Russian Helicopters Holding (part of Rostec) held a large-scale action "Immortal Regiment in the Sky" dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Victory. In different regions of the country – from Magadan to Arkhangelsk – 15 helicopters with portraits of pilots of the Great Patriotic War took to the sky. Among the machines were Mi-8, Mi-38 and the heavy Mi-26 – the world's largest production helicopter.
Many enterprises that produced these helicopters manufactured aircraft for the front during the war. For example, the Kazan Helicopter Plant assembled the legendary Po-2, and the Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant assembled La-5 and La-7 fighters. The main idea is to return the heroes to their element – the sky. Modern rotorcraft made it possible to connect generations.
The participation of the heroes' descendants gave special significance to the action. In one of the regions, a helicopter with a portrait of pilot Vasily Nikulin was piloted by his grandson. In Kazan, the son of Mikhail Devyatayev, who made a daring escape from German captivity in 1945, joined the flight on the Mi-8 of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Among other heroes whose images rose into the sky are Vasily Borisov (80 sorties, including the bombing of Berlin) and Nikolai Gulayev (57 personally shot down aircraft).
"Immortal Regiment in the Sky" not only preserves the memory of exploits, but also demonstrates the evolution and development of aviation.
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