In the summer of 1992, the Russian Ministry of Defense created the Central Television and Radio Broadcasting Studio. But the military department does not have its broadcast. And no one then, in the era of an emerging market, the Ministry of Defense was not going to give frequencies. However, the young and conceited, the first Russian army general, Pavel Grachev, poses a ambitious task for our leadership: the Central Television and Radio Broadcasting Ministry of the Russian Ministry of Defense not only go on the air, but also win the information war launched by foreign and Russian media against the young Russian army!
The press service of the Ministry of Defense and the Main Directorate for Work with Personnel are taking frantic and sporadic measures to promote the broadcast of the video application of the magazine "Soviet Warrior", from which the Central Defense and Defense Ministry grew. But, venerable and seasoned in the perestroika air battles, the sharks of the Central Television do not buy the colonial creative attempts that are naive in their execution. The producers of CT made a particularly funny story about the reception of music geeks in the new building of the military department. The minister needed public relations, and young talents needed a reprieve from the army!
Then naval officers who graduated from short-term courses of VGIK, who served at the Television Center of the Navy of the Russian Federation, attract graduates of the illustrious All-Union State Institute of Cinematography to carry out the task. And me, including.
“There is no prophet in his Fatherland!” - this maxim reigned in the corridors of Ostankino at that time. “What talent can these peppers from the Ministry of Defense show ?!” - the newly appeared telebosses of market relations condescendingly looked at representatives of a new wave of military journalism. But they were cruelly mistaken in their short-term forecasts. And now our affiliate channel STAR is confirmation of this.
Captain of the first rank Alexander Bozhzhov is developing almost a special operation to create and broadcast a story about the arrival in Russia of an aerobatic team of aerobatics of the US Navy. The famous pilots of US NAVY deck aviation “BLUE ANGELS” - “BLUE ANGELS” arrive to us!
The press service of the Ministry of Defense cuts off almost all Federal TV channels from coverage of a significant event, misleading them and putting them on a false trail. In Kubinka we find ourselves in a privileged position.
Here we get acquainted with the legendary pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union, Major General Nikolai ANTOSHKIN. In these troubled days of the Great Japanese tragedy, especially its nuclear aspect and the repeated explosions at the power units of the FUKUSIMA-1 nuclear power plant, I recall the revelations of a combat ace about the participation of the Soviet Air Force in the aftermath of the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
For 1992, this was a real sensation. That in our former USSR flew the world famous aviation group of aerobatics of the US Navy - US NAVY "BLUE ANGELS" - "BLUE ANGELS".
Who fought against us, or are we against them, in the sky of Korea in 1950 ?! And they arrive at the Guards Proskurovsky Red Banner Orders of Kutuzov and Alexander Nevsky Center for the Display of Aviation Engineering named after the Three-time Hero of the Soviet Union, Marshal of Aviation I.N. Kozhedub.
According to the frenetic behavior of my military leadership of the Central Military District of the Ministry of Defense of Russia, I understand all the insidious precedent. The decision to invite yesterday’s enemies in the Cold War is made, of course - the President of Russia. Suddenly a call comes from the Minister of Defense himself. Yes, and ether. The air of the Central television must be conquered!
“Where is your Tarkovsky, or Fellini, like him.” With an ingenious surname, he’s gone ?! “Our general editor-in-chief Alexander Bozhzhov asks strictly. - Everything in the buffet is spinning with operators. Who would have thought that in the building of the Main Political Directorate of the USSR Armed Forces they would trade for a spill?
First-rank captain Alexander Bozhzhov finds our film crew in the buffet. He looks at us anxiously, running into the buffet in which the formidable Lev Mehlis and army general Aleskey Epishev once ate cutlets. But the former cameramen of the Film Studio of the USSR Ministry of Defense, who came to VOEN-TV from a top secret topic, knew the indispensable rule of a professional cameraman: not to taste 100 grams before filming. And they taught me that.
- The press service of the President of the Russian Federation, Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, asks our Glavk to ensure the maximum possible coverage of this historic event! - The stern Afghan general drills us with glass eyes. “Colonel Bogdan Vcherashnyuk,” the general nods at the mustached colonel, “undertakes to solve security issues and allow the leading channels of Central television to the airfield in Kubinka.”
