« Swiftś - aerobatics team of the Russian Air Force. It was formed on May 6, 1991 on the basis of the 237th Guards Proskurovsky Air Regiment from the best pilots of the Kubinka airbase near Moscow. It is part of the I. N. Kozhedub Aviation Equipment Display Center. Performs group and single aerobatics on multi-role highly maneuverable MiG-29 fighters.

The Swifts are based at the Kubinka airfield, located 60 kilometers from Moscow. Kubinka pilots were the first in the USSR to master single and group aerobatics on jet fighters: on May 1, 1946, they flew over Moscow for the first time in the parade formation. Today Kubinka is known as the number 1 school of aerobatic skills in Russia. At the beginning of May 2011, the Swifts aerobatic team celebrated its 20th anniversary with a new flight program.

History of the group

The Swifts aerobatic team is part of the 234th Guards Proskurovsky Fighter Aviation Regiment. It traces its history back to 1950, when the formation of the new 234th Fighter Aviation Regiment began. The backbone of the flight crew was the aerobatic pilots. The main task of the regiment was to prepare and conduct traditional air parades over Moscow, the first of which took place on May 1, 1951.

Since the mid-1950s, ground and flight demonstrations of military aviation equipment began to be held in Kubinka for students of military academies, the leadership of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, leaders of the Soviet state and the Communist Party, delegates of CPSU congresses, as well as state and military delegations of foreign countries. Since the early 1960s, pilots of the 234th “aerobatic” regiment, in addition to combat training, participation in air parades and displays of aviation equipment, began to regularly escort in the air the planes of heads and leaders of foreign states arriving in Moscow. In addition to the planes of official delegations, the regiment's pilots also escorted planes carrying the first Soviet cosmonauts.

On July 9, 1961, on the Day of the USSR Air Fleet, a grandiose air parade was held in Tushino, in which the pilots of the 234th regiment took an active part.

In 1983, the 234th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment was the first in the Soviet Air Force to begin mastering the MiG-29 fighter. In 1986, a group of six MiG-29s visited the Finnish Rissala airbase, during which Soviet fourth-generation fighters were shown abroad for the first time. In 1990, the squadron pilots flying the MiG-29 were tasked with mastering aerobatics in a tight formation consisting of six aircraft. The pilots flew at intervals and at a distance of about 3 meters, performing a complex set of maneuvers.

Start of flights

In 1988, two MiG-29 aircraft visited the Farnborough air show, and a year later they were demonstrated in Le Bourget. Preparing for their international debut, the pilots thought about the image side of their activities. For the MiG-29 and MiG-29UB aircraft, they came up with an original coloring - white fuselages and bright blue fins, blue lightning bolts running along the sides, and the group's emblems - black swifts on a red background - appeared on the air intakes under the bulges. These nimble birds gave the name to the group - the group went down in history under the name “Swifts”.

The official birthday of the aviation aerobatics team is May 6, 1991. On that day, the Swifts made their debut in the air on aircraft with the original livery and a new name.

1990s

In May 1991, the Swifts visited Sweden. The flights could only be observed by colleagues and a few media representatives, since the broad masses of the Swedish people did not receive access to the Uppsala airbase. The Swifts appeared in public in May 1992, when the group was invited to take part in a grand air celebration at the Reims airbase, held in honor of the 50th anniversary of the famous Normandie-Niemen regiment. Over two years, the group gave 50 performances at air festivals and official shows in Kubinka and various cities of Russia. In 1993, the group took part in the MAKS-93 air show, and in the fall of the same year visited Belgium and Thailand. In December, Swifts were invited to participate in the LIMA-93 air show. The planes were delivered to Malaysia disassembled by military transport aircraft. Then the aviation aerobatic team "Swifts" was awarded the title "Best Aerobatic Team in the World."

In 1994, Swifts took part in an air festival at Sprenger airfield in Germany. In May 1995, the squadron served as escort for the leader's Tu-160 aircraft over Poklonnaya Gora during a grand air parade in honor of the 50th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. In August of the same year they took part in the MAKS-95 air show.

