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We are sitting on the Yak-18T's wing. This "CCCP-44414's" engine has not yet entirely cooled off after an intensive flying shift, during which I have made two flights completely on my own. I've just soloed!

The day you are making your first-ever solo, in many respects is a remarkable day for each and every pilot in any plane, in any country of the world. And I hope it will be so for a long time on.

For most of us, in the far 1981, such a day was a pretty exciting day as well. Back in the 80's we had to manage this day in strict accord with one old Soviet Airmen Ritual, which was a must; a debt of honor for any airman - regardless of what aviation this man was - either military or civil.

A cadet, just landed after his solo, had to generously entertain every alive creature within a half mile radius by giving him/her ...cigarettes! Thanks to heaven, dogs and "soosliks" (local, gopher-like animals) were not counted.

OK, to distribute all your cigarette stock in a matter of a couple minutes was not too hard a task. The much more difficult business was the mission of getting these cigarettes, especially that of favorite brands, in time, by the right day.

We were camping at a remote grass airfield in a rural area, some 40 km from the town, with no opportunities for the use cars or commuter transport. Besides, there were strong customs and rules not allowing us to leave the camp whenever we would like to, without special permission, so we always tried to make all necessary cigarette orders in very good time.

Another concern of mine was about where to get good film to take some pictures for the memory of that day. Color printing and all related stuff such as films, color paper, developing chemicals were rather rare at the time. And no "1 hour Kodak" shops at all!

Somehow I managed to get a decent negative film of the East German brand - ORWO COLOR NC21. It cost an awesome 3.50 rubles! To compare, a roll of regular, black & white Soviet made film was then priced ten-fold lower - 0.35R.

One of our guys shot us settled on the Yak's wing with my old "Zorki-4" camera (one of the endless derivative replicas of the famous "Leica-1A"). Only months later could I order prints.

Sitting on the left in the picture is my instructor, Nicolai Tetyushin - non-smoker by the way. You can see how the picture has faded with age - but never the memory!