The colonel is clearly not at ease. Still alive in his memory, instantly outdated, job descriptions, but which no one has canceled. Such a massive fraternization of US military pilots and our "Russian Knights" started in the Kremlin.
Unexpectedly for myself, I declare:
- Federal channels from conducting video shootings of demonstration performances by aerobatic teams at the airfield in Kubinka.
Captain of the first rank of naval intelligence, he found me in a haystack: a naval officer, a member of the party, most importantly - graduated from VGIK, but without Moscow registration! Alexander Bozhzhov whitens, looking at me. “What are you talking about ?!” reads in his puzzled look.
- Otherwise, we will never go on air with our LOGO! I continue, taking advantage of a pause that suddenly arises. - Moreover, the Ministry of Defense of Russia will never have either its own branded TV shows or its TV channel.
- What? What?! - our general freezes, like the ocean before a storm. - OF YOUR TV CHANNEL.
Now this once formidable general has long been sitting in the Duma, and he forgot the once creative people subordinate to him. But we all remember, and we remember this first minute of the broadcast of the native Ministry of Defense of Russia.
I understand and feel that our general intuitively guesses what this is about and how it can all end: MILITARY TV CHANNEL!
- What is a logo? - Without further ado, he asks.
- The verbal part of a trademark, or a trademark! - and, not allowing the general to come to his senses, I continue, as in an exam at the institute.
After the strict views of Sergei Bondarchuk and Sergei Gerasimov, the post-perestroika general’s anger amuses me more than it scares me.
- Logo requirements: memorability. Universality. Originality. Associativity! - Without stopping or explaining the essence of the words, I am still afraid to be misunderstood. - Expressiveness. Functionality. Conciseness. Uniqueness! - I beat in words at one point.
A graduate of the Academy of the General Staff, our handsome lieutenant general had a natural ingenuity and listens to me not only carefully, but also with understanding.
- An ideal logo should solve several fundamental functions: Fatal. Expressive. Reference Impressive. Poetic, and so on! “The general cannot beat me on his battlefield.”
- Perhaps you made a reservation! - Our bearded cameraman Mikhail Zverovoi is trying to correct me. - Probably the "actual"?
- Namely, "fatal." To speak out and meet understanding! I explain.
- Consider you understood! - unexpectedly concludes the general. - Fatally! - and laughed. - What logo do you offer?
I pause:
- "WAR - TV".
All those present in the office of the head of the Main Directorate for Work with the Personnel of the Ministry of Defense freeze.
- Is Russia a warring country ?! - does not stand Alexander Bozhzhov. - I understand that during the Great Patriotic War the “VOEN-KINO” logo was appropriate. But now.
None of the military present wants to pronounce the names of the hot spots aloud: Abkhazia, Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Transnistria, North Ossetia, South Ossetia, Tajikistan. Yet this is not war!
Each of us recalls his own. For the rest of my life, I remembered the words of officers whose children we took by plane to the pioneer Far Eastern camp Ocean in June 1992 by plane. Then the war was already breathing in the back of children.
- All this will end with the great Caucasian war! - bitterly predicted the military personnel.
I listened to these prophetic words and did not believe in them until the end, despite the depressing pictures when, in a hurry, our troops left the Vaziani airfield.
“We cannot predict how our word will respond,” the general summed up suddenly. - Prepare the logo "WAR - TV". But it’s realistic to use it exclusively on my command. If we cut off the leading television channels from the filming of “grain of the plot”, letting out producers not make us a “conspiracy of silence”? - worried the chief Glavka.
We must give him his due, the general managed to grasp several special terms, the main one being the famous “plot grain”, which I came up with from the “grain of the role” of Konstantin Stanislavsky.
Having time to study the theater of television actions, I had no doubt in the greed and omnivorousness of the releasing editors of Central Television, avid for such sensations.
- The plot is swallowed! I assured the Afghan general.
- Look. We VGIK did not finish! - threatened in a voice summed up the conversation chief Glavka.
The military is letting go of our civilian film crew. And the general begins to ring up friends on service and study, so that there are no extra cameras on the Kubinka airfield during Ch.
REFERENCE
BLUE ANGELS is an aeronautical aeronautical team in the United States Naval Forces. Created in 1946. Joint system "BRILLIANT".
