This article is unlikely to be of interest to seasoned and experienced modelers. But for beginners, who are overwhelmed by the desire to assemble a masterpiece out of a box, but on this difficult path they encounter many more questions than they can imagine, perhaps they will gain some interesting and useful information for themselves. Think seven times - do you need this model?! Or rather, even to say, are you ready to give all your patience, skill, all your strength and nerves, so that after many years, looking at a shelf with an eye-catching colorful model, you can say to yourself: “I still made you, you bastard!!!” Yes, these are the words I want to start this article with. By the word model I mean not just a plastic product assembled from an ICM box, but a product in the livery of the Swifts aerobatic team. It is in these words that lies the treachery that awaited me already at the final stages of the construction of this whale.

As one of the modelers on this site already said once, inspiration should motivate the construction of a model. Of course, this did not bypass me either. In my case, the inspiration and, as a result, the starting point, was reading the article and carefully studying the process of building the MiG-29 model (M 1:48) by M. Gumenyuk.
Despite the overwhelming feelings of admiration for the above-mentioned model and the desire to assemble it, it may not be as accurate and beautiful, but at least carefully, I set myself the task of building an ordinary “out of the box” model, without fanaticism, catching millimeters, without using an aftermarket (morally I was not ready for this), but with the addition of little things that can be made from improvised materials, as well as using standard model finishing technologies for experienced modellers, which I have never used before.

I don't know about other modellers, but I always start building a model from the cockpit. In order not to change traditions, I started with him. The cockpit of the model is represented by four elements: the front instrument panel, the seat, the control handle (RUS) and, in fact, the bathroom itself. The front and side instrument panels are made in the standard Italian design, in fact, from where they migrated to this model: on a smooth surface there are many, many convex handles, buttons and instruments. The elements are cast with high quality and, with careful painting and finishing, together they look quite good. As for the chair, it is, of course, far from resembling the original. The control knob, despite its very small size, is designed surprisingly well. Aerobatics masters will probably even be able to paint the buttons on it. The part is very small and you need to work with it extremely carefully and carefully; It can simply “jump away” during processing, which is what happened to me. I had to make my own.

The cockpit was painted with an airbrush according to a standard scheme: the internal surfaces of the fuselage, the bathtub, the front instrument panel and the control gear were painted with enamel No. 83069 (AKAN) (although, in my opinion, I was wrong here; it was necessary to use No. 82030); handle, RUS base, seat and upper part of the front instrument panel - matte black No. 88003 (AKAN); instrument panels and fuse box - No. 88000, No. 88003 and No. 88008 (painted with toothpicks). After painting the dials, you need to add a little bit of glossy varnish to give the glass a realistic look. Painting the belts on a standard chair is a rather complicated job, and at the end I was not satisfied with the result, since the thickness of the belts along the length after painting turned out to be unequal. In this regard, an alternative solution to this problem was found. Thin strips were cut from aluminum tape (according to the thickness of the belts), painted on the table, glued to the chair and trimmed in place. It turned out more or less realistic. Then imitation ejection handles were made from copper wire, painted and glued to the chair.

Now it's time to assemble the cockpit into a single whole. The front instrument panel, RUS and a chair were glued to the bathtub. And here the first unexpected turn of events occurred: when trying to glue the assembled cockpit into place, nothing came of it because the chair was in the way. I had to tear it off and glue it in after installing the cockpit in place. Otherwise, everything fell into place without any problems. Even the joint between the front instrument panel and the fuselage, due to the black paint, did not look as criminal as I initially expected. Although I would attribute this point to the disadvantage of this model - it is a complete inconvenience in processing. Finally, I used dry brush technology for the first time. However, afraid of ruining everything (it took me too long to draw these handles and devices), I stroked the front panel of the instruments a couple of times and decided to complete this procedure. Either because my hand has not yet been trained or this technology for such an instrument panel is not very applicable, I did not like the resulting effect.

