Turkish fighters in the number of eight units relocated to the Kubinka airfield on the afternoon of August 25. After a couple of hours the pilots began to fly in pairs to reconnoiter the terrain in order to be fully ready for the next day to fulfill the responsible mission of the top political leadership of the Republic of Turkey. And it consisted in demonstrating its flying skills to the many thousands of Russians gathered on the territory of the air base of the Russian Air Force in Kubinka outside Moscow.

The equipment and equipment required for flight operations were delivered to the temporary base in time by a Turkish Air Force Airbus A400M military transport aircraft. Note that the machine of this type for the first time in its history (first flight - 2009) landed on Russian territory. In addition, Turkish "trucks" C-130 Hercules flew to Kubinka and Vnukovo. Unlike the aforementioned "airbus", these vehicles, which are in service in many countries of the world, have repeatedly visited our airfields.

Plane is a legend

As for F-5, they are "officially" also in Russia "for the first time". True, fragments of aircraft of this type, shot down in the course of military operations in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, came to us back in Soviet times. Moreover, in the late seventies, military test pilots from Akhtubinsk (former Vladimirovka) tried out in the air fully combat-ready F-5E Tiger II - a gift of the brotherly Vietnamese people. Rapidly developing the offensive to the south, the victorious Vietnamese People's Army in 1975 seized the airfields of the Saigon regime with all aircraft-based aircraft. Red Vietnamese warriors received numerous trophies, including about a hundred F-5A / B Freedom Fighter fighters and an improved modification of the F-5E / F Tiger II ("Tiger 2").

Soon one of the tigers went by sea to the USSR. Soviet pilots even experienced maneuverable air battles against the MiG-21MF front-line fighters (according to other sources - MiG-21bis) and MiG-23M fighters. It turned out that the domestic technology had superiority on the verticals (the high thrust-to-weight ratio was affecting), but it was worse than the replica. The fact is that the wing of the "tiger" differed in developed mechanization and had an innovative for its time automatic socks and flaps, deflecting the aerodynamic surfaces at optimal angles, depending on the values ​​of the angle of attack, altitude and flight speed. By the way, American pilots made similar conclusions about the comparative efficiency of aircraft engineering. Those who served in the squadrons of Aggressor (on F-5E) and Red Eagles (purchased from Indonesia and Egypt MiG-17/21/23) considered the F-5 and MiG-21F-13 approximately equal.

Freedom Fighter is a fairly compact winged car: length 14.4 meters, wingspan 7.9 meters, wing area 17.3 square meters. Takeoff weight is given as 14700 pounds, in terms of - about 6700 kilograms. For comparison, let's imagine the figures for the MiG-21F-13, also developed and launched in the series at the turn of the late fifties - early sixties of the last century: 13.5 and 7.15 meters; 23 sq. meters and 7100 kilograms, respectively. The F-5A has two General Electric J85 engines each with a thrust of 13 kilonewtons (1330 kgps), and 19.1 kilonewtons (1950 kilograms) on the afterburner. They give to the freedom fighter the initial rate of climb at the ground of 175 meters per second, and accelerate it in a horizontal flight to the Mach number M = 1.3. MiG is equipped with one R-11F-300 thrust of 5740 kgps, shows an initial climb rate of 150 m / s and accelerates to a speed twice that of the sound one.

The pilots loved the F-5 for its simplicity and maneuverability. These vehicles were used quite often by the Air Force of different countries not only for the performance of combat missions, but also as training and aerobatics. The fact is that Freedom Fighter was created for export on the basis of the training T-38 Talon - the first in world history supersonic aircraft, specially developed for the advanced training of fighter pilots. Total in the period from 1959 to 1987gg. at a factory in the city of Hawthorne, California, 3,800 "TELONS", "Freedom Fighters" and "Tigers" were collected. A few hundred others similarly produced under license in Canada, Spain, Switzerland, Korea and Taiwan. As a result, a large family of aircraft was obtained, the distinguishing features of which were simplicity, compactness, low fuel consumption and, consequently, low operating costs.