In 1996, they took part in the Gelendzhik-95 hydroair show, and also traveled abroad, taking part in an air show at the Finnish base of Oulu. 1997 was marked by a rich program of performances at an air show in the Bulgarian city of Varna, a visit to Holland as part of the Russian military delegation, a performance at MAKS-97, as well as a performance over Tushino at an air festival in honor of the 850th anniversary of Moscow. At the international air show in Finland in 1997, group commander Nikolai Dyatel took first place in solo aerobatics.

In 1998, the group performed at the hydroair show in Gelendzhik and visited Orenburg and Yekaterinburg. She took part in the “Combat Commonwealth-98” exercise at the Ashuluk training ground near Astrakhan. In 1999 she performed at MAKS-99.

2000s

The year 2001, which opened the new millennium, became something of a milestone for Swifts. The ranks of the group were replenished with new pilots. Guard Lieutenant Colonel Vadim Shmigelsky began practicing the solo aerobatics program, and in October 2001, at a festival in Astrakhan, he performed his first show. Guard Majors Valery Morozov, Igor Sokolov, Sergei Osyaikin, Dmitry Koposov, and Guard Captain Alexey Prokhorov began to master group aerobatics. Winter and spring were spent in intense training, and in September 2002 the group performed brilliantly over the sea bay in Gelendzhik during the next hydroair show.

In the winter of 2003, the MiG-29 aircraft underwent scheduled repairs and acquired a new paint scheme. The MiGs were repainted in a new red and white uniform with a bright blue silhouette of a swift on top and bottom, and the letters “MiG” on the fins. For the first time in a new guise they were shown to the public on March 15, 2003 during the celebration of the 65th anniversary of the regiment. From this moment on, active cooperation with the Russian Knights aerobatic team begins. This year, a huge amount of work was carried out at the Kubinka airbase to replace the surface and equipment of the runway, during which aerobatic teams flew to the airbase in Andreapol.

In subsequent years, the group actively participated in air shows in Russia and abroad. In 2007, seven MiG-29 aircraft, taking off from the runway of the Kubinka airbase, headed for Astrakhan - an intermediate point on the route - with the final destination being Al Ain airfield in the United Arab Emirates. "Swifts" took part in all shows at the MAKS air show. On May 9, 2010, the group flew over Red Square together with the Russian Knights during the aerial part of the Victory Parade.

Joint flights with Russian Knights

“Swifts” and “Russian Knights” have been conducting joint flights since the end of the 20th century, such training has been continued since the fall of 2002 in different aerobatic formations with eight, nine and ten aircraft, and, having accumulated a lot of experience, are currently performing a large joint program .

On March 15, 2003, during the celebration of the 65th anniversary of the regiment, the first public joint aerobatics of the Swifts and the Russian Knights took place; on June 12, they flew in one formation over Red Square in honor of Russian Independence Day, and in August, pilots of the two groups performed at the air show MAKS-2003 in Zhukovsky.

At the opening of the new International Festival of Aerobatic Teams in Zhukovsky in August 2004, “Swifts” and “Russian Knights” for the first time in the general public, in the presence of numerous foreign delegations, presented their new “big diamond” program of nine aircraft, including aerobatic maneuvers in joint building the MiG-29 and Su-27, and the work of the groups after the disbandment.

Performance program

The group has a large repertoire of aerobatics performed by a group and a couple of aircraft, as well as solo performances. The performance complex includes such aerobatic formations as “pyramid”, “hammer”, “star”, “arrow”, “cross” and “wing”. At the MAKS-2007 air show, a group of 9 aircraft (4 MiG-29 “Swifts” and 5 Su-27 “Russian Knights”) performed a “barrel roll” in the “Big Diamond” aerobatic formation (“big diamond”, “mixed diamond”). This (in a mixed formation of different types of aircraft) has never been achieved by any aerobatic team in the history of world aviation. Not long ago, the group introduced a new element of the program, when six Swifts perform a loop with the landing gear extended and the headlights on. The dynamic group and individual aerobatics of the group's pilots were highly appreciated in many countries around the world.

Accidents

In 2006, a MiG-29UB aircraft of the Swifts aerobatic team crashed immediately after takeoff from Perm Bolshoye Savino airport. The crew of Nikolai Dyatl and Igor Kurylenko successfully ejected. The Swifts aerobatic team was heading from Kubinka to Tyumen to perform demonstration flights. Scheduled refueling was carried out at Bolshoye Savino airport. The cause of the accident was birds getting into both engines. There were no casualties or destruction at the site of the plane crash.