After that, I put the top half of the fuselage aside and started working on the bottom. Or rather, not even to say the lower half itself, but by assembling the air intakes and gluing them to the lower half. I have not used such an assembly technique before; I decided to try it for the first time on this model. The thing is that the surfaces of the fuselage and the air intake in contact with each other are, as a rule, not ideal and ensuring their high-quality adjoining to each other is accompanied by a number of problems, the main of which is the banal inconvenience in the location of auxiliary tightening devices (clothespins, clamps, etc.) .). The air intakes in the model are represented by four elements: two halves of the channel itself, a protective shield and an element (I don’t even know what to call it) resembling a visor, located in the upper, sharpest part of the channel. All elements fit together well, with the possible exception of the protective shield. But this was to be expected. In my memory, I have never come across a single model where the protective shield fits into the air intake channel like a glove. This model is no exception. In addition, it is worth noting that the shields offered in the model are very far from the real ones in shape. I twisted them this way and that to understand how they should be positioned in the channel. The instructions answered this question, as always, by simply indicating with an arrow the direction of insertion, and that’s all.

There was clearly not enough information. I had to look up the literature and look for photographs of this unit. After carefully examining several photographs, I finally reached a dead end. Having given up on everything, I glued the shields approximately to the places where they are located on a real plane. The only drawback was their forms, which did not correspond at all to the real ones. As I later realized, the shields had to be made simply - flat, without any bends, as they were presented in the kit. Anyway. After this, the joints between the shields and the walls of the air intake channels were puttied and cleaned. To prevent the shields from looking like a stationary element on the model, I went along the perimeter of the joint with a scriber, giving them a recess and thereby showing that the element is movable. In addition, on the shields, in their lower part, there is a perforation, which also needed to be shown.

This perforation on a real aircraft consists of three groups of holes arranged in a “checkerboard” pattern, with a diameter of 5.2 mm. Scientifically, this is called perforation of the fourth panel of the air intake wedge and serves to suck air from the boundary layer. Naturally, it is not possible to show this on a scale. But something had to be done, at least vaguely resembling perforation. The solution to the problem was to use a mesh Lipton tea bag. However, I did not glue the perforation elements into place right away, leaving them for last. After this, the assembled air intake ducts were glued into place. The joints turned out to be quite neat; putty was required to a minimum. The only negative point that I would like to note is that the channels are not symmetrical with respect to the niche of the front landing gear.

How to painlessly and quickly fix this issue? To be honest, I find it difficult to answer. If you start to move a channel that is far from the niche, you will end up with very serious cracks and a crooked channel. Move the channel close to the niche? This will also not work due to the design features of the lower half of the fuselage and, again, a crooked channel. In general, it was decided to leave everything as it is. What else would I like to say regarding the air intakes of this model? Unfortunately, their design does not provide for the open position of the protective flaps. To make the channels open, they need serious modification, which involves building up the internal surfaces, which is quite painstaking and inconvenient, and it would not hurt to install engine blades to add realism. But nothing is impossible. Those who wish can do this.

Now it's time to connect the upper and lower fuselage halves together. This process did not conceal any pitfalls. The only thing I would like to draw attention to is two points. The first is a joint in the form of a ledge in the area of the nose cone. To be honest, I tried to see some hidden meaning of this technological solution, but to no avail. This place, in my opinion, needs to be glued in several stages. The thing is that, I don’t know how it is in general, but the corners of this ledge were slightly deformed and it was not possible to glue this place together neatly in one go. Otherwise, the volume of putty work in this place would be simply colossal. And the second is the cap of the brake parachute capsule. It is better to cut it off before gluing the two halves, make it separately (this is not at all difficult) and glue it after assembling the fuselage. Unfortunately, I realized this too late. As a result, I ended up with a very inconvenient place to process the joint and, as a result, a completely ugly lid. I would like to give one more piece of advice, which I think is useful. It is better to paint and finish the landing gear niches at this stage, or even before assembling the two halves of the fuselage, and then simply cover them from dust and dirt, for example, with pieces of foam rubber and colorstop. It's more convenient and practical. I also discovered this for myself quite late. All. After drying, all joints were carefully processed and the jointing was restored. It's time to work on the wings.

