5 апреля 1991 г. родилась пилотажная группа "Русские Витязи". (Для справки: "Витязь - в древней Руси отважный, доблестный воин" (Толковый словарь Ожегова)). Уже в сентябре "Витязи" вылетели в Великобританию. Далее были Малайзия, США, Франция, Голландия, Канада, Словакия, Норвегия, Бельгия, Люксембург, Австрия и Китай. Везде выступления "Русских Витязей" вызывали аплодисменты и неописуемый восторг зрителей... Нынешняя шестерка "Русских витязей" в составе Александра Личкуна, Владимира Ковальского, Сергея Климова, Владимира Букина, Игоря Ткаченко и Ивана Кирсанова на Су-27 в новой яркой окраске продолжает радовать своими выступлениями зрителей в России и за ее пределами. The Russian Knights aerobatic teamThe Russian Knights aerobatic team was created on 5 April 1991 and manned by the best pilots of the Kubinka Air Force base, who had fully mastered the piloting of the 4th generation Su-27 fighter. The team is organic to the Russian Air Force 237th Aircraft Demonstration Centre named after Air Force Marshal Ivan Kozhedub (Russian acronym - TsPAT). Across the world, aerobatic teams that fly sports and trainer aircraft or even light fighters are aplenty. The Russian Knights are unique owing to their being the only aerobatic team flying group aerobatics in heavy fighters. The average weight of the aircraft of the six-plane team totals about 150 t during the aerobatics, with the sum of their wingspan amounting to over 75 m. The Russian Knights made their foreign debut in September 1991 when they displayed their aerobatics programme in the United Kingdom for the first time. Since that time the Russian Knights have become regular participants of the major airshows all over the world. They visited Malaysia, USA, France, Holland, Canada, Slovakia, orway, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, and China. The Russian Knights' aerobatics is a true decoration of the MAKS Moscow international airshows held at the Gromov LII airfield in Zhukovsky. Little can rival the spectacular sight of supersonic aircraft group aerobatics. Aerobatics emerged almost simultaneously with aircraft themselves. Later, the best pilots in the world turned to formation flying. It is well known that the heavier the aircraft, the harder it is controlling it as part of the team. However, the unique performances of the Su-27 added new momentum to the sophistication of aerobatics. Coupled with the superior flying skills of the Kubinka aces, the performance of the Su-27 turns the Russian Knights' flying into a breathtaking show
