Two Soviet military jet fighters landed in North America for the first time Monday, and one Soviet pilot said the event filled him with "a sense of joy."
"This is clearly another step in closer relations with the Soviet people," said Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, commander of military forces in Alaska, calling the Soviet visit "a historic event."Two Soviet Su-27 jet fighters and a gigantic Soviet An-225 transport plane landed at Elmendorf Air Force Base at the edge of Anchorage accompanied by eight Air Force F-15 jet fighters.
Monday was the first time the Su-27, the most advanced Soviet fighter, had landed in North America, McInerney said of the plane publicly unveiled for the first time in Europe last year and capable of unique maneuvers.
"This is their best fighter. It's a very impressive airplane," McInerney said. "It's equivalent to our F-15."
Monday was the second visit for the An-225, the world's largest aircraft and the only one of its kind.
The three planes, carrying 74 Soviet dignitaries, aircraft workers, flight crew and media, landed for a three-hour refueling stop, but Air Force officials transformed the event into a VIP affair and the Soviets ended up staying for nearly five hours.
Air Force F-15s, more accustomed to intercepting Soviet military planes on training missions, met the Soviets at the border, Capt. Monica Aloisio said.
Two F-15s escorting the An-225 to Elmendorf were dwarfed by the huge Soviet plane. The U.S. fighters looked tiny and insignificant flying alongside the six-engine monster that had waiting officials gaping.
"It'll look like the sky is getting dark, like an eclipse, when it comes in," McInerney quipped.
"I never thought I'd see anything to make a C-5 look small," Aloisio said. The C-5 is the largest U.S. plane.
Su-27 pilot Victor Pugachev said he felt a "sense of joy" when he crossed into U.S. airspace in the company of the F-15 fighters.
"It was a pleasure, over the Alaska wilds, to see other planes we consider friends," the Soviet pilot said. "We have flown together in the sky today. The only thing left is to exchange aircraft."
One of the American F-15 pilots, Capt. Steve Stoddard, who said he has intercepted Soviet military planes several times before, said at first he felt a little awkward escorting the Soviets into U.S. airspace, but then "it felt like a very significant event."
On the way in to Elmendorf, Stoddard said, the F-15s led the Su-27s, but then gave the Soviet fighters a chance to lead for a while, too.