By Valery Lipetsk, a regional center in Western Russia which was founded in 1703 as an ironworking center by Peter the Great and now has a population of half a million, is more than a footnote to the history of aviation.
Moran type aircraft was assembled here in 1916-1918. Ilya Muromets bombers, the pride of the imperial Russian air force, were stationed in Lipetsk in late 1918. In March, 1923, the city got an airforce regiment. The 2-d Soviet Airforce Academy opened in the same month. A year later it closed, but a German aviation school opened.
Lipetsk was in the headlines again in 1933 when the Higher Airforce Academy opened. During World War I Soviet pilots flew thousands of missions from the Lipetsk airfield. Only from June 1941 to May 1942 33 air regiments were formed in Lipetsk.
Since 1960 Lipetsk has been home to the Chkalov Center for Pilot Retraining, now commanded by Major General Alexander Kharchevsky.
The center has one air regiment with four squadrons: Su-27, MiG-29, Su-24 and Su-25. Moreover, Lipetsk is also a base for roughly 400 MiG-23 and MiG-27 moved up into another place from disbanded regiments or coming from Germany as a staff of 402 regiment. Therefore, the center disposes of all types of aircraft used by the Russian front aviation.
This center is dealing with military training of pilots, methodical accompaniment of all types of attack planes, studying of fly navigation technology, battle application, working out tactics, with the extension of possibilities for the adopted aviation technology.
The air regiment in Lipetsk can be rated as one of the most efficient units in the Russian air force: the pilots fly 40 hours a year. This is some 5 times less than what NATO pilots fly, but still more than the Russian average. The planes, too, are in good shape, despite poor financing.
Still, many military analysts say the Lipetsk pilots are the best in the world. Some of them, including Commander Alexander Kharchevsky, were training recently in the United States and South Africa. The Russians won all the mock fights.
They were flying MiG-29s and Su-27s, the working horses of the Russian air force. But back in Lipetsk they have more modern Su-25Ts and MiG-29SMTs. It is in Lipetsk that new fighter jets are tested for battle readiness.
MiG-29SMT boasts dramatically improved avionics: two multifunctional liquid crystal displays which tell the pilot all he needs to know about the situation in the air and his flight parameters. What do the pilots think? A great plane, they say, and the displays look good.
A pity then that the serial production, due to minor design faults, will have to wait. A perfect MiG is a work in progress, still.
