{"id":2716,"date":"2014-03-14T05:26:44","date_gmt":"2014-03-14T12:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.mechadigital.net\/?p=2716"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:37:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T20:37:57","slug":"99-ukrainian-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/99-ukrainian-summer\/","title":{"rendered":"#99 Ukrainian Summer"},"content":{"rendered":"
In December of 1991 the Soviet Union ceased to exist.\u00a0 Guess what country suddenly found itself with a whole poopload of Mig 29\u2019s?\u00a0 Yup, Ukraine.<\/h5>\n
Then, in 1994, Ukraine, Russia, US and Britain signed the Budapest Memorandum, guaranteeing that none of the other signatories would mess with the sovereignty of Ukraine.\u00a0 Hmmmm, so much for that!<\/h5>\n
\"Sasha
The Mig 29 arrives in Goodland, Kansas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The Ukraine has been in the news lately.\u00a0 Many of us have been following that country\u2019s divisive struggle to become free of the yoke of dictatorship.\u00a0 It\u2019s especially close to my heart because I have friends there.\u00a0 They are friends with whom I\u2019ve lost track and I really hope they are doing okay.\u00a0 Most are Mig pilots. One is a young woman who displayed a talent for flying before she left Oregon and returned to Ukraine.<\/h5>\n
How did an airshow comedy pilot become pals with a bunch of Mig pilots?<\/h5>\n
Back in 1992, I did an airshow in the little town of Goodland, Kansas.\u00a0 It was just a typical little country airshow except for one little detail.\u00a0 Thanks mainly to the efforts of a determined Air Show Producer, Larry Dickey, The Ukrainian Air Force was making it\u2019s first appearance at a U.S. air show with the legendary Mig 29.<\/h5>\n
I was standing on the ramp when the Migs arrived. It was, in so many ways, such an historic , yet strangely unheralded event.\u00a0 They\u2019d come through Canada.\u00a0 One was a two-place and was equipped with the first Garmin GPS I\u2019d ever seen, along with a Canadian translator from the Ukrainian Flying Club in Canada, who occupied that spare seat (that lucky sunavacheesemaker).\u00a0 The Migs had been hurriedly painted with Ukrainian colors and the trident-looking symbol of Ukraine.\u00a0 It may have looked like it was painted with a broom but, by gawd, it wasn’t Soviet anymore!<\/h5>\n
The Ukrainians had no cash.\u00a0 Even \u201cThe Ducks\u201d (my airshow act) would take them to dinner, in spite of my always-broke status.\u00a0 At Goodland I decided that I would try to give every Ukrainian, crew and pilots alike, a flight in my Cub.\u00a0 Maybe in the back of my little clown-brain, I was hoping that I\u2019d get a ride in the Mig.\u00a0 I never got it.<\/h5>\n
\"Vlodimir<\/a>
We’re not even in the air yet, and I look worried already with Volodymyr at the controls of the Cub.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
I\u2019ll never forget Col. Volodymyr Kandaurov, who reminded me of Boris from the \u201cBoris and Natasha\u201d spy team featured in the \u201cBullwinkle\u201d cartoons.\u00a0 Volodymyr was one of the demonstration pilots.\u00a0 In his broken English he explained to me that I would check him out in my Cub and then he would solo it.\u00a0 In my even more broken Russian\/Ukrainian, I managed both to splutter \u201cNyet\u201d and \u201ctree peradrushka!\u201d (which I was told meant \u201cthree G\u2019s\u201d.\u00a0 It probably meant, \u201cGo nuts\u201d).\u00a0 The latter was the hard part.\u00a0 Ol\u2019 Volodymyr always wanted to pull about nine \u201cG\u201ds in my little Cub.\u00a0 Later, when in flight, I kept a light hold on the rear stick after saying \u201cyou\u2019ve got it\u201d to the Ukrainian.\u00a0 Visions of the Cub\u2019s wings folding up over our heads did enter my little mind.<\/h5>\n
\"Aleksandr<\/a>
Aleksandr Holovan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Col. Aleksander Holovan (\u201cSasha\u201d) was one of the demo pilots.\u00a0 With his movie star good looks, he was extremely popular.\u00a0 We took Sasha to dinner in St Louis.\u00a0 We had lobster.\u00a0 I don\u2019t believe I\u2019ve ever seen someone so totally slurp every bit of meat off a lobster!<\/h5>\n
It was in Oklahoma City where I became woozily (I just made up that word\u2026 it seemed appropriate) familiar with the Ukrainians\u2019 propensity for the consumption of alcohol.\u00a0 We sat in a bar at the hotel and when the bartender told the boys that it was closing time, they managed to communicate to him that he was to go ahead and lock the doors, then join us.\u00a0 He did and we proceeded to consume more vodka and whiskey.\u00a0 It may have been that same night that the Mig pilots dragged my intoxicated carcass to a spot under the balcony of my hotel room.\u00a0 As my then-wife witnessed the \u201cCyrano-esque\u201d debacle, I spouted poetry from Pushkin up to her.\u00a0 The giggling Ukrainians fed me the lines from the bushes out of site and I had absolutely no idea what I was saying (They told me it was Pushkin; it was probably obscene).\u00a0 After that, they dragged me off to the sauna where an attempt was made to sweat out all the alcohol.<\/h5>\n
