of preparing for a jump, flight, free fall and landing can be completely filmed by an accompanying videographer. Parachutists are trained by international masters of sports and honored masters of sports of Russia. Therefore, everyone who wants to feel like a “high-flying bird” solves two main issues, going to the Kubinka airfield: how to get to it and how to decide on a flight. They also teach the art of piloting. After passing special training, a person receives the right to independently control the aircraft. Classes are held by reserve officers and graduates of DOSAAF aviation technical schools.
Reorganization of Kubinka
Today, Kubinka receives and departures international civil aviation flights, and according to the plan, all military aviation units should be withdrawn from the airfield, since, as far as international traffic is concerned, only military aircraft have performed such flights from Kubinka since 1938. In 2009, the Kubinka airfield was excluded from the list of jointly-based airports. Thus, it will be a full-fledged civilian airport, and military aviation units, in particular, Swifts and Russian Knights, can be deployed in Lipetsk. The proposed construction of an international business terminal on the airfield’s territory will unfold on an area of 46 hectares, and now there are 24 Soviet-era real estate properties. At the same time, the airport will continue to remain a training center for the training and basing of aerobatic teams. The reconstruction of the Kubinka airfield should be completed by 2018.
Forum 2015
The first International Military-Technical Forum has already been held here in the new Patriot Park Convention and Exhibition Center. Foreign partners were attracted who showed new developments in the military-industrial and scientific fields. Thus, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation demonstrates its readiness to establish contacts and cooperate with foreign states within the military-industrial complex, create new equipment, develop various solutions and introduce innovations. The forum demonstrated the domestic military transport, fighter, assault and bomber aircraft.
Routes to Kubinka
The airbase is located five kilometers northwest of the city of Kubinka, you can get there by car, and during various events and events, specially organized routes from the railway station are sometimes laid here.
Railway
If you prefer public transport, then the train from the Belorussky station “Moscow - Kubinka-1” runs to the city of Kubinka. You can use electric trains following to Mozhaisk, Borodino, Dorokhovo, Gagarin, respectively, you need to get out at the Kubinka station. The trip will take approximately one hour and 15 minutes, depending on the number of stops made by trains. There is another option - in 55 minutes, take the Moscow-Mozhaysk express train, you need to catch it, as it runs about three times a day.
Metro Bus
An urgent question for many who are planning to visit the Kubinka airfield: how to get to it by bus and metro. The first method - from the metro station "Victory Park" you should take bus route No. 457 to the stop "Kubinka", go somewhere around an hour (depending on traffic congestion). There is another option on the bus - to get to the Tushinskaya metro station, and from here transfer to bus number 301, which travels to Kubinka for about an hour and a half. There is a third option - the bus "Moscow - Kubinka", departing from the Schelkovo bus station.
Own motor vehicle
Let's talk about the last and most convenient route to the Kubinka airfield - how to get here by car. Everyone is invited to go to the Minsk highway, smoothly passing into the highway M1 - "Belarus". You will pass through the settlements of Vyrubovo, Gubkino and Vnukovo, as well as Lesnoy Gorodok, Krasnoznamensk and Sivkovo. The sign will show a turn to the right, and along Naro-Fominskoye Shosse you will need to get to Kubinka. Moreover, the road (of course, excluding traffic jams) will take no more than one and a half hours. Finally, there is another option for the car route. You are driving along the Mozhayskoye Highway, passing into the A100 highway. You pass Mamonovo, Odintsovo, Yudino, Perkhushkovo, Big and Small Vyazemy and Gar-Pokrovskoye. Then turn right to Kubinka under the sign, and the path will lie to the city along the Naro-Fominsk highway. Such a route will take from about one hour to one and a half, with traffic jams - about two hours.