“The sky was their ultimate passion”

A bas relief panel commemorating Kostiantyn Mohylka and Dmytro Maiboroda, fallen two years ago in the ATO zone, was unveiled in Vinnytsia. The panel decorates the facade of the Vinnytsia Oblast Organization of the Association for Support of the Defense of Ukraine. In their young years both were members of the sport aviation club at the Volunteer Society for Cooperation with the Army, Aviation, and Fleet. They were one of the first to fly gliders and perform parachute jumps. The sky became their element, and later it took their lives.

Mohylko, commander of the Blue Path Air Squadron at the 15th Detached Transport Aviation Brigade of the Ukrainian Air Force, was killed above Sloviansk on June 6, 2014. His plane, An-30-B, was patrolling the city’s residential neighborhoods. When the terrorists hit the plane, Mohylko steered it outside Sloviansk. He preserved many civilian lives at the price of his own. On June 20, 2014 he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine.

Maiboroda, his good friend and fellow pilot, had 35 combat flights to the ATO zone. He was killed on July 14, 2014. The terrorists hit his plane in the air in Luhansk oblast. Maiboroda and his assistant Dmytro Shkarbun steered the aircraft till the very last moment, thanks to which the other crew members were able to bail out. He was awarded Hero of Ukraine on December 4, 2014. Posthumously as well.

“I knew both Kostiantyn and Dmytro very well, and I had 23 combat missions with Dmytro. When the terrorists hit our plane above Krasnodon, he ordered us to bail out. No one believed we would never see him again,” shares Serhii Hrebenev, crew member of An-26. “Two years passed, but it seems like it was yesterday. They were first-rate pilots. They took up missions which required more concentration and responsibility and which were too much for some others. These were real aces, flying with them was a pleasure. At four to six thousand meters they felt absolutely in their element.”

The honor of unveiling the panel was trusted to Viktor Kovalenko, head of the sport aviation club, and instructor Anatolii Kushnir. The bas relief was made by sculptor Anatolii Burdeiny.