Berkuts

Berkuts (Golden Eagel's)
300px Two Mi-28N from the Berkuti aerobatics team
Active	1992 to the present
Country	Russian Federation
Branch	Russian Air Force
Role	Aerobatic display team
Garrison/HQ	Torzhok aviation center Moscow Oblast, Russia
Colors	Black
Aircraft flown
Attack helicopter	6 Mil Mi-28

The Berkut's English: Golden eagle's) are a Soviet and later Russian aerobatic performance demonstrator team connected with the Russian Air Force.

History

The Berkuti were founded as a helicopter aerobatic team in 1992 and used first four, later six, Mil Mi-24 of different versions. The helicopters were painted in the usual camouflage colors, however, had at the height of the cockpit starting a lightning-shaped strip of over the whole length of the hull in the Russian national colors (White, Blue, Red). And on the righthand side in area of the cockpit the team emblem. The Berkuti changed to six Mil Mi-28N combat helicopter. On August 2, 2015 at the end of the flight demonstration at Ryazan a helicopter of the Berkuti teams crashed down and caught fire. A pilot could bring itself in Security, the other pilot was killed. The reason for failurewas seen in the hydraulic system and lead to a temporarily grounding of the whole Mi-28 fleet. However, already at the MAKS Airshow end of August 2015, the team showed again it's air display show. The three teams Berkuti, Russian Knights/Russkiye Vityazi and Swifts/Strizhi belong to the standard teams at the MAKS (air show) and the victory parades in Moscow.

See also

• Soviet air shows

External links

• Berkuti mit Mi-24 2007 in Monino
• Absturz Mi-28