In 1950, the group was temporarily disbanded, and its pilots were sent to the Far East to participate in the Korean War (this step was caused by a lack of flight personnel). In 1951, the Blue Angels were re-formed. If necessary, its aircraft can be prepared for participation in hostilities in 72 hours. Twelve former Blue Angels pilots became admirals. And one even an astronaut!
***
September 2, 1992. They arrive, accompanied by our elite aerobatic team “SWEATS”, and not just anywhere, but into a super-elite CUBE. Sky blue beauties “BLUE ANGELS”. On elegant, as on varnished and sleek foreign cars, on deck fighters - HORNET - 18 - F / A bombers.
For a unique sight in the provincial Kubinka the whole aviation metropolitan elite gathers. Striking in their glittering flight uniforms and their dear spouses, the Air Force Attaches from around the world accredited in Moscow.
The recently emerged Russian nobility, which has its own interests in the American and aviation business, surrounded by referents and secretaries, show business stars and even opera singers, is significant and mysterious, as if it had been doing all this century that the rules of this country are condescendingly pushed among the tables set on the veranda of the observation deck.
Only the gray-haired aces of the Second World War, in general uniforms and with the stars of the Heroes of the Soviet Union, keep aloof from this motley and imposing audience, with prickly looks meeting us, journalists with video cameras.
Finally, the creators of the international air show recall the war veterans. Lovely creatures with trays on which glasses with vodka and cognac sparkle, and sandwiches with red caviar sparkle in the sun, swim with smiles to the Air Marshal, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Efimov.
The legendary attack pilot, paying no attention to the girls, is watching through the binoculars for the arrival of the US aerobatic team. "Blue Angels" in cruising order, afterburner, with obvious chic, roar with a roar over the tower. Yes, so low that the smell of aviation kerosene is clearly felt.
“Mikhail, do you remember how we cut them down in Korea ?!” - the planes go on a U-turn, their roar abates, and Marshal Efimov, turning to his neighbor, takes a glass of cognac from a tray. - About a thousand.
And the marshal’s neighbor was someone other than twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel General Mikhail Odintsov.
- I don’t remember, Alexander Nikolaevich. We fought with them and over the jungles of Vietnam! - a thin and youthful war veteran takes a misted glass of vodka. - More than four thousand piled up. Including BOING B-52 - STRATOFORTRESS. * As many as THREE DECENTS.
The Air Force attache, with crystal glasses in white gloves and dark glasses, busy with black caviar sandwiches, casually, turns their gilded capes towards our grandfathers. Fluent in Russian, many foreign officers, especially the Korean and Vietnamese, nodded their heads and smiled with appreciation, with raised glasses.
- Evgeny Pepelyaev! - the Korean attache grins yellow teeth.
All together they drink the traditional glass of corporate flying friendship.
However, the US Air Force attache defiantly turns away from the smart public, peering through the binoculars for the next run of the Blue Angels.
- Whoever remembers the old, that eye out! - approaches a group of front-line soldiers and, trying to defuse the situation, laughs Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Antoshkin.
- Girl, pour Kolya Antoshkina in a glass! - Marshal Efimov asks the waitress demandingly. - Fine.
Dressed in a Russian national costume, the girl fills Antoshkin with a whole glass of cognac.
- It will be useful for him to flood Chernobyl radiation! - Colonel General Mikhail Odintsov picks up with a laugh.
The brilliant female foreign environment of the tables served by the Kremlin, hearing the word CHERNOBYL, not noticing an obvious oversight, hides the exquisite figures behind the bodies of their handsome husbands. And the Air Attaches involuntarily take a step back.
And only the Air Force Attache of the Embassy of the United States of America in Moscow, a tall colonel pilot, after hearing and seeing the hero of the Chernobyl tragedy and taking a glass of vodka, goes to the acting commander of the Air Force of the Moscow Military District Nikolai Antoshkin.
- Oh, Nikolai! - the colonel rings with crystal. - How did you find our BLUE ANGELS ?!
- “Blue Angels”! This is the best aerobatic team in the world! ** - the Russian general solemnly says.
And they drink each their own.
- Great, real vodka! - the American attache frowns blissfully, biting a sandwich with black caviar.
- From the cellars of the Kremlin! - General Nikolay Antoshkin is not joking.
