The Missing Grey Wolf : The Air Tattoo 2022 airshow pays tribute to fallen Ukrainian pilot

FAIRFORD, UNITED KINGDOM-  Flashback to a hot, cloudy afternoon in July 2018: the sky is grey but a two-toned blue arrow dances above our heads. A Ukrainian Su-27 is performing in the first day of the Royal International Air Tattoo.

I raise my camera to take it ascending, full throttle, making an incredible noise that is almost music. The Flanker paints a beautiful scene while the crowd is astonished for the pure, raw power of the beast.

We all see it dancing for us, many can’t look away. Some walk, eat or play with their phones. It’s my first airshow and my first sight of a Flanker. I’m not one of those. Earlier that day I saw the other Su-27 at the platform and part of the support group and its crew. I was fascinated at them, just chatting below the wing.

At the time, I didn’t know that the pilot leading the Su-27 dance was Colonel Oleksandr «Grey Wolf» Oksanchenko, the Ukrainian Air Force Flanker display pilot between 2013 and 2018. He would retire in 2018 from flying duty but continued to be a part of the team as advisor until 2019.

The Flanker lands, deploying its chute. It’s done for the day. It’ll repeat its routine the rest of the Airshow, and it will participate in a few others. That day was my last. I felt thankful for seeing it dancing. I promised to go back to see it again someday.

Then, a pandemic hit the world and demo tours were halted. And when we all started to wake up from that dream, a well-known human desease came back to haunt us again: war.

Fast Forward to February 2022. Russia invades Ukraine. Colonel Oksanchenko didn’t even think about it for a minute and rejoined the Ukrainian Air Force. It was his time to act. He died in battle, shot down by an enemy S-400 battery.

Today, at RAF Fairford, there’s no Flanker in its spot. All available resources are engaged in Ukraine, fighting for freedom. But Grey Wolf is here, in a way. I’d swear that if you pay sufficient attention, you can still hear a Su-27 roaring the sky, dancing above our heads like a two-toned blue arrow.