Anatoly Kvochur

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Anatoly Kvochur
Анатолий Квочур
Kvochur in 2007
Born
Anatoly Nikolayevich Kvochur

(1952-04-16)16 April 1952
Mazurovka, Chernivtsi Raion, Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, USSR
Died15 April 2024(2024-04-15) (aged 71)
Zhukovsky, Moscow Oblast, Russia
AwardsHero of the Russian Federation (1992)
Aviation career
Rank Air Force Colonel
Signature

Anatoly Nikolayevich Kvochur (Russian: Анатолий Николаевич Квочур; 16 April 1952 – 15 April 2024) was a Soviet and Russian test pilot. He was awarded the awards Honoured Test Pilot of the USSR (1990) and Hero of the Russian Federation (1992).

Biography

Kvochur piloting a Sukhoi Su-30LL demonstrator along the runway at Zhangjiajie Hehua International Airport extremely close to the ground. (March 2006)

Anatoly Kvochur was born on 16 April 1952, in the village of Mazurovka, Mohyliv-Podilskyi in the Vinnytsia Oblast of Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.[1]

Kvochur studied at the V. M. Komarov Higher Military Flying School at Yeysk, graduating in 1973. He began service as a pilot in the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. He served for two years before he was discharged from the Soviet Armed Forces in 1977 with a recommendation for admittance to the Fedotov Test Pilot School. He graduated from the school in 1978. From 1978 to 1981 he worked as a test pilot at Komsomolsk-on-Amur, testing Su-17 aircraft and its modifications. He also studied further at the Moscow Aviation Institute, from whence he graduated in 1981.[2][3]

Kvochur was transferred to the Mikoyan Design Bureau where he participated in the testing of more than 80 types of aircraft, including MiG-21, MiG-23, MiG-27, MiG-29, MiG-31, as well as air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles.[1] He later appeared in numerous international air shows, showcasing Russian aircraft.

In 1995 Kvochur participated in a very long range flight demonstration of Su-27PD and Su-27PU Flankers featuring an inflight refueling probe. He led an aerobatic team, known as the Test Pilots Team (Lyotchiki-Ispyttahteli), which also included the pilots Vladimir Loginovsky and Alexander Garnaev.[4] Kvochur died on 15 April 2024, one day before his 72nd birthday.[5] He was buried at the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery on 17 April 2024.[6]

Paris Air Show incident

Kvochur was involved in an air show accident on 8 June 1989 at the Paris Air Show. He was flying a single-seater Mikoyan MiG-29 Fulcrum 'Blue 303', the latest fighter aircraft of the Soviet Union at the time. While executing a low-speed, high-angle attack portion of his routine,[7] a bird was sucked into the turbofan of his right engine (a bird strike), causing the engine to burst into flames. Kvochur immediately turned the remaining engine to full afterburner. However his speed, at 180 kilometres per hour (110 mph), was too slow to maintain stability on one engine. Despite his efforts, the stricken aircraft went into a steep dive. Kvochur managed to steer the MiG away from the crowd and eject 2.5 seconds before impact. He landed 30 metres (98 ft) away from the fireball of the crashed plane.[8] The incident was caught on video and is featured on the reality television series World's Most Amazing Videos[9][10] and in the film World War III where the footage is used as part of the fictional alternate universe World War III where Cold War tensions in 1989 lead to a war over East Germany in 1990 and the footage of Kvochur escaping his plane was to represent a Soviet pilot who was shot down during the war.

The aircraft Kvochur was in, had a Zvezda K-36D ejection seat at that time.[11] The same ejection seat also helped save the lives of the pilots of two MiG-29s that collided mid-air at the Royal International Air Tattoo four years later, on 24 July 1993,[12] and the pilot and navigator of a Sukhoi Su-30 that crashed from a tail-strike at the Paris Air Show on 12 June 1999 (which was also captured on video).[13][14]

Awards and recognition

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anatoly Kvochur.
  1. ^ a b "Kvochur Anatoly Nikolayevich". OKB MiG Design Bureau. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  2. ^ Peter Dancey (2011). Russian Test Pilot - Anatoli Kvochur A biography. Smashwords.
  3. ^ Знаменская, Наталья, ed. (2002). ШЛИ со временем [ShLI in Time] (in Russian) (2 ed.). Жуковский: ООО "Редакция газеты "Жуковские вести". p. 400.
  4. ^ "Sukhoi Su-30". Lyotno-Isslyedovatyelskij Institut imyeni Gromova (ЛИИ = LII). Archived from the original on 25 May 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
  5. ^ Умер испытатель сверхзвуковых самолетов, Герой России Анатолий Квочур (in Russian)
  6. ^ "В Жуковском проводят в последний путь Героя России Анатолия Квочура" [Farewell for Hero of Russia Anatoly Kvochur in Zhukovsky] (in Russian). 16 April 2024. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  7. ^ "Soviets Fall and Fly at the Paris Air Show". New Scientist. 122 (1669). Reed Business Information. 1989. ISSN 0262-4079. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
  8. ^ Johnson, Reuben (18 June 2007). "The Paris Air Show, Twenty Years On". The Weekly Standard. Retrieved 18 September 2009.
  9. ^ June 8, 1989 Mig-29 crash at Paris Air Show on YouTube
  10. ^ Испытатели. Выжить в катастрофе [Test pilots. Survive in an accident] (in Russian). Wings of Russia Studio.
  11. ^ Todor Ivanov Ginchev. "MiG-29 Fulcrum". tig.ludost.net/. Archived from the original on 31 August 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
  12. ^ "Pop Goes the Russian". Popular Science. 245 (6). Bonnier Corporation. 1993. ISSN 0161-7370. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
  13. ^ Stamford, Lincs., UK: Air Forces Monthly, Alan Dawes, "That Crash - at Le Bourget", August 1999, Number 137, pages 50-53.
  14. ^ 12 June 1999 Su-30MKI crash at Paris Air Show on YouTube
  15. ^ a b c Квочур Анатолий Николаевич 1952 (in Russian). TestPilot.ru. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  16. ^ Presidential Decree of 17 November 1992 № 1401
  17. ^ "Decree of the President of the Russian Federation on 17 November 1992 N 1401 "Awarding the title of Hero of the Russian Federation, test pilots Flight Research Institute named after Gromov" (Указ Президента РФ от 17 ноября 1992 г. N 1401 "О присвоении звания Героя Российской Федерации летчикам-испытателям Летно-исследовательского института имени М.М. Громова")" (in Russian). Правотека.ру. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
  18. ^ Presidential Decree of 15 January 1998 № 38
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