The Sky Hussars (Russian: Небесные Гусары, Nebesnye Gusary, "Celestial Hussars") is an aerobatic team of aviation training flight crews of the Russian Air Force. It is formed on the basis of the 3rd Air Squadron of the 234th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment(GFAR) (Known in Russian as ЦПАТ ВВС России им. И. Н. Кожедуба, TsPAT VVS Rossii im. I. N. Kozheduba, "Aircraft Display Center of the Russian Air Force named after I. N. Kozhedub"), in 1989. The color scheme and the name of the team appeared on Su-25 aircraft in 1991. The Sky Hussars became one of the world's first aerobatic teams that are purely made up of ground-attack aircraft.
History
The Sky Hussars could trace its lineage from the 234th GFAR of Kubinka. Despite the fact that this regiment was a combat-ready squadron in the structure of the Air Force, aerobatic pilots had always been among the priorities. The Regiment, in full force, participated in parades held in Tushino Airfield. Pilots of the GFAR not only practiced tasks of aerobatic maneuvers, but also engaged in aerial and air-to-ground sorties. Their performance had been seen by a variety of delegations visiting Kubinka, including the military representatives from NATO. The load on the pilots skyrocketed as the regiment was to provide training flight personnel to the central part of the Air Force. A solution was found by the transferring the Regiment to the 4th Squadron. On March 4, 1969, the 234th GFAR was integrated into the 4th Squadron, which was granted the status of an aerobatic team on 7 June 1974. This date is considered the unofficial day of birth of The Sky Hussars. In fact, this 4th Squadron became the first Soviet aerobatic team operating military aircraft to be officially recognized. Pilots of the 4th Squadron flew MiG-21 and MiG-23s, in which they performed over 800 shows. The trend of reorganizing in the Armed Forces at the turn of the 1980s to the 1990s led to the fact that the regiment was again transferred to the 3rd Squadron, as one squadron was dissolved and the former 4th squadron went up to the 3rd. The personnel of the squadron performed in three different aircraft, varying per shift, the Su-17, Su-24 and the Su-25.
The pilots of the squadron performed around 2 to 3 shows per month, but the complexity of servicing three different types of aircraft led to the idea that it is necessary to leave the squadron the most promising export type, which was the Su-25. The choice fell on the Su-25 for its excellent strike capabilities and survivability in the War in Afghanistan.
The Su-17 and the Su-24s were transferred to other units, leaving the attack aircraft in Kubinka to be solely made up of Su-25s. Soon, by 1991, the first and second aerobatic teams, "Swifts" and "Russian Knights", and later The Sky Hussars were formed.
Personnel
The first composition included Aleksandr Gornov, Vladimir Galunenko, Aleksandr Bokach and Valery Kravtsov;
The second composition was made up of Aleksandr Smirnov, Aleksandr Gornov, Igor Tabunov, Gennadiy Avramenko, Vladimir Galunenko and Anatoly Arestov.
Parade formation in 1995 was made up of Valery Kravtsov, Aleksandr Smirnov, Aleksandr Gornov, Sergey Dolzhnikov, Gennadiy Avramenko, Takhir Khasanov and Yuri Zavolokin.
Features
The training of the Su-25 pilots of the 3rd Air Squadron began in April 1989. Evaluating of the flight characteristics of the aircraft, commander of the first squadron's commander, Lt. Col. Alexsandr Gornov noted that certain complex aerobatic maneuvers could be successfully performed given the skills of the pilots, although, by definition, the Su-25 was not originally designed to do air combat maneuvers.
The aircraft, without assistance in managing the course and pitch automatically, imposed heavy loads on controlling the aircraft, and the R-95Sh engines of the aircraft was never fitted with afterburners, therefore unable "to differ high-intake and high-torque". But in experienced hands, if the aircraft was unable to create miracles, then at least the maneuver could pretend to be elegant. Freed from the burden of combat aircraft performing loops and ascending barrels, the pilots began preparing the team in the formation of a rhombus. The Su-25 was never considered a platform for aerobatics from the very first moment, every design detail was contrary to aerial performance, instead full concentration was put on ground attack, far from aerobatics. Many advantages of the Su-25 was put into good use for its aerobatic capabilities nonetheless.