ABOVE:
The giant An-225
impressed 1990’s
spectators with its
manoeuvrability.
DENIS J. C ALVERTBELOW:
One of the true
air display greats,
Anatoly Kvotchur,
took his British
bow in 1988 — as
did the MiG-29.
The sight of Soviet
combat aircraft at
Farnborough had, it
need hardly be said,
been unthinkable
but a few years
before.
DENIS J. C ALVERT66 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com AEROPLANE JULY 2018RED ALERT
1988 saw Farnborough’s greatest
coup when it brought two Soviet
MiG-29s to the show for their first
appearance in the West. With their
arrival scheduled on the Tuesday
beforehand, a press call was hastily
arranged. Journos, TV cameras,
reporters and photographers converged
on Farnborough, lined up on the pan
— and waited. Then, two unfamiliar
shapes appeared on the horizon. They
proved to be a single-seat MiG-29 and
a two-seat MiG-29UB, which had
been met over the North Sea by two
RAF Tornado F3s of No 5 Squadron
and escorted through British airspace.FARNBOROUGH AT 70
There was an air of euphoria and
a sense of total unreality among all
those on the ground at Farnborough.
Yes, we knew the MiGs were
expected, but did anybody really
believe they were going to arrive? All
four aircraft landed, taxied in and
shut down, following which there
was an orgy of photography, official
welcomes, back-slapping and a desire
on the part of many to get a much
closer look at the ‘Fulcrums’.Some decried their construction
and finish, saying that the MiGs were
built to the standards of agricultural
machinery, but any doubts as to
their capability were dispelled by the
displays they gave almost every day
of Farnborough week, with Anatoly
Kvotchur generally flying the single-
seater and Roman Taskaev and Yuri
Ermakov (navigator) the two-seater.
Yes, the aircraft’s Tumansky R-33
turbojets emitted plenty of smoke, but
take-off was impressively short and
the engines made possible manoeuvres
that no Western type could match, at
least at the time. Early in its display,
it would go into a vertical climb, then
reduce engine power. The aircraft
became stationary before going into a
tailslide (when the airflow was passing
the wrong way through the engine)
and a hammerhead stall, remaining
under full pilot control throughout.
This manoeuvre — like the later ‘cobra’
— was dismissed by some Western
commentators as an airshow party
trick with no combat application, but
there is little doubt what many RAF
and USAF pilots would have answeredif asked what they would most like to
receive for Christmas 1988.
The 1990 show, by which time
the Soviet Union had established
itself as a Farnborough ‘regular’,
saw the return of two MiG-29s,
a pair of Sukhoi Su-27s and an
appearance by the Antonov An-225
Mriya. Nominally a civil aircraft and
registered CCCP-82060, the An-225
was built to support the Soviet space
programme, and mounting points
for the Buran ‘space shuttle’ could be
seen atop the fuselage. A six-engined
outgrowth of the An-124, it could
comfortably claim to be the world’s
largest aircraft. It flew at Farnborough,
albeit not every day, and demonstrated
impressive agility for such a large
beast in those pre-fly-by-wire times.
With an 88.4m wingspan, spectators
certainly got close to the aircraft —
and especially its wingtips — as it
made its take-offs and landings.The last decade’s displays have seen
the arrival at Farnborough of, and in
many cases displays by, such notable
types as the BA609 (now AW609)
tilt-rotor in 2008, the Pakistani/
Chinese JF-17 Thunder in 2010, a
Spanish Navy AV-8B in 2014 (the
first UK Harrier flying display of any
kind in the UK since 2010) and the
Brazilian Embraer KC-390 in 2016.
Worry not — true aerial spectacles
are still to be had in the depths of
Hampshire, but things have changed
a lot since the 1950s, when signboards
on the entry roads to the town
proudly proclaimed, ‘Farnborough
welcomes speed in the air,
care on the roads.’Any doubts as to the MiG-29s’ capability
were dispelled by the displays they gave almost
every day of Farnborough week
54-56,61-66_AM_Farnborough_July18_cc C.indd 66 04/06/2018 13:51