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Praetorium Honoris

Thursday, September 15, 2016

Knights and Swifts

Russian Knights and Swifts formation (Source)
The Russians have two aerial demonstration teams, the Knights (Витязи), who fly the Su-27, and the Swifts (Стрижи), who fly the MiG-29. Sometimes the two teams will fly together, picture the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels in one big formation. (I'm not sure if we've ever done that.) The Knights and Swifts flew together for the May 9th Victory Day parade in Moscow this year (2016 if you're reading this sometime in the future).

The following video is one of those 360-degree videos. Click and hold the left mouse button and then move the mouse, you control the viewing angle. (Yes, I love these videos.) This was filmed during a joint practice session for that parade mentioned above. There are both cockpit and ground views, which I found interesting. (During the ground portions, look for the guy looking oddly at the camera with the blurry hand, he's actually holding the camera on what is apparently a long "selfie" stick of some kind.)

The airborne portion is from a camera attached to the pilot's glare shield, just forward and to the left of the combining glass. Makes for an interesting perspective.

I once got to see a MiG-29 live and in person in Germany. After the fall of the DDR, the Luftwaffe inherited a wing of those Russian designed birds and I happened to see one at Geilenkirchen taxiing out for take-off. Of course, I stuck around for the "show." Quite honestly, I thought the beast looked ugly and ungainly on the ground. Once she got in the air though, she was something to see. Nimble and deadly looking.

Enjoy! (Наслаждайтесь!)





Why yes I am tired and devoid of ideas for a post. How did you know?


8 comments:

  1. Tired and devoid sometimes produces the most interesting posts.
    He would be my co-conspirator on many an occasion.

    ReplyDelete
  2. They look better with a pipper superimposed on the canopy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good video. Say what you will about Russian fighters but you got to admit, they do make them pretty.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. On the ground they don't look nearly as pretty, but in the air...

      Delete
  4. I should have g-warmed a bit before watching the video. My stomach didn't like some of the views. Weird. Maybe it's the AB's I'm eating.

    On the ground they really do look like tractors, and I understand the SU-27 came from the factory with planting and harvesting attachments.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I should include a caveat the next time I post one of these. Perhaps a short instructional video on the "hick" maneuver as well.

      The long tail on the Sukhoi, I thinks for attaching a harrow.

      ;-)

      Delete

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