Lack of tanks, artillery and trained infantry can lose us the war against Russia, but only the Air Force can win it. Therefore our supreme effort must be to gain overwhelming mastery in the Air. – Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy to a small gathering of enthusiasts at the Tingalpa model aero club on 2 Jan 2023.
In an attempt to overcome the hysteria of war propaganda that we are being fed I had this intriguing chat with the current president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the local Tingalpa model aeroclub on a fly-in-fly-out visit by the very busy comedian cum hero of the world stage. To my surprise Volodymyr is a modest model aircraft enthusiast and took a moment off from the war with Vladimir Putin to visit some local talent at Tingalpa. His stay at nearby Lota was a brief reprieve from frozen ground in his homeland. The brave Ukrainian president brought with him a model of the pride of the Ukrainian air force a Sukhoi SU-27, a brilliant aircraft in its day conceived in the early 70s and first flown in the days following the American war in Vietnam.
In a short interview the Ukrainian president was surprisingly upbeat given that his countrymen face the prospect of being bombed back into the Stone Age.
The SU-27 has been the fighter of choice of the outer Mongolian People’s Republic and Republic of Vietnam who, like Zelenskyy, had been operating on a shoestring budget until the recent invasion by Russia. In his typically casual manner, Zelensky was wearing his Tom Cruise sunglasses and could well have been mistaken for the star of Top Gun. Volodymyr told a small crowd of cyclists that, despite Tom Cruise’s claims of superiority of the American FA-18, the SU 27 was a match for the best the Americans could put to the skies. He attributed much of the success of the Ukrainian air force to the aggressive tactics of his pilots and their willingness to fly close to the ground to avoid Russian radar.
Comrade Zelenskyy proved his point to the local model aircraft fraternity by putting the SU – 27 through its paces near Tingalpa Creek. He said that the aircraft was relatively cheap costing him only 5000 rubles and can be bought at any Dick Smith store in Australia. Dick Smith, who is a passionate supporter of the work being done by the Ukrainian President, said that he admired Zelenskyy because he has ‘made-a-motza‘ since the war began.
Our dear Oleksandrovych has been flying model aircraft since nine years of age and, now 44 years of age, is an experienced operator of the joystick, cleverly monitoring his jets high rpms, altitude and fuel load. He is no johnny-cum-lately having worked his way up, making his own model aircraft out of balsa wood and flying them with wire string. He finally graduated to petrol engines and now is quite capable in the use of the most sophisticated jets powered by high octane fuels. He did not merely go down to the Ukrainian equivalent of Dick Smiths and buy himself an electric powered model aeroplane and begin flying it the next day. For workplace health and safety reasons Zelenskyy always carries an approved fire extinguisher. I asked him what happens if the aircraft catches alight in flight and he replied ‘it doesn’t do that very often but the landing that follows is more like a controlled crash than a proper landing”. ‘Safety regulations mandate that I be on hand with the fire extinguisher should that unlikely event that occur’. He said.
I took the opportunity to ask pilot Zelensky the prospects of him winning the war against Russia.
In an unusually guarded moment the president responded by saying there are three scenarios that he is currently work-shopping with his generals, and they are:
- a Russian victory;
- a Ukrainian victory; and,
- a long drawn out stalemate.
Tackling scenario 1 first, the president said, should Ukraine lose the war, he would return to making a living in his former role as a comedian.
Should Ukraine win he would definitely continue with his lifelong hobby as a model aircraft enthusiast.
He said that scenario three was not really a possibility given the very high cost of diesel and the scarcity of transducers in the world. When asked to elaborate, he said that the Russia is one of the biggest producers of diesel in the world and that the ‘necessary sanctions on Russia had led to a high cost of diesel and heating fuel in Europe. He added that people were suffering and that he was looking for a game changer to accelerate victory’. He would not explain what that game changer was, but I suspect his visit to the Tingalpa model aero club may have had an ulterior motive.
He said that, such was the shortage of transistors and microchips, neither Russia nor the Ukraine could find sufficient for a long drawn out conflict.
In his parting remarks he asked that all Australians re-double their efforts to supply as many weapons as possible for him to defeat the Russian invaders. Any citizen with automatic weapons or rocket grenade launchers on hand should send them immediately by fast post to Kyiv. When asked about the support he was getting from the Queensland Premier Anastacia Palaszczuk he said she had been fantastic and that he much appreciated the bushmaster armoured vehicles that been fabricated in Gympie and hope that the premier would be sending more soon.
When asked about food shortages in the Ukraine comrade Zelenskyy said ‘don’t you worry about that, we’ve got a war win.’
For those dubious of the credibility of this report WBT provides photographic and video evidence below.
Ian Curr
4PR – Voice of the People
3 Jan 2023