Russian Knights - History

History

The Kubinka air force base located 60 km west of Moscow is well known both in Russia and abroad. For years, it has been known as the Air Force installation used for demonstrating advanced combat aircraft to national and foreign leaders. Kubinka AFB's personnel were the first Soviet pilots to fly jet fighters in solo and group aerobatics; as early back as on May 1, 1946 Kubinka aces made their overflight of the Red Square as part of air parade formation. Nowadays, Kubinka AFB is known as the best aerobatics school where the Russian Knights and Swifts aerobatics teams are stationed. Meanwhile, Kubinka is a major base of the Russian Air Force in the Moscow region.

Since 1935, it has hosted the 82nd aviation detachment (separate), joined in 1938 by the 11th and 24th air regiments. Personnel of these units field-tested the advanced Yak-1 and LaGG-3 fighters and defended the Soviet capital during the second World War. After WWII, Kubinka AFB was the home base for the 324th Svirskaya fighter air division. In November 1950, it was redeployed to Korea in full, with the base being taken over by the 9th fighter air division. Since 1952, the 234th fighter air regiment - predecessor of the present-day 237th Aircraft Demonstration Centre - has been stationed in Kubinka.

In May 1989, the 1st squadron of the Centre (then designated as the 237th composite air regiment) received Su-27 fighters. The pilots familiarised themselves with the new materiel and soon flew their first training sorties in pairs, troikas and, then, in four-aircraft diamond-shaped formations. The leader of the first "diamond" was Anatoly Arestov, his left and right wingmen were Aleksandr Dyatlov and Ivan Kirsanov respectively, with Vladimir Bukin becoming the Tail-End Charlie. The Su-27 proved to be much harder to control when manoeuvring as part of a tight formation, compared with the MiG-29. There were several reasons: the fighter's heavier weight, larger dimension, inertness, peculiarities of its fly-by-wire control system and, perhaps counterintuitively, its superior aerodynamic characteristics. The pilots wanted to fly the same aerobatics previously flown in Kubinka by the MiG-19, MiG-21, MiG-23 and MiG-29 fighters.

Early in 1991, the six-aircraft aerobatics team was set up. The leader was Vladimir Basov, left wingman - Aleksandr Dyatlov, right wingman - Sergei Ganichev, tail-end charlie - Vladimir Bukin, outer left wingman - Vladimir Bazhenov and outer right wingman - Aleksandr Lichkun. The first foreign tour was to be made to the UK. A decision was made to find a designation for the new unit, devise an emblem, have flight suits made and devise the paint job for the fighters.

Thus, on April 5, 1991, the Russian Knights came into being. As early as September 1991, the Russian Knights flew to the United Kingdom. Then came the tours of Malaysia, the US, France, the Netherlands, Canada, Slovakia, Belgium, and Luxembourg.