Recently I decided to write this story about my friend. He is an interesting person, he has seen a lot in his life and learned a lot in his life. Like all of us, he made mistakes, but his inherent intellectual honesty helped him draw the right conclusions from his mistakes. I'll start over.
My friend was born in Bessarabia, in the Odessa region, in an ordinary village. His parents are real workers. Dad worked all his life on the land, on the farm. According to my friend, he forever remembered his father's hands, large, beautiful and overworked. Mom warmed Tolya with her warmth, she took care of her son as best she could. How much love parents have invested in Tolya, only the Almighty knows. Tolya has a younger brother Sergei. Tolya loved his parents very much, who helped him to get on his feet at the beginning of his life, but he achieved everything in his life on his own.
Childhood was very intense, living in the village, seeing the household, as they say from nutria, seeing the farm, animals Tolya gained practical experience from childhood, which helped him throughout his life. Like all boys, he was still that tomboy, and he painted fences and climbed fruit trees and a chestnut tree. The boys lived according to a special schedule, they clearly knew when and where to eat young, green peas. Where you can profit from ripe mulberries, who have ripe cherries or apricots. Of course, fishing with homemade fishing rods and small nets, where there was a patch on a patch. Detours of their territory skirmishes with the boys from the city. As the saying goes, “let our townsmen go…” this is not just a couple of words, this is a situation on the battlefield, in the difficult battles of youngsters.
Still, being a very young Tolya, he successfully ran in the transport available in his arsenal, he more than once rode horses, foals and even pigs. All types of such transport were mastered thoroughly. In his life, Tolya knows how to drive very cool cars. When you ride with him as a passenger, you feel safe. But all this is nothing compared to the goal he aspired to from his youth. And Tolya had a dream to become a pilot, a military pilot and fly this type of transport. He entered the Stavropol Higher Military Aviation School for Pilots and Navigators twice. Being a child from a simple, rural family, he was able to achieve his goal and not only enter, but also graduate with honors.
Tolya served his flight service in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, he flew the famous Su-27 for many years. This is a unique and best-of-its-kind military fighter aircraft. Like all young pilots, he liked to fool around a bit, as they say today, to break away to the fullest and the Su-27 allowed this in the skillful hands of the pilot. Tolya saw such beauties from a height of many thousands of kilometers that he sometimes still photographs them. He finished his service in the 90s, there was a reduction, and Tolya decided not to hold on to his place, giving it to younger pilots. His track record included hundreds of excellent assignments. There were emergency and non-standard situations. More than once or twice, Tolya was, as they say, on the verge of death. But the Almighty God kept my friend, for some important mission in life.
Tolya told many interesting stories, one of them is about a situation when, realizing that at that time the US Air Force military pilots were considered formally allies and there was a thaw in relations with the USSR, he allowed himself to approach the US Air Force reconnaissance aircraft with his Su-27. That earlier, just a few years ago, was regarded as a gross violation and a mistake. There was a team of at least 5 people on this plane, all of them kindly greeted Tolya with signs. My friend's intuition did not let him down, by the way, in one documentary about this miracle, the Su-27 aircraft has footage that was filmed from a US Air Force aircraft, the situation that my friend told about. The two year 1989, in the summer, for the first time, the Su-27 aircraft was at the Le Bourget exhibition. Such a story.
After serving half of his term, Tolya in Komsomolsk-on-Amur began entrepreneurial activity. In his spare time, he and his friend bought pork carcasses from local farmers and made real Ukrainian, homemade smoked sausage. Residents of Komsomolsk-on-Amur for the first time got the opportunity to eat such a wonderful, folk product. A lot of interesting things happened to my friend in life.
Being purposeful, possessing practical wisdom, Tolya mastered a lot and learned a lot. Being enterprising, courageous in making decisions, having a subtle flair, he was always successful, speaking in high terms and allegorically, they say about such people that they were “kissed by God”. But, for me, something else is important, Tolya is a true friend. He always comes to support and help when it is most needed. He is ready to sacrifice both time and effort for the sake of people in difficult times. His generous heart is open and he never turns a blind eye to the problems of others. You can’t tell everything, I’ll just say, he is a person with whom you feel calm and can be yourself. I am glad that I have such a good friend and comrade.