For the sake of such a unique case, the chief of the protocol of the President of Russia gives an appropriate order, and selected, the best in the world, vodka with the label “CAPITAL” is delivered to Kubinka. In the right amount.
With an unprecedented, but pleasant for the body, roar above the tower, the Blue Angels system once again passes with a landing approach.
On the site near the hangars, on an improvised stage, a concert of the best Russian creative groups begins.
Captain of the first rank Alexander Bozhzhov approaches me.
- Everything goes according to plan. ORT - removes, this is a creature of the Kremlin administration. And Russian television is wandering somewhere in the forests near Moscow.
• - Boeing B-52 Stratofortress (born Boeing B-52 Stratofortress - Stratosphere Fortress) - American ultra-long-range strategic bomber-bomber, armed with the US Air Force.
** - Blue Angels! This is the best aerobatic team in the world!
The day after arrival, September 2, 1992, senior spectators at the Kubinka airfield saw a spectacle that hardly anyone would see in the future. However, everything happens in this life.
At the observation tower was not only President Boris Yeltsin. The aviation elite not only in Moscow, but in Russia flies in and comes to a phenomenal spectacle - a show of the best aviation aerobatic teams in the world: our “SWITCHES”, “RUSSIAN VITYAZY” and the deservedly renowned USA “Blue Angels” - “BLUE ANGELS”!
And the Minister of Defense of Russia poses an impossible task for the VOEN-TV creative team: to win the broadcast. And not only repeat the long-standing success of the legendary television program “SERVICE TO THE SOVIET UNION”, where the ball was still ruled by civilian stars such as Mikhail Leshchinsky and German Sedov. And the chief curator was the military department of the CPSU Central Committee. Pavel Grachev demands the creation of a fundamentally new television product, namely, a TV channel subject only to the military department (“STAR”, for example).
Without their own transmitter, their frequency and state broadcasting license, this task is perceived by specialists, painted with black humor, as delusional! However, the generals snapped their heels, and sensible colonels began to grope in the slender ranks of the Central TV channels.
On the ruins of the television program "Serving the Soviet Union", a group of former like-minded people are trying to revive the old spirit of the rating brand. But there is no Soviet Union either, and there is no one to serve it - former loyal representatives of one of the oldest professions quickly find their niches in money media holdings, and many simply fall for the cordon. And emigrants from Russia from there broadcast to the whole world, very successfully for half a dollar and a crumb Euro, about the true state of things in our country, and most importantly, it is true about our past. Well, they lived here.
The newly made "RADAR" flickers ... "POLYGON" appears. But these were already parodies of the old popular show. А из ведомственной тени Минобороны России выходит никому не известное видео-приложение к журналу «СОВЕТСКИЙ ВОИН». Видео-приложение преобразуется в Центральную телевизионную и радиовещательную студию Министерства обороны России.
Итак, перед нами стоит оперативно – тактическая задача выхода в эфир. Our military leadership is developing a kind of special operation to cut off part of the central television channels so that military journalists themselves provide a ready-made plot. And the event is very risky, because censorship is canceled, and the Presidential Service of the Russian Federation monitors the submission of the material.
The observation tower of the airfield in Kubinka has never before, in its history, seen so many general and diplomatic uniforms embroidered with gold. And all this official establishment is lit up with precious stones of shining earrings and necklaces, and fur crafts and smiles of high-ranking ladies warm September golden day with warmth.
When the show ends, shocked by what I saw, for a long time I forget about my first love - the navy. I was attracted to work in military journalism by officers of the Naval Intelligence of the Russian Navy, however, with one condition - I will be a fleet director. However, from this memorable day, struck by the flying art of our pilots, I am imbued with a real sense of awe for all the Armed Forces of Russia. And I understand why this happened. At the same time, I recalled the story “SINGERS” of our Russian writer Ivan Turgenev.
Officially, these flights of the aerobatic teams of the two Great Powers were not of a competitive nature. And yet it was not only the female curiosity and professional interest of the Air Force attaches accredited in Moscow that made such a venerable audience gather at the observation deck in Kubinka. And our front-line soldiers, Heroes and twice Heroes of the Soviet Union, marshals and generals, only emphasize the full significance of the moment.
