Craig Maas with Ukraine Air Force Mig-29 'Fulcrum' on display.
After 19 displays in Canada and USA, Russamerica Airshow Incorporated, which initiated the tour, and then disappeared, so the team and the liaison staff/escort pilots had to end the tour fending for themselves. The last show was on Sept 14, 1992 in Burlington, VT and the team and aircraft flew back to Ukraine on November 5, from Bangor Maine.
The Ukrainian ÒTridentsÓ tour had been accompanied by a Ukrainian delegation who watched the displays of US air demonstration squadrons, the ÒThunderbirdsÓ and the ÒBlue AngelsÓ and the Canadian ÒSnowbirdsÓ. Ukrainian Colonel Viktor Rososhansky was in that delegation and was impressed of the performance of these aerobatic teams and, as a result, he decided to create a similar team from Ukraine Air Force. It cost three years and lot of effort to convince the Ukrainian commanders that such a demonstration squadron was necessary both for the Ukrainian Air Force and for the Ukraine as a whole. He finally received permission to create a demonstration team and, in autumn of 1995, the ÒUkrainian FalconsÓ were formed at Kirovs'ke Air Base.
Photographed on July 25, 1992 by Bob Nelson.