Ukraine II (2018)

Ukraine II 2018

In July/August 2018, 4Aviation was able to join a group of international journalists to visit several facilities of the Ukrainian armed forces and government agencies. The representatives of 4Aviation regularly attend press days and press tours to report on the units for future publications. Obtaining access to these facilities, with the intention to write some articles, is always a time consuming and final permission is only given at the last minute.

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29/30 July 2018

The first participants arrived at Kiev-Borispol airport on Sunday 29 July and spent the night in a nearby hotel.

The rest of the 4Aviation group arrived on Monday 30 July and the first visit was to the huge State Aviation Museum near/at Zhulyany airport. The sun was shining brightly and with museum opening up especially for the group (as it is normally closed on Monday), there was no problem at all capturing the brilliant collection. In the evening we moved to a different hotel in Kiev, more conveniently located to meet up with the rest of the photographers visiting this week.

31 July 2018

On Tuesday (31 July) we had a visit confirmed to Nezhyn in the morning. At Nezhyn the Ukrainian Ministry of Emergency Situations has one of its bases. The organisation has quite an extensive fleet of aircraft. We were able to see and capture the various types; An-26, An-30, An-32P, EC135, Mi-8 and Mi-9.
In the afternoon we said goodbye to our hosts and drove towards Poltava. We ended up in a hotel close to Poltava, that appeared to be part of a beer brewing company. The brewery was next to the hotel. Nice!

1 August 2018

It was August already (Wednesday 1 August to be precise) when we reported at the gate of Poltava in the morning. The first stop was a visit to the long range aviation museum. Their collection of bombers is very impressive, with many B’s being present (Blinder, Bear, Blackjack, Backfire, Badger) alongside other interesting aircraft. We were able to visit the Tu-160 and Tu-95.

We then moved to the other part of the air base, to witness the flying activities of the helicopter regiment that is also here. In the best possible weather we were able to capture an Mi-2, Mi-8 and Mi-24 doing their thing in the air.

In the afternoon we drove to Kharkov-Korotych airfield. This place has some nice preserved aircraft and there was an international skydiving event taking place. For this event, the air force should have sent an An-70 to support the parachute drops. Unfortunately this wasn’t there, but we still enjoyed spending some time here.

2 August 2018

After spending the night in Kharkov we drove the short distance between Kharkov and Chuguev on Thurday morning (2 August). Today we were welcomed at Chuguev, the main training base of the Ukrainian Air Force. While the sun was doing what it does best (shine) we were able to spend several hours on base, capturing the various flying activities of several L-39s and Mi-2s. In addition we had an An-26 visiting and captured a couple of aircraft types that didn’t fly. The base commander then invited us for lunch, which gave a very fine opportunity to thank the base for its hospitality.

By then we knew we were welcome at Kherson on Friday. Luckily they informed us that flying there was not supposed to start until later in the afternoon. It was about 600 kilometres from Chuguev to Kherson and the roads in this part of Ukraine are “not so very good”, to say the least. We decided to split the ride in two parts and covered the first part, to get to Zaporizja, on Thursday.

3/4/5 August 2018

After our night in Zaporizja we got up in time on Friday 3 August to be able to get to Kherson in time. We ended there in the early afternoon and were welcomed on base, still in glorious sunshine. We were able to capture various choppers on the ground before the flying activities started. When flying started, Mi-8s and Mi-24s, we were very close to the runway. The most interesting flight of the day was a formation of an Mi-8 with an Mi-24. The visit ended with capturing one of their Mi-2s during the Golden Hour.

We decided to spend the night in Kherson, before driving back to Kiev on Saturday (4 August). This was yet another long drive. But, the roads are a lot better here. We ended up near Kiev in time to be able to pay a quick visit to some city highlights, before returning to our hotel of the first night. We spent one more night here before returning home on Sunday 5 August, after yet another very interesting and fruitful visit to Ukraine!

Random feedback

It was not my first trip with 4Aviation. As before, I experienced this tour operator as highly professional, they know exactly the right spots where you can take the best pictures and, directions are preset-up in their GPS’s, resulting in no time loss to go around the air base. User friendly, because the tour leader is regularly consulting the participants where to go, and what to do. […] For me, it was also big fun to meet other friendly spotters and exchange experiences and ideas.

9 July 2023

Ukraine II 2018

Ukraine II 2018

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Ukraine II (2018)

Ukraine II 2018

Ukraine II 2018

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