Ihor V. Bedzai

Bedzyay Igor Volodymyrovich was born on July 20, 1972 in Mykolaiv, in the family of a locomotive engineer. He wanted to pilot fighter jets, but after passing the medical examination, he was only allowed to fly helicopters. In the summer of 1989, he entered the Syzran Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots. After graduating from the military institution of higher education in 1993 and obtaining the qualification of a pilot-engineer, he expressed a desire to serve in his native Ukraine. He was assigned to the 555th Anti-Submarine Mixed Aviation Regiment, which was based in Ochakiv. In 2004, he was transferred to the 10th Naval Aviation Brigade, which was based in Crimea. He held the position of helicopter squadron commander, and later squadron commander. He participated in the "Sea Breeze-2014" exercises. After the death of the commander of the 10th Naval Aviation Brigade in March 2014, he took over the military unit. In March 2014, thanks to Colonel Igor Bedzyay, Ukrainian aviation equipment was redeployed from the Saky airfield blocked by the Russians to Mykolaiv. During this time, four aircraft and five helicopters were transferred to the mainland. For 5 days, a pilot of the 10th Naval Aviation Brigade in civilian clothes took off another helicopter assigned to the flagship "Hetman Sahaidachny" and made a low-altitude flight to the mainland. The 10th Naval Aviation Brigade became the only unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine that managed to withdraw its combat equipment from the Crimea occupied by Russia. After the relocation to Mykolaiv, he commanded the brigade for 5 years. He created and arranged the infrastructure at the new location, and also carried out flights on Mi-8 and Mi-14 helicopters, including to the area of the ATO / OOS, where he delivered personnel and cargo. In 2019, he was transferred to the position of Deputy Commander of the Naval Forces of Ukraine for Aviation and moved to Odesa. At the time of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, he held the position of Deputy Commander for Aviation and Senior Pilot Inspector of the Naval Forces Command of Ukraine and personally flew to perform extremely difficult tasks. He died on May 7, 2022 during search and rescue operations in the area of the Danube estuary. Bedzyay's helicopter was attacked by the enemy Su-30 fighter, after two cannon bursts from the Russian aircraft, from which the Ukrainian Mi-14 evaded, the helicopter was hit by an R-73 guided missile launched from the same aircraft, and it crashed on the territory of the Odesa region. On May 11, 2022, he was buried with full honors in Mykolaiv, at the Mishkovsky cemetery.