"Doomsday Plane" defective?

Air show at Moscow's May 9 military parade canceled

Created: 05/10/2022 05:04

By: Markus Hofstetter

Air shows are part of military parades commemorating Russia's victory over Nazi Germany.

But these were canceled at short notice.

MOSCOW - The anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany will be celebrated in Russia on May 9 with nationwide military parades.

In Moscow, thousands of soldiers are marching across Red Square, followed by tanks, armored vehicles and rocket launchers.

Actually, there should also be an air show with 77 airplanes and helicopters at this year's parade in Moscow.

According to media reports, eight Mig-29 fighter jets were planned to form a "Z" in the sky as a symbol of the Ukraine conflict.

A successful dress rehearsal took place on May 7th.

Military parades in Russia on May 9: Air show in Moscow officially canceled due to the weather

But this part of the celebrations was canceled at short notice.

"The aerial part will not take place because of the weather," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the state news agency TASS on Monday.

The sky over Red Square was clear to cloudy during the parade.

There was no rain.

On the eve of the parade, according to information from the dpa, the director of the state weather service Gidrometzentr, Roman Wilfand, described the holding of the air show as likely.

Weather conditions are expected to permit, as cloud cover is more than 300 meters and chemicals can be used to blow clouds apart, he said.

Russia's "doomsday plane" model Ilyushin Il-80 over Moscow (archive photo).

© Mikhail Tereshchenko/Imago

Military parades in Russia on May 9: is the “doomsday plane” broken?

But

wants to know the real reason why the air show was canceled.

The portal reports, referring to insiders, that there was a defect in the so-called “doomsday plane” that was supposed to take part in the air show.

This is a special construction of the Ilyushin II-80, from which Russia's president can rule his country from the air in the event of a nuclear war.

The counterpart to this is the US President's Air Force One.

Military parades in Russia on May 9: Air shows also canceled in other cities

The air shows as part of the military parade in the Russian cities of St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Samara were officially canceled due to the weather.

Planned flights were also canceled in Russia's Far East, in the cities of Khabarovsk and Komsomolsk-am-Amur.

In the city of Volgograd, which was renamed Stalingrad for one day to mark the anniversary of the end of the World War, the Luftwaffe could be seen at the parade.