The behavior of the representatives of the US Embassy in Moscow, the military and Air Force attache of the United States shows some stiffness and excitement at the same time. Yesterday, they and their spouses behaved in a completely different way, drinking vodka and cocktails with easy conversations with representatives of the business world.
Strictly assembled and usually smiling Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Antoshkin, aviation commander of the Moscow Military District. But Stalin’s air marshal Alexander Efimov didn’t have anything.
- Today Nikolay will expel X-rays!
Looking at our bewildered faces, Antoshkin explains:
- During flights and overloads, the body is cleared of radiation. Otherwise, how would I survive after Chernobyl.
We knew from newspaper and magazine publications that Nikolai Antoshkin, taking a personal part in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, hovering over a destroyed block in a helicopter, received a lethal dose of radiation. And the doctors insisted that the general be written off from the flight service ...
The first to fly into the sky aerobatic team "Swifts" on the MIG-29. They were beautiful in their acrobatic figures and rebuilding. And if now, someone from the composition or admirers of this wonderful group is reading this short story, then let him forgive me for the modest description of this performance of “Swifts”. MIG-29s are lighter in class than the American Hornet-F-18s and our SU-27s.
When the elite USA “Blue Angels” “BLUE ANGELS” begin to work on varnished large toys, all those present in Kubinka freeze. Aviation enthusiasts are aware of SIMPLE aerobatic maneuvers: Turn, Horizontal Eight, Spiral, Dive, Gorka, U-Turn.
And I recall the story of Turgenev's “Sybyts”:
“So, the row came forward, closed half his eyes and sang with the highest falsetto. His voice was quite pleasant and sweet, although somewhat hoarse, he played and wagged with that voice, like a juliah, constantly pouring and pouring from top to bottom and constantly returning to the top notes, which he sustained and pulled with special effort, fell silent and then suddenly picked up the old one a tune with some sneaky, arrogant udder. ”
Everything trembles inside when the “Blue Angels” perform Difficult aerobatics: Turns with a roll of more than 45 °, Flip, Dead loop, Immelman flip, Dive (with a dive angle of up to 60 °), Slide (with a pitch angle of up to 60 °), Controlled barrel, Coup on a hill, Corkscrew!
"SINGERS":
“His transitions were sometimes quite bold, sometimes quite funny: they would have given the connoisseur much pleasure, the German would have become indignant from them. It was Russian tenore di grazia, t, nor l, ger 1. He sang a cheerful, dancing song, the words of which, how much I could catch through endless decorations, added consonants and exclamations. ”
Only with a song can one compare the filigree closed formations of the matchless blue and gold “Blue Angels”. Short and loud take-offs during take-off, high speeds, barrels, coups with a delay, the Cuban eight. For greater effect, pyrotechnics are used.
Rhombus ("Diamond"): Performed from a simultaneously take-off group of four aircraft. The group immediately after take-off goes on a loop with a rhombus.
The aerobatics “mirror”, made of a pair of aircraft, one of which flies on the “back” parallel to the other, creates an optical mirror effect.
I notice how the brilliant ladies from empathy and inner fear suddenly cry out. These are “HORNETS” when performing aerobatics ON BOARD COURSES, moving towards each other, diverge in close proximity to each other. The spouses of the military attaches, clutching their hands in the forearms of their husbands, hide their heads on the order slats.
I remember by heart the Turgenev “SINGERS”. Today they are welcome.
“For a long time the rower sang, without arousing too much sympathy in his listeners, he lacked support, the choir, and finally, at one particularly successful transition, which made Dikogo-Barin smile, Obalduy could not stand it and cried out with pleasure. Everyone started in a hurry. ”
BLUE ANGELS are building up the pace of their amazing show.
“Fan” - a single plane performs a barrel around five planes flying in the rhomb formation. Dissolution of the "Fountain" and "Scissors".
"Four barrel" - four planes make a barrel around their path.
Everyone admires Americans. Professionals see and understand each other by the smallest elements of coherence and cohesion. Twice Heroes of the Soviet Union, Marshal Alexander Efimov and Colonel General Mikhail Odintsov approvingly turn gray-headed heads.
And in me literary "SINGERS" sound.