I will not dwell on a detailed examination of the geometry of the wing, since this has already been popularly considered, studied and discussed in other articles specifically devoted to this. I would like to draw your attention to something else that can and should be corrected with a little effort. The first point is the ailerons. As M. Gumenyuk accurately noted in his article: not a single MiG-29 model, not a single manufacturer, has the ailerons in the correct position. The MiG-29 from ICM was no exception. In the neutral position, the ailerons should be deflected upward by 5o. I started by eliminating this error. Using a sharp knife, I carefully cut out the ailerons along the contour, processed the edges and set them aside until better times. The second point is a pure design feature of the “9-13” product. This feature lies in the fact that the flaps and fuselage of these machines are equipped with reinforcing linings of a unique shape. I’ll return to the fuselage pads a little later, but for now I’ll focus on the very oddly shaped pads on the flaps. I made them using the technology described in M. Gumenyuk’s article, but with minor deviations. But to start making them, it was necessary to glue the wings to the fuselage. This was done for reasons of integrity and safety of these very linings when processing the joints between the fuselage and the outer surfaces of the fins.

The wings were glued according to the drawing, observing the angle of inclination of the wing plane relative to the transverse axis of the fuselage. After this, the joints were puttied, carefully processed, and the jointing was restored.

It's time to tackle the vertical tail, or simply put, the fins. To be honest, I didn’t think there would be so much trouble with them. They fell into place very poorly. The thing is that initially they were pretty deformed. Let's chalk this up to poor quality casting. However, they still needed to be glued somehow. I had to do this in two stages. First, the main part of the fin was glued to the compartment with traps and dipole reflectors, and the angle of inclination was set relative to the vertical axis of the aircraft. The second step, accordingly, was to glue the part with the trap compartment. One point should be noted here. A special feature of the location of the compartment with traps and dipole reflectors is its placement directly at the junction of the wing and fuselage. I emphasize this because many modellers prefer to glue the fins first and then work on the wings. In this case, you should glue the main body of the keel first, and either temporarily cut off the compartment and glue it after installing the wings, or simply leave it alone, being careful not to break it off. The camber angle of the keels was set using a simple template, made according to a drawing from a piece of cardboard. Keely did not install both at once, but one by one, it’s easier.

Now we could start making the flap covers. Following the recommendations of M. Gumenyuk, I printed out a scale drawing on a printer and cut out this very overlay. Having attached the cut out element to the flap of the model, I saw that their contours, to put it mildly, did not match. There were two ways out. Since on the model this overlay is represented by internal jointing, it was necessary to putty this place in order to eliminate the old jointing, carefully process it accordingly, and do everything on the treated smooth surface in exactly the same way as described in the article by M. Gumenyuk. The second solution was a little simpler - close your eyes to the discrepancy between the contours of the overlay of the drawing and the model and make the overlay directly along the contours of the jointing directly on the model. I liked this solution better, and, having easily agreed with my conscience, I began to act. True, the technology had to be improved a little during the production process. First, I took a piece of thin tracing paper and, placing it on the model’s flap, lightly pressing the pencil, shaded the entire area of the flap, thereby marking the contours of the lining on it, and cut it out.

Then I took a piece of adhesive paper (the kind used for office purposes to make, for example, stickers on folders) and the same piece of thin polystyrene (in this case, a regular printed transparent cover was used). I pasted the paper onto polystyrene, attached a finished piece of tracing paper with the outline of the lining, traced it and cut it out.

Next, I took a piece of adhesive foil, glued it to the flap, applied the resulting stencil and cut it along the contour with a sharp knife. The procedure is quite tedious, and it may not work the first time. The foil is very thin and if you don’t cut even a little along the contour, it will definitely tear when you remove the excess foil. In general, by hook or by crook, I won the rubber after about the eleventh time.

