Ukraine - part 2 - Tony Cunnane's Life and Times

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Ukraine - part 2

All the photographs on this page were taken by the author and are (c) Tony Cunnane 1990

On the Saturday the weather was poor with a lot of low cloud and rain and so the Red Arrows could only perform a rolling display. Squadron Leader Mick George delivered the public commentary in Russian, his own translation of the Red Arrows Manager’s text. He travelled from Borispol to Chaika in a Soviet Mi-8 helicopter and was accompanied by Warrant Officer Fleckney who carried a large pile of Red Arrows Brochures, in English and Russian, plus stickers and other publicity material.

With the benefit of hindsight, we should have had the glossy brochure printed in Ukrainian rather than Russian but the public did not seem to mind.

The Soviets had not advertised the event in advance, for reasons best known to themselves, and so the crowds at Chaika were small, hundreds rather than thousands. In fact there were probably more casual observers at Borispol watching the Team take off and land than there were at Chaika. This was rather disappointing because, like any artists, the Red Arrows perform best when they have a large audience. However, those who were there were in raptures – they had never seen anything like it before. As the Red Arrows cleared off to the east, Squadron Leader George and Warrant Officer Fleckney were besieged by autograph hunters and souvenir-seekers.

Hoy and Riley flight planning at Borispol

Team Leader presents a gifts to our Russian interpreter

After the debriefing, the Red Arrows pilots met a group of MiG-29 fighter pilots who had been flown in from a nearby air force base and an interesting and lively question and answer session. Soomeone produced half a dozen Soviet caps - the image shows Red Leader, Air Marshal Mike Pilkington wearing theirs and looking rather bemused. Sadly we had no RAF uniform caps to give the Soviets in return.

The MIG pilots were interested in how the Red Arrows pilots are selected and they seemed very surprised that the RAF do not pay them extra money whilst they are serving with the Team! Although of course we did not know it then, we would meet several of those pilots the following year at Scampton when the Russian Knights aerobatic team visited Scampton.

That afternoon we were all taken for a cultural tour. Actually most of us would have preferred to have been left to our own devices to wander around the city centre shopping for souvenirs. However, our hosts had laid on a special visit to a Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life on the south-western outskirts of Kiev. The museum was set in rolling, green countryside that could easily pass for England at first glance. Within these grounds were set over 200 rural farmhouses, barns, windmills and cottages representing all parts of the Ukraine from the Crimea to the Carpathian mountains. They were spread out along an 11 km trail of paths.

The buildings, and their very life-like interiors, showed Ukrainian life from the 15th Century to the present time but in truth it was difficult to tell the difference, in spite of the valiant efforts of the Intourist guide and his pretty interpreter. Unfortunately, long before our group reached the end of the 11 km trail, we had broken up into many small groups and the guide and interpreter were eventually left talking to themselves. I found it rather sad and I felt rather guilty but I suppose this is an occupational hazard for guides everywhere.

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