“Encouraged by signs of general pleasure, the rowman completely whirled, and such began to trim the curls, so latched and drummed his tongue, so frantically flinched his throat that when, finally, weary, pale and drenched in hot sweat, he let go, throwing back his whole body, the last cry, the general, united cry answered him with a frantic explosion. Stunned, he threw himself on his neck and began to strangle him with his long, bony hands! ”
The long-term program of the best naval carriers of the US Navy, which absorbed the world’s flight achievements of recent years, perfected to perfection, could not fail to shock even specialists and experienced air force veterans.
BLUE ANGELS created in 1946. They delighted with their filigree mastery and continue to delight millions of viewers around the world. Including presidents, kings and sultans.
And our "RUSSIAN VITYAZI" were formed only on April 5, 1991! What can a young, almost only created, unknown aerobatic team of the Russian Air Force.
Great Russian prose. A century and a half passed, and Turgenev's famous story “Singers” seems to have been written to comment on this particular unforgettable event.
After the American-angel triumph, our multi-purpose "heavy" serial fighter Su - 27 - "RUSSIAN VITYAZI" rolled into taxiing.
“WHEN SAME, FINALLY, YAKOV OPENED HIS FACE - IT WAS PALYAN, AS AT THE DEAD, THE EYES EYELY Flickered THROUGH THE FALLED EYELASHES. He took a deep breath and started to sing ... "
Once again, a worried girl from the Kremlin press service comes up to me.
- Where did the film crew of Russian television post ?! she asks irritably.
We shrug. A spokeswoman leaves to look for the extreme.
- We are working! - from behind I hear the quiet voice of the captain of the first rank Alexander Bozhzhov. Russian television drove into the restricted area of Moscow’s second air defense ring. Mobile phones do not work there.
“THE FIRST SOUND OF HIS VOICE WAS WEAK AND UNIQUE AND, SEEMING, HAVE NOT LEAVED FROM HIS BODY, BUT HAVE COME FROM HERE FROM FROM IT, IT WAS FLYING OUT OF ACCIDENTALLY IN THE ROOM. STRONGLY HUNTED SHORTLY.
The entire military air beau monde present at the tower of the airfield in Kubinka, especially the attache’s wife, enthusiastically welcomes the clear success of the USA's Blue Angels aerobatic team - BLUE ANGELS. Everyone pulls their hands in white gloves with champagne glasses to the blissfully smiling US Air Force attache.
“Without a single blots! *” The USA Air Force Colonel triumphs, addressing our pilots, veterans of the Great Patriotic War and personally, to Major General Nikolai Antoshkin, Hero of the Soviet Union, commander of aviation in the Moscow Military District.
Still, the thought flashed through my head, "Blue Angels" have existed since 1946.
And our "Russian Knights" - a little over a year.
- Congratulations! - Mysteriously smiles Nikolai Antoshkin in response. “We are just learning.”
Once again, a representative of the Press Service of the President of Russia approaches our film crew. Now the girl is accompanied by two tall employees, apparently, the FSO. **
- The Russian channel left Ostankino a few hours ago! - Blondly begins, with the appearance and figure of a fashion model, a blonde. - The last ones at the fork in the road were ORT journalists! - and she looks at me suspiciously. “Do you have useful information ?!”
- A typical case! - we begin to reassure the top model. - This area is part of the second echelon of air defense in Moscow. And he is only open to visit ESMI. ***
“But why don't they call?” They are provided by Nokia cellular communication ?! - the blonde expresses her irritation on me.
And the Directorate of Information Programs of RTR, having received a fax message from the military at the very last moment, makes a rash step - sends the car with the crew to an unknown route. It’s easy to enter the forest near Moscow in this radius. And without the staff of military journalists and experienced drivers, the group enthusiastically rolls towards Kubinka, not knowing the features of the arrival at the airfield. Once they are mistaken, they go the wrong way. Another time they call in a specially protected area. The car is stopped until the circumstances are clarified. Our WAI help them in this. ****
In addition, citizen journalists do not know the iron rule of such events: after a certain signal, during the “H”, in the area of ground exercises or flights, any traffic is strictly prohibited. Even for the generals. I personally became convinced of this, and more than once.
And one more important detail: in the case of the arrival of VIP - persons, and waiting for the arrival of the President of the Russian Federation, mobile phones are almost useless.
The RTR film crew is content with video filming of the BLUE ANGELS IN RUSSIA air show from a distance of 5 kilometers.