From fighters to "pilots"

When in the beginning of the nineties of the last century the Air Forces of Turkey decided to create a group of aerobatics, the choice fell on Freedom Fighter. Compared with the heavy fighter F-4E Phantom II, which was the basis of the fleet of Turkish fighter aircraft, this type was much easier to operate, had a much smaller hourly fuel consumption, while demonstrating better stability and controllability.

At one time, the F-5 fleet of the Turkish Air Force numbered two hundred cars, most of which were purchased on the secondary market. Specific aircraft for the aerobatics squadron were first operated by the Netherlands Air Force. The Dutch replaced morally obsolete fighters with more modern F-16s in 1986-1991. Samples selected by the Turks had a relatively low incrustation and were designated NF-5A / B. They were built under the license of the American firm Northrop in Canada (a total circulation of 240 units, including 75NF-5A and 30 NF-5B for the Netherlands in the period 1969-1972).

Even by the standards of the sixties of the last century, the thrust-to-weight ratio of the NF-5 is small, which limits the fighter's capabilities when performing vertical figures. For this reason, the aircraft selected for the aerobatics group were finalized under the 1993 special program at the Eskişehir airbase by the local technical and operational unit (TOU). The first thing to do was to dismantle the mechanisms for the ejection of infrared traps and dipole reflectors (stalling missiles) and the built-in M39A2 guns along with the 20mm rounds. This allowed to reduce the harmful aerodynamic drag and reduce the weight of the aircraft. Measures were taken to preserve the position of the center of gravity and strengthen the structure.

Separate elements of airborne equipment were removed to improve the visibility from the cockpit and carried out work to improve controllability. The original survey mirrors were replaced with those of a larger size from the fighters "phantom", and added additional ones. Fuel tanks mounted at the ends of the wing were converted into tanks for the release of fumes. And, of course, the planes were repainted in bright colors of the national flag and inscribed with the inscriptions "Türk Hava Kuvvetleri", "Türk Yıldızları", etc. The works listed were initially conducted on one NF-5B and nine single NF-5A, returning them to the division in the summer of 1994.

Six years later, additional recording equipment and television cameras were installed on the aircraft, designed to help in the debriefing and improve the band's sagacity. As necessary, the aircraft with a large flying hours were replaced by less worn out from the Air Force stores of Turkey.

Staff

The Turkish Air Force squadron, based on the Türk Yıldızları aerobatics group ("Turkish stars"), was formed in 1992. For brevity, it is sometimes referred to as "acroteam". The personnel have the following tasks: to represent the Turkish Air Force at national and international forums; represent the Republic of Turkey abroad; make a worthy contribution to maintaining the effectiveness and discipline of the Armed Forces of Turkey; to strengthen the image of the Turkish Air Force among the population and to encourage the attention of the younger generation to the armed forces.

Giving written answers to the questions of the audience, the pilots of the group told them the following: "Aeronautical service gives a person the freedom to move freely in space. And it gives him an indescribable pleasure from overcoming barriers and going beyond the possible. "

For a quarter of a century the "stars" were visited by many countries of the world, and the number of their demonstrative speeches is approaching three hundred. Record attendance at the performance of the "Turkish stars" was registered on August 24, 2001, when the group was visiting Azerbaijan. Then the number of spectators who watched flights over Baku was estimated at about a million people. The motto of the Turkish "pilots": "Effective, efficient, reliable" (Effective, deterrent, credible). A festive performance dedicated to the 25th anniversary is planned for October 7, 2017, at the permanent base - Konya Havalimanı airbase.

Squadron commander is the girl Esra ÖZATAY. She graduated from the Turkish Air Force Academy in 1998, rose to the rank of major and headed the group for three years. All the other pilots are men who previously mastered the "phantoms" and F-16. Major Osman YIĞCI has a raid of 2700 hours, which is 350 more than the commander's. Captains Gökhan ESEN, Ali BALCI, Hasan KOCABAŞ, Mehmet Kemal KOYUNLUOĞLU and Ali Onur ADALI have raids from 1,800 to 2,750 hours each, and Senior Lieutenant Resul YILDIZ, who joined the group in 2016, 1,100 hours. In addition to the flight crew of eight pilots, the personnel of the squadron includes a speaker, seven security officers, and two other technical managers in charge of 36 mechanics.

