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Russian pilot MAJ Roman Filipov saved the last round for himself rather than be captured
A Russian pilot who was forced to eject from his stricken jet over Syria killed himself with a grenade to avoid being captured by jihadists ‐ as he shouted, "This is for our guys!"Maj. Roman Filipov’s Sukhoi 25SM fighter was struck by a portable surface-to-air missile as he flew low over opposition-held Idlib in northwestern Syria, according to the UK’s Telegraph. The 33-year-old pilot managed to keep the plane in the air briefly but was forced to bail out after one of the engines failed and his flight controls became unresponsive. Extremists from al Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham opened fire on him after his parachute opened, but he made it to the ground and shot two of the rebels with his Stechkin pistol, the Express reported. Dramatic video circulating in social media shows the fighters ducking as the gutsy aviator then shouts, "This is for our guys!" He then pulls the grenade’s pin and blows himself up. Filipov, from the eastern city of Vladivostok, was posthumously nominated for the Kremlin’s highest honor, the Hero of Russia, according to the Russian daily Kommersant. "Maj. Roman Filipov fought an unequal battle with his service weapon until the last minute of his life," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. Posted by: Besoeker 2018-02-06 |
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