In 2009, during a joint flight with the Russian Knights aerobatic team, two fighters crashed

The MiG-29 is a Russian front-line fighter created at the Mikoyan and Gurevich Design Bureau. Having first taken flight more than 35 years ago, it remains one of the best in its class to this day. The famous aerobatic team "Swifts" performs on the MiG-29.

By the end of the 1960s, the USSR Air Force needed a high-tech, well-balanced fighter with good agility. In 1969, the government announced a competition for the development of a promising front-line fighter (PFI). According to the requirements, the new aircraft had to have a long range, the ability to use short and poorly prepared runways, excellent agility, a speed of over two thousand kilometers per hour and heavy weapons. The design bureaus of Sukhoi, Yakovlev and MiG took part in the competition. The winner was the Mikoyan and Gurevich Design Bureau.

Work on the creation of the fighter began in 1974, by which time it became clear that PFI aircraft were too expensive to implement, so the project was divided into a heavy advanced front-line fighter and a light advanced front-line fighter. The development of the latter was undertaken by MiG. Almost 38 years have passed since the first flight of the LPFI, which received the designation product 9-12.

Multirole front-line fighter MiG-29

The first flight of the MiG-29 took place on October 6, 1977, with Alexander Fedotov in the cockpit. The fighter was accepted into service in 1984, and serial production began two years earlier at the Moscow plant No. 30 "Banner of Labor". Since then, more than 1,500 MiG-29 aircraft of various modifications have been produced.

The new aircraft were to be deployed near the front line and provide local air superiority to the advancing units of the Soviet army. The fighter also had the task of accompanying attack aircraft, protecting vulnerable aircraft from NATO fighters.

The MiG-29 front-line fighter received RD-33 engines with a total thrust of more than 16 thousand kilograms. The maximum speed of the aircraft is 2450 kilometers per hour, the flight duration is up to 2.5 hours. The fighter is equipped with protective air intake grilles and a robust landing gear, which allows the use of short and poorly prepared runways.

Integral articulation of the wing with the fuselage, high power-to-weight ratio, allowing for vigorous vertical maneuvers, widespread use of composite materials, ease of maintenance and an almost complete range of weapons necessary to solve the problems of front-line aviation - all this is the MiG-29, which became one of the best fighters of the late 20th century. The MiG-29 is still in operation today in many countries around the world.

And in 1988, this particular fighter became the first Soviet combat aircraft to be demonstrated at a foreign air show. This happened in the UK. Two fighters with boat numbers 10 and 53 were a complete surprise to the West. Some aerobatic maneuvers demonstrated by MiGs at the Farnborough Air Show are still “Russian exclusives”.

In preparation for the international debut in Britain, the pilots came up with an original livery for the MiG-29 aircraft - white fuselages and bright blue fins, blue lightning bolts running along the sides, and the group's emblems - black swifts on a red background - appearing on the air intakes under the swells. Later, it was this bird that would give the name to one of the best aerobatic teams in the world, and the six white, blue and red MiG-29s would repeatedly make spectators all over the world look up at the sky in admiration.

Aerobatic team "Swifts"

The Russian Air Force aerobatics team "Swifts" was formed on the basis of the 234th Guards Proskurovsky Aviation Regiment. It included the best pilots from the Kubinka airbase near Moscow. The official birthday of Swifts is May 6, 1991. On this day, the group made its debut in the air on planes with the original coloring and a new name.

The Swifts flew before the general public a year later, when the group was invited to take part in an air celebration at the Reims airbase, which was held in honor of the 50th anniversary of the famous Normandie-Niemen regiment. Over the course of two years, the aerobatic team gave 50 performances at air festivals and official displays in Kubinka and various cities of Russia. In 1993, Swifts took part in the MAKS-93 air show, after which the group visited Belgium, Thailand and the LIMA-93 air show held in Malaysia. This year "Swifts" were awarded the title "Best Aerobatic Team in the World." In subsequent years, the group actively participated in air shows both in Russia and abroad.