Continuing the theme of all kinds of overlays, I would like to note that a design feature of the 9-13 product is the presence on the upper part of the fuselage of a kind of understamping, shown on the model simply as double jointing lines. These lines need to be given a barely noticeable volume. This can be done in different ways. You can use thin polystyrene, or you can use self-adhesive foil. The main condition is that there are no gaps at the intersection of these strips, in other words, all these strips should look like a single whole. I chose the option of making it from self-adhesive foil, and, most likely, I made a mistake again. It seemed to me that the foil had the ideal thickness for making these overlays in 72nd scale - this was the main argument for choice. However, I was unable to achieve a very precise joint between the strips and, therefore, the main condition was not met. Foil is a very capricious, thin and tearable material. Therefore, here you need to either just get your hands on it and after some tenth try it will turn out perfect, or still choose thin polystyrene as the material for production. But with him, I think, there will be no less hassle. Be that as it may, I left the linings as is - made of foil.

Finally, on the top of the fuselage, behind the engine feed louvers, small beads made from pieces of thin polystyrene were installed. On a real airplane, there are waveguides running there to the antennas on the wing tips. They are linings of a bizarre Ω-shape with a small bulge in the middle part. A bulge in the middle part, as an option, can be made by lightly pressing on an object of a suitable shape.

Now it's time to install the stabilizers in place. This procedure did not cause any problems. The main thing is to carefully process the ends of the interface with the fuselage and they will fall into place without any cracks. Just as in the case of a vertical tail, the stabilizers have their own angle of inclination in relation only to the horizontal axis of the fuselage. With the vertical tail mounted at this angle, you don’t have to worry about it. Between the fins and stabilizers it should be 90°. Therefore, anything with a right angle can serve as a template for installing stabilizers in the correct position.

In the end, this is the picture we got.

Now it's time to do the little things. I started with PVD. The part that comes with the kit is no good. Having pasted it and posted photos on the forum, I was immediately bombarded with rotten tomatoes. I had to make it myself. For this, ordinary syringe needles were used. Naturally, being a complete layman in medicine, and, as a fact, having absolutely no idea what the diameters of needles on syringes are, I went to the pharmacy on duty and bought everything that was available. To my surprise, out of the whole bunch of syringes I bought, there were only four sizes (or, more simply put, diameters) of needles (but one could say three). Namely: 20 ml and 10 ml have a 21G needle (0.8×40 mm); 5 ml - 22G (0.7×40 mm); 3 ml and 2 ml - 23G (0.63×32 mm) and an insulin syringe - I couldn’t find the size, but a very thin needle. I was surprisingly lucky with the MiG-29 PVD: it consists of, let’s say, three sections. To construct it, I used 21G, 23G and insulin needles, respectively. While inserting a needle from a 23G insulin syringe into each other was not difficult, there were some problems with inserting 23G into 21G. They do not fit into each other right off the bat. The only thing that came to mind was to bore the 21G as much as possible and grind down the edge of the 23G a little. I had to bore it with a 0.6 mm drill - the minimum I had. The needle turned out to be very strong and did not lend itself to reaming at all. But persistence still won. Further, putting the structure together was not difficult.

After assembly, a little cyacrine was dripped onto the first (thintest) section of the LDPE, since there is a slight thickening in this place on the real LDPE. Now you can install it in place. To do this, I slightly drilled a hole in the nose cone with a thin drill, inserted the manufactured PVD and filled this place with cyacrine. After the glue had dried, the joint was carefully processed.

The next stage of detailing the model was to make something like perforations on the air intake flaps. For this, as mentioned above, the mesh material of a Lipton tea bag (triangular) was used. Six rectangles were carefully cut to size from the drawing and carefully glued into place using cyacrine. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the adhesive layer must be applied very, very thin, since the material is mesh, and if you apply a lot of glue, then when gluing it will simply “crawl out of all the cracks” and the expected effect will not be achieved.

Then all the other “small things” were glued on, such as the air pipes for the engine compartments, the air intake of the cooling system and the air pressure receiver. The only things not glued were the velocity pressure sensor receiver, the ARK-19 radio compass antenna, and the KOLS, which will be installed in place after painting. Finally, the lantern was installed in its place. It should be noted that he did not fit into his place very well. In the rear part, between the canopy cover and the gargrot, a decent “step” had formed, which was only smoothed out by puttying and careful sanding. After this, the jointing was restored and the lantern was masked using Tamiya tape and colorstop.

