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March 4, 1954 (71 years ago) was the birthday of the commander of the 57th mixed naval division of the Northern Fleet Air Force (from November 1994 to April 1998), deputy commander of the Naval Aviation of the Russian Navy for flight training (from 2000 to August 2001), Honored Military Pilot of the Russian Federation, Military Pilot-Sniper, Hero of the Russian Federation, Major General Timur Avtandilovich Apakidze. He is one of my most respected men that have ever spread their wings in the clouds. A true idol. Here is my small tribute to him. Born March 4, 1954 in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR (now Georgia). Georgian. At the age of one, he moved with his mother to the hero city of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), where he grew up and attended school until the 8th grade. Beginning of a military career. In 1971, on the eve of graduating from the Leningrad Nakhimov Naval School, he sent a telegram to the Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Navy with a request, as an exception, to send him to the Yeisk Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots (EVVAUL) named after V. M. Komarov and gave a commitment to return to the fleet, was supported by the head of the school, V. G. Bakarjiev, and received the consent of Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union S. G. Gorshkov.null In 1975, after graduating from the Evvaul, Lieutenant T. A. Apakidze was sent to the Baltic Fleet as a pilot of the Separate Guards Naval Assault Aviation Regiment (Su-17M). By 1983, he was deputy commander of the Separate Guards Naval Assault Aviation Regiment. Service in the 100th Naval Fighter Regiment In 1986, he graduated from the A. A. Grechko Naval Academy and was appointed commander of the 100th Naval Fighter Regiment of the Naval Aviation Center (base airfield - Saki, Crimea), and later the head of the Center. On July 11, 1991, one of the first serial Su-27K-T-10K-8 was lost due to a failure of the remote control system. Apakidze, who was piloting it, ejected. On September 26, 1991, he was the first Russian naval pilot to land on the deck of the heavy aircraft carrier Admiral Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza Kuznetsov on the first Russian serial carrier-based fighter Su-27K, which is now known as the Su-33. For this, in October 1991, he was nominated for the title Hero of the Soviet Union. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he played a key role in preserving the aircraft carrier Admiral Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza Kuznetsov in the Russian Navy. Due to the fact that the Ukrainian side could make claims on this ship, on December 1, 1991, it was urgently and secretly withdrawn from Sevastopol and transferred to the Northern Fleet. Along with him, about eighteen pilots and a hundred engineers and technicians from the 100th Regiment were transferred to the North. According to the pilots' recollections, "Apakidze had the idea of raising the regiment and taking it to Russia in its entirety. But when Kravchuk was shown on TV kissing Yeltsin in Yalta, he realized that he shouldn't let people down and become a hostage to corrupt politicians." When he was re-sworn to the new state of Ukraine, Apakidze refused to do so. Until June 1992, he served as the head of airborne fire and tactical training of the aviation regiment in the city of Saki, after which he was transferred to the Northern Fleet to the Severomorsk-3 military airfield and appointed head of airborne fire and tactical training - senior pilot of the mixed naval aviation division of the Northern Fleet Air Force. However, in those years, the Russian army did not have the funds to maintain carrier-based aviation, conduct training flights, build new aircraft, and personnel was being reduced. Under those conditions, Apakidze was tasked with landing aircraft on the deck, otherwise the aircraft carrier would have to share the fate of unfinished ships of the same class - go to the scrap yard. After graduating from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in 2000, Major General Apakidze was appointed Deputy Commander of the Navy Aviation. In total, he flew more than 3,000 hours on 13 types of aircraft. Apakidze has 300 landings on the deck of a cruiser in the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic and the North. He was one of the five pilots who mastered the world-famous "Pugachev's Cobra" and "Bell". He was one of the first among the Northern Fleet aviators to be awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation (August 17, 1995). Apakidze was the first of the combat pilots to land on the deck of the heavy aircraft carrier Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov on September 26, 1991. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992, the head of the VOTP (air fire and tactical training) - pilot of the 1063rd CBP (CA) of the city of Saki, Colonel T. A. Apakidze refused to take the oath of allegiance to Ukraine. He also refused the offer to lead the Georgian Air Force. He led a group of fighter pilots who achieved a transfer (with a demotion) from Crimea to the Northern Fleet. Timur Avtandilovich played a huge and important role in the development and preservation of naval aviation in Russia. A bust of the Hero of the Russian Federation, Major General T. A. Apakidze, was installed in the Museum of the Northern Fleet Air Force in the village of Safonovo. In 2018, the honorary proper name "Timur Apakidze" was assigned to the Su-33 fighter, tail number "88", from the 279th separate shipborne fighter Red Banner Smolensk Aviation Regiment named after twice Hero of the Soviet Union Boris Feoktistovich Safonov of the Northern Fleet Air Force. In 1975, after graduating from EVVAUL, Lieutenant Apakidze was sent to the Baltic Fleet as a pilot of the 846th Separate Guards Naval Assault Aviation Regiment (on Su-17M and Su-7U aircraft). By 1983 he was the deputy commander of an aviation regiment. After graduating from the Naval Academy, Apakidze headed the 100th Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 33rd Center for the Combat Use of Aviation of the Navy, where his qualities as an organizer and teacher were fully manifested. He himself selects pilots for the regiment. After two air accidents, he is demoted, but he continues to serve in the 1063rd Naval Aviation Combat Training Center, where he is caught by the collapse of the USSR. Independent Ukraine invites the pilots of the regiment to take the Ukrainian oath, and some officers agree to stand under the "zhovto-Blakyt" banners. But not Apakidze, who reacted extremely harshly: “I swore an oath to my homeland a long time ago. The military does not swear the second time ... ". Since March 1993, Timur Apakidze has been the deputy division commander. And from November 1994 to July 1998 - the commander of this unit. After graduating from the Academy of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces in 2000, Major General Timur Avtandilovich Apakidze was appointed Deputy Commander of Naval Aviation of the Russian Navy. He mastered the course of combat training in full. On September 26, 1991, naval aviation pilot T.A. Apakidze made the first landing of the first Russian carrier-based fighter SU-27 on the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov. Maj. General Apakidze was awarded the highest awards of the Motherland: orders “For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces” of the 3rd degree, “For Military Merit”. On August 17, 1995, Timur Avtandilovich Apakidze was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation for the courage and heroism shown during the testing and development of new aviation equipment. One of the most important videos that share a small glimpse of his life is this: Форсаж - Afterburner Here are some photos of '88 Red' before and the after the honorary naming.