The Swifts have a large repertoire of aerobatics performed by a group and a pair of fighters, as well as solo performances. They perform such aerobatic formations as "pyramid", "hammer", "star", "arrow", "cross" and "wing". In 2007, at the MAKS air show, a group of nine aircraft - four MiG-29 Swifts and five Su-27 Russian Knights - performed a barrel roll in the Big Diamond aerobatic formation. This has never been accomplished by any aerobatic team in the history of world aviation.

Elena Skutneva, Georgy Korovin, Andrey Skvortsov. website

Home Structure Russian Armed Forces Air Force Swifts General description

Aviation aerobatic team "Swifts"

The formation of a group of military pilots, fluent in aerobatics, to perform demonstration flights on the MiG-29 began at the Kubinka fighter regiment in the mid-80s, when aircraft of this type were just being mastered in the Air Force.

The official birthday of the group is May 6, 1991, when it first performed at an aviation show called “Swifts”. The first group included Lieutenant Colonel A.N. Kutuzov. - presenter, captain Katashinsky A.G., captain Makarenko A.P., major Zakharov A.E. Major Sherstnev A.P., Major Galunenko V.T., Major Evdokimov V.V.

In October 1991, the Swifts performed abroad for the first time at the Uppsala airbase in Sweden, and in May 1992, a group of 6 MiG-29s amazed French spectators with their skill at a celebration dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Normandie-Niemen squadron. In subsequent years, Swifts proudly represented our country's aviation in Malaysia, Belgium, Thailand, Hungary, Holland, Bulgaria, the USA, Vietnam, China, Mongolia, Germany, Kazakhstan, the Czech Republic, and the UAE. In 1993, the Swifts aerobatic team was awarded the title “Best Aerobatic Team in the World.”

Since 1993, Swifts have been indispensable participants in the MAKS international air show. In 1996, 1998, 2002, 2004 and 2006. their aerobatics were applauded by the spectators of the hydroaviation show in Gelendzhik, and in 2003 and 2005. - International Naval Show in St. Petersburg.

In 2004, the complex of shows included a joint flight of the Swifts and Russian Knights aerobatic teams consisting of nine aircraft (5 Su-27 and 4 MiG-29) in a diamond formation performing a full range of aerobatic maneuvers. This fact in itself became a world record in the history of aviation. This nine was called the “Cuban Diamond”. It was in this formation that the Swifts took part in the aerial component of the parades over Red Square on May 9, 2008, 2009 and 2010.

2011 was the year of the 20th anniversary of the formation of the aerobatic team. On May 6, representatives of all generations of Swifts, veterans of the Aviation Equipment Display Center and simply aviation enthusiasts gathered at the anniversary celebrations in Kubinka. The mastery of aerobatics demonstrated by the pilots in the sky clearly demonstrated that today’s generation not only carefully preserves, but also multiplies the traditions of the famous squadron.

From August 16 to 21, "Swifts", led by Guard Lieutenant Colonel Valery Morozov, performed at the International Aviation and Space Salon "MAKS-2011", where in a complex and intense flight program they demonstrated aerobatics in single and group, showing a variety of aerobatic formations in the "Rhombus" formations, "Column", "Dense Diamond".

"Swifts"- aviation aerobatics team of the Russian Air Force. It was formed on May 6, 1991 on the basis of the 234th Guards Proskurovsky Air Regiment from the best pilots of the Kubinka airbase near Moscow. It is part of the I. N. Kozhedub Aviation Equipment Display Center. Performs group and single aerobatics on multi-role highly maneuverable MiG-29 fighters.

Swifts
MiG-29UB aerobatic team "Swifts"
basic information
Full title	Aerobatic team "Swifts" 237th Russian Air Force Aviation Equipment Display Center named after. I. N. Kozhedub
Years of existence	May 6, 1991 - present
A country	USSR →
Type of army	Russian Air Force
Location	Kubinka (air base) Moscow region
Colors	White blue red
Marks of Excellence
Emblem
Aircraft
Fighters	6 - MiG-29
Official website of AGVP "Strizhi"
Media files on Wikimedia Commons

The Swifts are based at the Kubinka airfield located 60 kilometers from Moscow. Kubinka pilots were the first in the USSR to master single and group aerobatics on jet fighters: on May 1, 1946, they flew over Moscow for the first time in the parade formation. Today Kubinka is known as the number 1 school of aerobatic skills in Russia. At the beginning of May 2011, the Swifts aerobatic team celebrated its 20th anniversary with a new flight program. Five years later, on May 21, 2016, the Swifts aerobatic team celebrated its quarter-century anniversary, which they celebrated together with the Russian Knights.