Currently, the fleet is available for a group of ten NF-5A and six NF-5B, which provides the ability to select a particular vehicle, depending on the flight assignment. As a rule, in foreign "business trips", "acroteam" uses eight F-5 aircraft. That allows the "stars" to claim that they represent the only aerobatics group in the world, performing group figures in eight supersonic fighters.

Demonstration program

Weather conditions determine the choice of the demonstration program. "Turkish stars" have fulfilled three "characteristic packages" (display packages). "Altitude" - when the height of clouds exceeds three kilometers, "low" - when the value drops to 1300 meters and "flat" when the cloud cover is 300 meters. During the execution of maneuvers, the flight speed varies from 300 to 1000 km / h. The minimum distance between aircraft in group flight is only one meter. Maneuvering in a dense system is conducted with overloads of up to five units. And with the "solo" performance, the pilots perform maneuvers with overloads -3 ... + 7.33g, using the full range allowed by the developer and manufacturer of this type of aircraft.

Demonstrative performances of "Turkish stars" within the framework of the flight program of the third international forum ARMY-2017 were held on August 26 and 27 over the Kubinka airfield. We were lucky to observe Saturday flights. Then seven "fighters for freedom" climbed into the air, and the eighth car remained on the ground.

Before the flights, the mechanics brought into operation a special technique in the event of an emergency: towards the end of the strip, a braking machine with a stretched rope was placed ahead of time. If the braking parachute does not come out, the pilot activates the emergency release of the compact hook, which clings to the rope. By and large, this resembles the technology of landing on an aircraft carrier with an important amendment. Deck pilots do not use the parachute at all, and the hook is carried out not at the end of the landing area of ​​the deck, but closer to its beginning, at the point of contact of the deck with the wheels. Immediately let us know that to observe the braking machine in action Russian viewers could not: all landings were in normal mode.

In general, flights were made according to a pre-planned scenario, and viewers enjoyed viewing. Of course, it's not only the "Turkish stars", but also their colleagues from the aerobatics groups of the Russian Air Force Strizhi, Russian Knights, Falcons of Russia and Golden Eagles. In addition, Mi-35M, Ka-52, Mi-8AMT (Sh) and Mi-8MTV helicopters, Su-30SM Navy fighter aircraft, Yak-130 combat training aircraft and other aircraft took part in the dynamic displays of the ARMY-2017. . In a word, there was something to see! And those of the visitors who came to the Alabino training ground will remember for a long time the defeat of targets with missiles fired by the Mi-28N, Mi-35M and Ka-52 crews, as well as the water discharge by Il-76 four-engine aircraft and Mi-26 helicopter giants.

Were worthily

Even on such a "high-tech" background, the Turkish pilots performed with dignity, focusing on group debacle. Especially spectacular they performed synchronous barrels and slanting loops in the group. The audience also remembered the mirror and the oncoming aerobatics of course, which made me really worried about the fate of the pilots.

Demonstration performances were accompanied by announcer's comments, and he was assisted by the public relations officers of the Turkish Defense Ministry. They gave information about the maneuvers being carried out, the pilots of the squadron and their planes, and also addressed the Russians with the words of friendship.

In addition to photos and videos, the visitors of the ARMY-2017 could take with them also the goods with the symbols "Türk Yıldızları": jackets, T-shirts, hats, gloves, scarves, key rings and stickers, as well as scale models of the F-5A. All this abundance was sold at very affordable prices in a separate tent by Turkish soldiers and civilian employees. The tent with the raised flag of the Republic of Turkey was located in the center of the static platform of the airfield, behind the interceptor MiG-31BM.

In conclusion, we should especially note the fact that "Türk Yıldızları" has had a special honor - they became the first foreign aerobatics group to perform at the international forum ARMY. The glitter of "Turkish stars" added color to the event. We hope that at the next exhibitions organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense, the envoys of other countries of the world will perform among those who want to improve the climate of mutual trust and respect.