MOSCOW, August 24 (AVN) - Air Force Commander Anatoly Kornukov met the US Air Force delegation led by Lieutenant General Thomas Keck, chief of the 8th Air Force army, at the long range aviation headquarters on Friday.
Keck thanked Kornukov for the possibility to see Russian planes and fly on them. He said he would remember those episodes for the rest of his life. According to Keck, he and the commander of the TU-22M3 Backfire plane managed to understand each other though they spoke in different langages. Hand language was used and the common mission accomplished, the US officer stressed.
Keck told Kornukov about his meeting with Lieutenant General Mikhail Oparin, commander of the 37th Air Force army, where the two men discussed prospects of developing co-operation between Russian and US long range aviation pilots.
Kornukov stressed that some crews of Russian and US strategic bombers were capable to control destinies of entire nations. "Such meetings are needed to help our pilots look at each other not only through the aircraft sight," he said.
Russian generals handed Keck memorial presents on the occasion of his 55th birthday.