History of the group

The Swifts aerobatic team is part of the 234th Guards Proskurovsky Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 16th Air Army. It traces its history back to 1950, when the formation of the new 234th Fighter Aviation Regiment began. The backbone of the flight crew was the aerobatic pilots. The main task of the regiment was to prepare and conduct traditional air parades over Moscow, the first of which took place on May 1, 1951.

In 1983, the 234th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment was the first in the Soviet Air Force to begin developing the MiG-29 fighter. In 1986, a group of six MiG-29s visited the Finnish Rissala airbase, during which Soviet fourth-generation fighters were shown abroad for the first time. In 1990, the squadron pilots flying the MiG-29 were tasked with mastering aerobatics in a tight formation consisting of six aircraft. The pilots flew at intervals and at a distance of about 3 meters, performing a complex set of maneuvers.

Start of flights

In 1988, two MiG-29 aircraft attended the Farnborough Air Show, and a year later they were demonstrated in Le Bourget. Preparing for their international debut, the pilots thought about the image side of their activities. For the MiG-29 and MiG-29UB aircraft, they came up with an original coloring - white fuselages and bright blue fins, blue lightning bolts running along the sides, and the group's emblems - black swifts on a red background - appeared on the air intakes under the bulges. These nimble birds gave the name to the group - the group went down in history under the name “Swifts”.

The official birthday of the aviation aerobatics team is May 6, 1991. On that day, the Swifts made their debut in the air on aircraft with the original coloring and a new name. The first commander of the AGVP Strizhi was Guard Major Alexander Mikhailovich Dyatlov.

1990s

In May 1991, the Swifts visited Sweden. The flights could only be observed by colleagues and a few representatives of the media, since the broad masses of the Swedish people did not receive access to the Uppsala airbase. The Swifts appeared in public in May 1992, when the group was invited to take part in a grand air celebration at the Reims airbase, held in honor of the 50th anniversary of the famous Normandy-Niemen regiment. Over two years, the group gave 50 performances at air festivals and official shows in Kubinka and various cities of Russia.

In 1993, the group took part in the MAKS-93 air show, and in the fall of the same year they visited Belgium and Thailand. In December, Swifts were invited to participate in the LIMA-93 air show. The planes were delivered to Malaysia disassembled by military transport aircraft. Then the aviation aerobatic team "Swifts" was awarded the title "Best Aerobatic Team in the World."

In 1994, Swifts took part in an air festival at Sprenger airfield in Germany. In May 1995, the squadron served as escort for the leader's Tu-160 aircraft over Poklonnaya Gora during a grand air parade in honor of the 50th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. In August of the same year they took part in the MAKS-95 air show.

In 1996, they took part in the Gelendzhik-95 hydroair show, and also traveled abroad, taking part in an air show at the Finnish base of Oulu. 1997 was marked by a rich program of performances at an air show in the Bulgarian city of Varna, a visit to Holland as part of the Russian military delegation, a performance at MAKS-97, as well as a performance over Tushino at an air festival in honor of the 850th anniversary of Moscow. At the international air show in Finland in 1997, group commander Nikolai Dyatel took first place in solo aerobatics.

In 1998, the group performed at the hydroair show in Gelendzhik and visited Orenburg and Yekaterinburg. She took part in the “Combat Commonwealth-98” exercise at the Ashuluk training ground near Astrakhan. In 1999 she performed at MAKS-99.

2000s

The year 2001, which opened the new millennium, became something of a milestone for the Swifts. The ranks of the group were replenished with new pilots. Guard Lieutenant Colonel Vadim Shmigelsky began practicing the solo aerobatics program, and in October 2001, at a festival in Astrakhan, he performed his first show. Guard Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Loginov, Guard Majors Valery Morozov, Igor Sokolov, Sergei Osyaikin, Dmitry Koposov, and Guard Captain Alexey Prokhorov began to master group aerobatics. Winter and spring were spent in intense training, and in September 2002 the group performed brilliantly over the sea bay in Gelendzhik during the next hydroair show.