Also, for painting purposes, the landing gear niches were masked, pre-painted in light gray color No. 82032 from AKAN.

It's time to start painting.
The painting work took place in the following order: first, the entire model was painted with basic white color No. 88002 from AKAN.

After the paint had dried, a swift pattern was applied on the lower surface of the model from thinly cut strips of Tamiya camouflage tape, according to photographs and the existing painting scheme. A swift pattern was also applied to the upper surface of the model using masking tape and all surfaces that were painted white according to the paint scheme were masked.

Further, according to the painting scheme, the inner surfaces of the swift's outline both below and above were painted blue. Here I would like to emphasize that the blue color of the “birds” should match the color of the stripes and inscriptions presented in the decals. However, the decal that comes with the model is very dark in color, so you should not rely on it. My first serious mistake in painting was made at this stage. For painting, I first chose radical blue color No. 88009 from AKAN. As a result, the “birds” turned out to be very dark. In color, of course, they matched the colors of the inscriptions in the decals, but they did not correspond to reality at all.

Having received an unsatisfactory result at this stage, a decision was made to repaint. The second time, the blue color was selected based on existing photographs: blue color No. 88009 was mixed with white No. 88002 from AKAN.

After the paint had completely dried, all blue surfaces were masked.

The third stage of painting work was the application of red color No. 82000 from AKAN. Here I would like to draw attention to one unpleasant moment. Since the blue color was not applied strictly in the contours of the “birds”, and some of the paint got onto those surfaces that were to be blown out with red color, when applied, these places, in combination with the blue color, gave a dark-dark brown tint. Therefore, to achieve uniform color over the entire surface, before applying red, you need to go over the white paint again. After this, the last color was applied - red.

The finishing touch was to paint the heat-resistant petals. To paint them, a brown-cherry metallic from the “burnt metal” series No. 86018 from AKAN was used.

After drying, all masks were removed except for the masks on the lantern.

In parallel with the painting work, I was working on refining the landing gear struts and painting the engine nozzles. The included landing gear struts were supplemented with hydraulic wiring made from copper wire and expansion tanks on the main struts made from pieces of syringe needles.

After this, the struts were painted in standard gray color No. 82032 from AKAN, the shock absorber rods in “very bright polished steel” color No. 86033 from AKAN and all this was tinted with Smoke enamel varnish from Tamiya.
After finishing the struts, I started working on the engine nozzles. Since the model was initially planned to be made out of the box, it was also decided to use the nozzles that came with the kit. If the guys from ICM approached the elements of the landing gear, so to speak, with soul and tried to make them as close as possible to the original, then with the nozzles they decided not to strain at all. It's a pity. Although these were outright firewood, it was necessary to revive them and give them a little realism, at least in coloring. The nozzles were first painted in New Bright Steel Gray #86034 from AKAN. After the paint had dried, they were rubbed with a cloth until they were shiny, and the artistic painting could begin. For this purpose I used professional pastel crayons Rembrandt color No. 347.5; No. 640.5; No. 411.8 and No. 700.5.

First, tarnish colors were applied to the silver surface of the nozzle in a chaotic manner, and then darkened with the color of soot. I can’t say that the first time I did it was simply stunning, but still not bad. Unfortunately, the photo does not convey the actual color scheme.

After completing the artistic painting, to fix the paints, the nozzles were coated with semi-matte varnish No. 84003 from AKAN. It's time to start finishing the airframe itself.
First of all, the entire model was coated with glossy varnish No. 84002 from AKAN. After the varnish had dried, decals were applied to the model. I would like to say a few words about them. I knew from the very beginning that the decals that came with the model were very fragile. But I didn’t even imagine that she was so fragile. Of course, before starting work, I covered the entire decal with not just one, but two layers of varnish, so to speak, for durability. But this turned out to be not enough. Lowered into water, on a backing, the decal held up perfectly, and there were no signs of trouble. But as soon as the first attempts were made to apply it to the model - guard!!! It crumbled into small pieces. If with the stripes delimiting the outline of the bird on the upper surface of the model, such a terrible picture was not particularly observed, then with the MIG inscriptions on the keels something terrible happened. One of them crumbled into 17!!! pieces. If I ever have to deal with Swift again, then there will be no question of any decals. Everything is done only with paints - it’s quite real. The stripes delimiting the contour of the bird were first cut out from a thin strip of paper, precisely adjusted to the model, and then, as if using a template, the decal was cut out and applied to the model.

