Oleksii Mes (20 October 1993 – 26 August 2024) was a Ukrainian fighter pilot with the call sign "Moonfish" of the Air Force of the

Armed Forces of Ukraine , imports = , exports = , history = , ranks = Military ranks of Ukraine , country=Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine ( uk, Збро́йні си́ли Украї́ни), most commonly known ...

. He died when his F-16 crashed while repelling a Russian missile attack, according to the Ukrainian military.

Biography

Oeksii Mes was born in

Shepetivka Shepetivka ( uk, Шепеті́вка; pl, Szepetówka) is a city located on the Huska River in Khmelnytskyi Oblast (province) in western Ukraine. Shepetivka is the administrative center of Shepetivka Raion (district). It hosts the administrati ...

on 20 October 1993. As of June 2022, Moonfish was the commander of a squadron of Ukrainian

MiG-29 The Mikoyan MiG-29 (russian: Микоян МиГ-29; NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) is a twin-engine fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. Developed by the Mikoyan design bureau as an air superiority fighter during the 1970s, the Mi ...

fighters. In August 2023, Moonfish started a training course in the United Kingdom with plans to eventually fly an

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...

Advocacy efforts

In June 2022, Moonfish visited the US with another Ukrainian pilot, call sign Juice, to lobby for

s for Ukraine. They met with several US lawmakers and explained which modern weapons systems were needed most in Ukraine. Sean Penn accompanied the pilots in some of the meetings, to amplify their message. The pilots met with Adam Kinzinger in his office in Washington, D.C. As a result, Kinzinger introduced the Ukraine Fighter Pilots Act to the United States House of Representatives on 17 June 2022. The bill was cosponsored by other congressmembers.

F-16 involvement

After months of advocacy to ensure F-16s for Ukraine, Moonfish was among the first Ukrainian pilots to start F-16 training in the US. He gave an extensive interview to Ukrainian TV describing the process. In the fall of 2023, his training advanced from a simulator cockpit to actual F-16 airframes.

Death

On 26 August 2024, Moonfish was killed when his F-16 crashed while repelling a Russian aerial attack, according to the Ukrainian military. He was 30. A special commission from the Ministry of Defense has been established to determine the cause of the accident and is currently working in the area where the plane went down. Ukrainian lawmaker Maryana Bezuhla has claimed, "According to my information, the F-16 of Ukrainian pilot Oleksiy 'Moonfish' Mes was shot down by a Patriot anti-aircraft missile system due to discoordination between units".Voice of America (29 August 2024). "Zelenskyy fires Air Force chief following F-16 crash" https://www.voanews.com/a/zelenskyy-fires-air-force-chief-following-f-16-crash/7766016.html

References

External links