In subsequent years, the group actively participated in air shows in Russia and abroad. In 2007, seven MiG-29 aircraft, taking off from the runway of the Kubinka airbase, headed for Astrakhan - an intermediate point of the route - with the final destination being Al Ain airfield in the United Arab Emirates. "Swifts" took part in all shows at the MAKS air show. On May 9, 2010, the group flew over Red Square together with the “Russian Knights” during the aerial part of the Victory Parade.

At the beginning of June 2011, information appeared that the aerobatic team would be disbanded.

At the beginning of May 2012, the group, together with the Russian Knights, was supposed to take part in the KADEX-2012 exhibition in Astana. The visit, however, was disrupted for unknown reasons, despite existing international agreements and lengthy preparations. On the planned days, the pilots flew through Engels to Chelyabinsk, but did not receive permission to cross the border and fly to Kazakhstan from the Russian government. On May 5, the group returned to Kubinka.

On June 2, 2012, “Swifts” as part of a diamond formation in difficult weather conditions were shown at the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the 1st Leningrad Red Banner Air Force and Air Defense Command over the Pushkin airfield in the Leningrad region.

The group is scheduled to participate in the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Russian Air Force in August 2012.

The group took part in the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Serbian Air Force in September 2012.

In August 2018, as part of the Army-2018 military-technical forum, Swifts demonstrated a new formation: the “star”.

On November 3, 2018, the Swifts aerobatics team held demonstration performances in Krasnodar as part of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Krasnodar Higher Military Aviation School

Joint flights with Russian Knights

In addition, the pilot from the AGVP "Swifts" Sergei Osyaykin and the pilot of "Russian Knights" Alexander Bogdan, in addition to performing in their aerobatic teams, jointly perform paired aerobatics on the Su-57 (PAK FA).

Performance program

The group has a large repertoire of aerobatics performed by a group and a couple of aircraft, as well as solo performances. The performance complex includes such aerobatic formations as “pyramid”, “hammer”, “star”, “arrow”, “cross” and “wing”. At the MAKS-2007 air show, a group of 9 aircraft (4 MiG-29 Swifts and 5 Su-27 Russian Knights) performed a “barrel roll” in the “Big Diamond” aerobatic formation (“big diamond”, “mixed diamond”). This (in a mixed formation of different types of aircraft) has never been achieved by any aerobatic team in the history of world aviation. Not long ago, the group introduced a new element of the program, when six Swifts perform a loop with the landing gear extended and the headlights on. The dynamic group and individual aerobatics of the group's pilots were highly appreciated in many countries around the world.

TASS-DOSSIER /Valery Korneev/. May 6 marks the 25th anniversary of the first performance of the Swifts aerobatics team of the Air Force (Air Force, since August 1, 2015 - as part of the Aerospace Forces, VKS) of Russia.

"Swifts"- Russian aviation aerobatics team, formed in the early 1990s. from the pilots of the 237th Guards Proskurovsky mixed air regiment of the 16th Red Banner Air Army of the USSR Air Force (now the 237th Guards Proskurovsky Red Banner Order of Kutuzov and Alexander Nevsky. Aviation Equipment Display Center named after I.N. Kozhedub, 237th Guards TsPAT, Kubinka airbase, Moscow region).

Since 1967, the 237th Air Regiment specialized in aircraft demonstrations and aerobatics; in 1983, the regiment's pilots were the first in the USSR Air Force to begin mastering the MiG-29 light front-line fighter. The name "Swifts" was proposed by the pilots of the group, and later it was approved by the command.

Over the years, the group included more than 25 military pilots. Currently, the group (2nd aviation squadron of the 237th Guards TsPAT) uses six MiG-29 and MiG-29UB fighters (“combat training”, two-seat modification). Demonstration flight programs include group aerobatics in close formation of four or six aircraft, synchronized pair aerobatics, and single aerobatics.