- We would have this technique in the forty-first! - Marshal Alexander Efimov says dreamily. - These are multi-purpose, highly maneuverable, Mikhail ?! - he turns to his friend twice Hero of the Soviet Union Mikhail Odintsov, Colonel General.
- All-weather. Fourth generation! - My new acquaintance Mikhail Odintsov explains to me. - The first car was lifted into the air by the test pilot Hero of the Soviet Union, my friend, Vladimir Ilyushin.
- Titanium! - General Nikolai Antoshkin says quietly and leaves for the command post.
In those days, journalists said thanks for this information. Now such a detail will seem an insignificant fact, and then everything had some kind of sacred meaning.
Suddenly the excited audience on the tower freezes. From the beginning of the runway you can hear the characteristic roar of the soaring SU - 27. Painted in the colors of the State Flag of Russia, the four “RUSSIAN VITYASY”, as if thrown from a catapult, with a unique roar, almost without the usual run-up, gain in height several thousand meters in a few seconds! And twists the diamond-shaped four famous dead loop.
"This was the first sound was followed by another, harder and lingering, but it IS visible tremble like strings when suddenly the bell under the strong fingers, it varies LAST, FAST-stopping hesitation, for the second - the third, a little overheated and expand."
I vividly presented the famous Turgenev scene of “SINGERS” in a shabby village tavern. A darkish room with a bench, two or three empty barrels, a corner table. Variegated chintz shirts. Two village peasants compete in singing: Ryadchik and Yashka.
A century and a half passed, the elite aerobatic team of the USA “Blue Angels” flies to Russia. From our side, aerobatic teams “Swifts” and “Russian Knights” perform on domestic and best fighters in the world. But the spirituality and essence of the phenomenon remains the same.
Figures of simple, complex and aerobatics are known to all. And these figures are performed by demonstration air groups of many countries.
Moreover, the air shows - groups of "Blue Angels" are furnished with a unique ritual, which is adopted by American aircraft carriers, and which is performed by maintenance personnel.
Our pilots are simple. No pre-flight movements, like the Americans, more like a spell. "Russian Knights" do not use smoke and pyrotechnics. But why does the soul freeze in a special way when you look precisely at our wizards of aerobatics.
Why does our heart beat faster when heavy vehicles ... Yes, it is the SU-27 that is considered a heavy fighter, it is almost two times heavier and larger in size than the Hornet - 18 / FA, and therefore it is considered insidious in control ... When three heroes : Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich lay turns, spirals, horizontal eights, dive and make slides with inconceivable cabling angles. And this is Ivanushka - The little fool on the stove makes a combat turn, and, my God, the coup of Immelman.
“HE Sang, AND ALL OF US HAVE BECOME SWEET AND CREEPY. I ACKNOWLEDGE, I RARELY HEAR A SIMILAR VOICE: HE WAS A LITTLE BROKEN AND BELLED, HOW MUCH DRAGED, HE EVEN FIRST RESPONDED TO SOMETHING, BUT I WAS SOON SOON SECURE, SORRY SORROW. ”
Hero of the Soviet Union ALEXANDER Pokryshkin joins Russian epic heroes three times. Before, he makes the most bewitching and deadly aerobatics - the BELL.
His plane is nose-up at ZERO speed, until the thirty-ton colossus stops completely, the machine hangs above! And the tail sways from side to side, like the tongue of a bell. The gospel. Here, not every ace was given not to go into a deadly tailspin.
I’m watching the Air Attaches accredited in Moscow. As one, with aspiration, they shoot this Russian BELL on photos and video cameras. For a long time, the figure was considered accessible only to propeller aircraft. And our Pokryshkin mastered it.
But this is not all ... COBRA PUGACHEVA. The plane sharply lifts its nose, up to the back
Story
The season of demonstrations lasts every year from March to November. Blue Angels perform at military and civilian airfields, and often directly over major cities such as San Francisco, Cleveland and Seattle.
The flight demonstration uses only six FA-18 Hornet aircraft. Flights are usually flown at low speeds, with maneuvers such as a loop, a barrel, and transitions from one formation to another.
In clear weather, flights are carried out at altitudes of no more than 2400 m, in cloudy no more than 460 m.
