At last I loaded up a video which I took in last November during a visit to the Springbank airport. Then Butch Foster demonstrated engine start and run on their Yak-1. I remember I hardly reached a spot in the hangar where he worked, as he asked me: “Wanna hear some noise?”
Certainly, I didn’t mind, so we went out right away to make some noise! I bet you’ll notice, that just before he turned the key ON, he shouted out something ‘unintelligible’. In fact, it was a very important command, but it was said.. in Russian.Yes, “От винта!” (”Oht veentah“! - “Clear the prop area!”) - that’s what Butch had called out (and I properly replied to it 
) - is a standard command used since the beginning of aviation in Russia to warn all the people around to watch out, for the propeller is going to start spinning at any moment now.
As a matter of fact, over the time we have been knowing each other, Butch learned a few more Russian phrases. His favorite one was “НЕ СТАНОВИТЬСЯ!“, which means ‘Do not step on“, a placard they usually paint on the areas of the airplane surfaces that are not supposed to be stepped on.
But the longest Russian-language speech he ever made was his ‘request for shoulder insignia’ that we even put on the video to pass it over to ‘whom it may be a concern’
Butch asked me if I could get a pair of shoulder insignia (shoulder patches) for distinction the rank of the Soviet Air Force’s Lieutenant-Colonel or Major.
He considered putting on a mocked ’soviet fighter pilot uniform’ on some future ’special occasions’ of flying the Yak. I said: “Sure I can, but you have to put such a request personally, and in Russian, of course”. That was a joke, but Butch easily took a challenge, and we started rehearsing the request’s text. Yeah, we had a lot of fun.
Butch and Ron, his friend and a partner in this homebuild project, thought a touch of some ‘neat details’ would give the plane the more authentic look. And they even put a sort of ‘Russified versions’ of their names on boards
‘Подполковник Фостеров’, - as it would be in Russian
These two are the great enthusiasts of flying (and building!) ‘warbirds’. Yak-1 replica is their joint effort they began in 2000, and before it each of them already had a few accomplished projects ‘under the belt’. I’ll try to go and see how they are doing now.
So, the story will certainly
be continued..
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