After a long and hard job of applying the decals, the entire model was given another coat of gloss varnish. Perhaps I messed something up in the consistency or I don’t have much experience in painting work, but I absolutely didn’t like the way the glossy varnish applied to the model. Somewhere the surface shone more, somewhere less, and this shine was completely unnatural, not natural. Therefore, it was subsequently decided to use semi-matte varnish for subsequent layers. Now it's time to highlight the jointing or, as we put it scientifically, to make a wash. After looking through many photographs, I discovered that almost all the aircraft from the Swifts aerobatic team are so clean and neat that even the lines of skin joints are not really visible. Therefore, it was decided to highlight the jointing only on the white surfaces of the model and indicate the moving elements. The material chosen for the wash was light gray and black pastel chalk from Rembrandt, diluted with water and “fairy”. And here, seemingly out of the blue, there were some small problems. Unfortunately, the depth of the standard jointing does not allow the remover to take hold and, together with the excess composition, is completely removed from the surface. As much as I didn’t want to do this, I had to resort to using an automatic pencil. Since the main color of the jointing was supposed to be light light gray, the places where the pencil was used had to be muffled with finely crushed white pastel chalk to even out the color. After applying the wash, the entire model was sealed with semi-matte varnish No. 84003 from AKAN. To create the most realistic picture possible, leaks from the drainage system were drawn on the lower surface of the model between the engine nacelles using black pastel chalk.

Then another coat of semi-matte varnish was applied. After it dried, the remaining masks were removed from the lantern. You can begin final assembly.
At this stage, the most important thing is to do everything very carefully and not to rush. First of all, the engine nozzles were put in place. They install without any problems. The landing gear legs were then installed with the wheels from the Elf kit pre-glued to them. Here you should pay attention to the fact that the mounting holes in the wheels of the main struts fit perfectly without any adjustment, while the wheels of the nose strut do not fit into the guides of the standard strut at all - the holes in the wheels are very, very narrow. Therefore, I sharpened the guides on the rack a little so that after installing the wheels, the mud shield could fall into place and from below to the existing guides I glued a new axle made from a piece of a syringe needle. After that everything fell into place just perfectly. Then the landing gear doors and pylons were installed in their places, pre-painted according to the available photographs and paint scheme.

Headlights of a suitable diameter from the Elf kit were glued to the front wings of the main landing gear. Here I also want to say a few words. Due to the fact that initially I used what is called “out of the box” mounting spots for the headlights, I had to do a little magic with the headlights from the kit. In order not to have to do any alterations, I squeezed out the mirror elements from the mounting sockets of the headlights included in the kit, and then, in the already glued “out-of-the-box” seats, I made small recesses with a drill of a suitable diameter so that the squeezed-out mirror elements would fit there. Just like the glazing elements, the mirror elements were glued into place using glossy varnish.

After that, I extruded the KOLS glazing from a piece of transparent plastic and adjusted it to size. The mirror element was machined from a piece of sprue and painted with “very bright aluminum” paint No. 86010 from AKAN. Finally, the receiver of the velocity pressure sensor, the ARK-19 radio compass antenna and static electricity drains were installed in their places.
This is the model I came up with. I can’t say that all my hopes were justified and everything turned out as planned, but I know one thing for sure - I’ve never done anything like this before. This model became for me a kind of breakthrough in modeling technologies and their knowledge. I know that many things still don’t work out very well, but the most important thing is the desire to learn everything and friends and colleagues who are ready to lend a helping hand and give good advice at any time.

« 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

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".

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 "Strizhi" 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.