Show of force: 100th anniversary of the Russian Air Force mass flypast of 21 combat planes

September 2, 2012 Military Aviation

David Cenciotti

Even if some heavy formations of Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic bombers took part to the airshow held at Zhukovsky, Moscow, on Aug. 11 and 12, to celebrate in spectacular style the 100th anniversary of the Russian Air Force, one of the highlights of the event was the flypast of 21 aircraft, consisting of 5 Su-27s, 8 MiG-29s and 8 Su-25s.

Here’s the quite unusual formation depicting the number “100” in the skies over the Moscow region in a photograph shot by Tony Lovelock.

More pictures about the Russian airshow will be published in the next few days. Below just a teaser:

Image credit: The Aviationist’s Tony Lovelock

Russian Air Force to take part in next Red Flag exercise. Who’s gonna play the Aggressor role? (theaviationist.com)
Putin Promises to Boost Russian Air Force (abcnews.go.com)

About David Cenciotti

David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.