History of the group's performances

The first demonstration flight of Swifts took place on May 6, 1991, this date is considered the group’s birthday. The first foreign performance took place in October of the same year during a friendly visit of a delegation of the Soviet Air Force to the location of the Upland air regiment of the Royal Swedish Air Force (Uppsala airbase).

Since 1991, Swifts have regularly participated in displays of aviation excellence at air shows in Russian cities and abroad - in France (1992, 2013), Malaysia (1993, 2015), Belgium (1993), Thailand (1993), China (1993) , 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014), Mongolia (1993), Hungary (1994), Germany (1994), Kazakhstan (1994, 2014), Sweden (1995), Finland (1997), USA (1997), Bulgaria (1997), the Netherlands (1997), the Czech Republic (2005), the UAE (2005, 2006, 2007, 2013), India (2013), Serbia (2014), etc.

Flights of the group's fighters in a diamond-shaped formation, both separately and as part of the "Cuban Diamond" (nine aircraft together with the Su-27 of the Russian Knights aerobatic team, which is also based in Kubinka), are a traditional element of the International Aviation and Space Salon program (MAKS, Zhukovsky, Moscow region), Victory Parade on Red Square in Moscow, International Naval Show in St. Petersburg.

"Swifts" participated in programs celebrating the 850th anniversary of Moscow (1997), the 290th anniversary of Yekaterinburg (2013), in the "Hydroaviation salons" in Gelendzhik, etc.

Accidents and incidents

During the history of the Swifts, one aviation incident occurred with the group’s aircraft. On July 27, 2006, when taking off from Perm Bolshoye Savino airport, a MiG-29UB (tail number “01 blue”) immediately after takeoff was unable to gain altitude, fell and caught fire. The crew of Nikolai Dyatl and Igor Kurylenko successfully ejected; one of the pilots received a lower leg injury. The accident occurred due to birds hitting both engines of the fighter.

Future change of aircraft

It is planned that during 2016, Swift pilots will switch from the MiG-29 to more modern aircraft. In January 2016, Colonel-General Viktor Bondarev, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces, told reporters that the decision on which Swift aircraft would be flown in 2017 would be made by the Russian Defense Minister. Earlier, in 2013, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin stated that the aerobatic team would eventually master the MiG-35 aircraft.

Main composition of the air group

Sergey Osyaykin

Commander of the Swifts air group, lieutenant colonel

Group leader (solo, counter aerobatics)

In 1994 he graduated from the Kachinsky Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots, in 1997 – from the Air Force Engineering Academy named after N.E. Zhukovsky. During his service, he mastered the L-39, MiG-29, Yak-130 aircraft. The total flight time is 1700 hours. He has been flying aerobatics since 2000. 1st class military pilot.

Dmitry Zubkov

Left wingman, major

In 2003 he graduated from the Krasnodar Military Aviation Institute. During his service, he mastered the L-39, MiG-29, MiG-29S, and Yak-130 aircraft. The total flight time on these types of aircraft is 1400 hours. Military pilot 1st class.

Dmitry Ryzhevolov

Right wingman, major

In 2003 he graduated from the Krasnodar Military Aviation Institute. During his service, he mastered the L-39, MiG-29, Yak-130 aircraft. The total flight time on these types of aircraft is 1100 hours. Military pilot 1st class.

Denis Kuznetsov

Tail wingman, major

Graduate of the Ussuri SVU in 1997. In 2002 he graduated from the Krasnodar Military Aviation Institute. During his service, he mastered the L-39, MiG-29, MiG-29SMT, Yak-130 aircraft. The total flight time is 1200 hours. He has been flying aerobatics since 2007. 1st class military pilot.

Vasily Dudnikov

Left wingman, major

In 2003 he graduated from the Krasnodar Military Aviation Institute. During his service, he mastered the L-39, MiG-29, MiG-29SMT aircraft. The total flight time on these types of aircraft is 1000 hours. Military pilot 1st class.

Sergei Sinkevich

Right wingman, major

In 2004 he graduated from the Krasnodar Military Aviation Institute. During his service, he mastered the L-39, Tu-134, MiG-29 aircraft. The total flight time on these types of aircraft is 1350 hours. Military pilot 1st class.

"Video provided by the Voeninform Agency of the Russian Defense Ministry"