The difference in cultures was a bit of a shock.\u00a0 Where a U.S. demo pilot might get a nod of approval or, at the most, a handshake at the completion of a routine, the Ukrainians greeted the just-landed demo pilot with embraces and kisses at the end of each flight.\u00a0 I\u2019d never had so much whisker burn in my sheltered, mono-cultural life.<\/h5>\n
\"Ukrainians<\/a>
The Ukrainian pilots demolish some lobsters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
At the risk of uttering a common thought, it occurred to me that if U.S. and Russian pilots were to embrace more often, there might be less of a chance of armed conflict.<\/h5>\n
\u00a0There was another difference I witnessed at an air show party at Oklahoma City.\u00a0 It was the difference between fighter pilots.\u00a0 A young F15 pilot was delighted to meet the Ukrainians.\u00a0 It was obvious that he was thinking about the fact that this was a chance to actually yak with someone with whom he could be locked in mortal combat.\u00a0 He was young and inexperienced.\u00a0 His equipment and training were probably far better than that of the average Russian air force pilots.\u00a0 The Migs were held together with baling wire and electrical tape.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0But the difference that most impressed me was the toughness of the pilots.\u00a0 \u201cBoris Badenov\u201d had the toughness edge over the young American pilot.\u00a0 With Volodymyr in the cockpit of the Mig 29, I\u2019m afraid my money would be on him.<\/h5>\n
\"Sasha<\/a>
Sasha and “Ace” in the cockpit of the Mig<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The Ukrainians helped with one of my long-term projects.\u00a0 I\u2019d been collecting pictures of \u201cAce, the Wonder Dog\u201d, my partner in the airshow comedy act, in various aircraft.\u00a0 Sasha brought the Border Collie into the cockpit of his Mig for a photo.<\/h5>\n
When I had a chance to wander around the Mig and examine it closely, one thing stood out.\u00a0 Evidently, the Russians hadn\u2019t adopted the use of the Philips screw head.\u00a0 All the visible screws on the Mig were straight slot.\u00a0 This may seem like a small thing, but it makes a difference when you have to drive a lot of the pesky little things and that straight blade of the screwdriver continues to slide out of the slot.<\/h5>\n
But regardless of those screws, the plane was a thing of beauty.\u00a0 I was taken once more with how so often these flying machines which are designed to wreak mayhem and death are so flippin\u2019 beautiful!\u00a0 Yet they are the products of militarism.\u00a0 Militarism is generally horrible and kills millions of people, not to mention all the suffering.\u00a0 Yet it brings us these absolutely lovely flying machines like the F-16 and the Mig 29.\u00a0 As much as I am fascinated by them and love their look, their sound, their performance\u2026 I would junk them all in favor of permanent peace.<\/h5>\n
As I recall the events of that \u201cUkrainian Summer\u201d, I realize that the dust has not cleared.\u00a0 This little article will be posted on the Tailwheeler\u2019s Journal well before the present conflict involving Ukraine, Crimea, the Russian Federation and the U.S. and its allies is over.<\/h5>\n
\"Alexandre<\/a>
Sasha at home in Ukraine a few years ago<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
When that dust does finally clear, we\u2019ll have to ask ourselves:\u00a0 Was this about people?\u00a0 How did all this nonsense affect the people of the Ukraine, the Crimea and, to a lesser extent, the people of the Russian Republic and the United States?\u00a0 Did the Ukrainians get their freedom? \u00a0Did Russia succeed in gobbling up Crimea?\u00a0 Are the politicians on both sides satisfied that they all got their fifteen minutes of fame during their stupid speeches and press conferences?\u00a0 Will common sense and respect for the freedom of individuals ever become the norm in this world which we continue to try to destroy? Was German Chancellor Angela Merkel right; was Putin nuts?\u00a0 What has happened to Sasha, Nikki, Volodymyr, Juli and all my other Ukrainian friends?\u00a0Maybe someday I’ll find out.\u00a0 In the meantime, I\u2019ll have fond memories of my Ukrainian summer.\u00a0 And this story with its pictures will last a few years on the internet.<\/h5>\n
Happy Swooping, my friends.<\/h5>\n

Brian<\/em><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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