After my eye-opening dry run sortie though the battlefield east of Sukhumi I’m abandoning my shot up Su-25T and taking a spare straight Su-25 back up the coast to return to my home base. My instructors back at home are anxious about my proximity to the front lines and I can hear the battle drawing every closer as enemy forces converge on the airfield. Time to get out of Dodge! Strapping into the Su-25 I notice some similarities with the –T but there are some significant differences as well.



As soon as I hit the electronics ON switch the gyros start spinning up and I notice the threat receiver is chirping loudly in my ear. Someone in the area (friend our foe?) must be using their radar.



Another pilot will be ferrying out another Su-25 and he is still in his hardened aircraft shelter as maintenance finishes up some final items on his aircraft.



Meanwhile I get my engines started and prepare to roll forward toward the departure runway. The last of the men remaining at the base are due to be evacuated shortly after our departure in the IL-76 cargo aircraft further down the ramp.



As I start moving forward I hear a muffled “crump-crump-crump-crump” and stare with my mouth open as a line of explosions rips across the airfield from north to south.



Holy crap! Air raid! Air raid! Looking up through my canopy I can see the lone Tu-95 bomber screaming across the airfield at several hundred meters. Obviously the anti-aircraft defenses around the airfield have already been dismantled or abandoned.





Cont…