"Swifts" - aerobatic team, awarded the titlethe best in the world. With its numerous performances at international air shows, aviation parades and other events, Strizhi maintain a high reputation for the Russian Air Force, demonstrating the high-class aerobatics of Russian fighter pilots, as well as the immense capabilities of domestic aviation technology.
Flight group "Swifts" is part of the 234thregiment of the 16th Air Army, which was formed at the dawn of the 1950s. The regiment was intended mainly for participation in air parades conducted in the capital. The base was the Kubinka airfield near Moscow, where from the middle of the last century regular demonstrations of aerobatic art were held for cadets of aviation schools, members of the government and representatives of various diplomatic missions.
Also, the pilots of the aviation regiment participated inescorting aircraft of the heads of foreign states that arrived in the USSR with official visits and aircraft with the first Soviet cosmonauts. In 1983, the regiment pilots began to master the fourth-generation fighter model.
Aerobatic team, subsequently namedThe Strizhi, the first in the Soviet Union, began to use MiG-29 fighters, considered to be one of the best military aircraft. The supersonic jet fighter, distinguished by its ease and maneuverability, has been developed in the Mikoyan design bureau since the early seventies of the twentieth century. By the middle of the decade an initial sketch of the future fighter was created. In addition to its flight characteristics, the new aircraft had to possess modern weapons and sighting equipment, equally meeting the requirements of short 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, released about one and a half thousand cars of this model.
Flight group "Swifts" exists from the sixthMay 1991. This date appears in the order to create a group. At the same time there was a unique coloring of the aircraft. Its initial version was as follows: white fuselages combined with keels painted in bright blue. There were blue zippers on the sides of the cars. Black swifts were painted on the air intakes.
In 2003, all the aircraft aerobatic team"Swifts" underwent a scheduled repair, after which the technician acquired a new color: a red and white case 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 Strizhi aerobatic team for the first time demonstrated its program to a foreign public in France, at the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Normandie-Neman flight squadron. Since then, the group regularly shows the skill of high-class piloting at various Russian and foreign events.
Aerobatic team "Swifts" includesperformances a variety of figures, performed both solo and two aircraft at the same time. The repertoire also contains many elements performed by the whole group. The aircraft of the group are capable of carrying out such flight procedures as “hammer”, “star”, “arrow”, “cross” and others. Often there are joint flights of aerobatic teams "Swifts" and "Russian Knights". For example, at the air show in 2007, nine pilots of these groups performed the “barrel” in the pilot procedure “Big Diamond”. This figure was produced for the first time by the composition, consisting of different models of aircraft.
The main part of the aerobatic team "Swifts"consists of six pilots under the command of the Colonel of the Air Force Sergey Osyaykin. The commander of the group during the flight performs the function of the lead. All members of the aerobatic team "Swifts" are qualified first class pilots.
About flights "Swifts" compose songs.There are a variety of collectible models of aircraft aerobatic team in a reduced form. And a person who has ever seen the aerial performance of these aces can hardly forget the impressions of their unforgettable flights, because the group includes the best pilots of the country.
