Vagif Gurbanov

In 2014, director Samir Kerimoglu made a film titled I'm back home about hijacking of a Su-25 fighter aircraft by Vagif Gurbanov.

Vagif Gurbanov (Azerbaijani: Vaqif Qurbanov; 1967, Baku, Azerbaijan SSR – 13 June 1992, Askeran, Azerbaijan) was a USSR Air Force officer during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War (1992) and the first military aviator of the independent Azerbaijani Armed Forces.

According to the amended plan, on April 8, 1992, Senior Lieutenant Gurbanov hijacked and transferred Su-25 military aircraft to Azerbaijan with the assistance of Azerbaijani fellow countrymen, technical aircraft Lieutenant Fuad Mammadov and Chief Airman Sergeant Akif Guliyev. It was the first fighter aircraft in the arsenal of the Azerbaijani Air Force. Chief technician Gulbudag Binyatov was also involved in the hijacking. The plane landed at Yevlakh civil airport.

Gurbanov's first aviation assignment was duty in Shusha, where he operated the first fighter aircraft of the Republic of Azerbaijan for the first time. On May 8, 1992 he began military flights over Shusha. Low-flying aircraft resulted in damage to aircraft engine. The new engine was purchased from the Georgian Vaziani Military Base, sponsored by Surat Huseynov. On May 8 and 9, Gurbanov's raid killed 30 soldiers of Armenian armed groups and wounded 120 of them. According to Armenians' allegations, all the dead were civilians.

On May 9, 1992, Vagif Gurbanov attacked an Armenian Yak-40 aircraft flying from Khankendi to Yerevan. Shooting down aircraft made a safe and emergency landing at Sisian airfield with no fatalities. All passengers were evacuated safely and the plane was completely ignited. The fire completely destroyed the aircraft.

On June 13, 1992, Vagif conducted three combat flights in the Aghdara-Goranboy area. Around 4:00 - 5:00 pm, Gurbanov's Su-25 aircraft was shot down near Nakhichevanik-Askeran by an Armenian armed forces Shilka anti-aircraft gun. According to witnesses, Gurbanov parachuted from the aircraft, but the enemy fired a SA-14 missile at him from the ground. Battalion Commander Fred Asif's brother, Adalat Maharramov, stated that he saw Vagif being shot down and fired upon by the Armenians. Although Azerbaijani forces attacked to rescue Gurbanov, it was too late.

It was rumored that Gurbanov was actually killed or injured by a landmine. An intelligence team sent to that location returned empty-handed. According to another rumor, Vagif survived and was taken to Aghdam hospital and later to an unknown location. His friend Fuad Mammadov said that he was found wounded at Zabrat Airport. However, none of this information has been confirmed. An investigation was carried out at the instruction of Namig Abbasov, the chairman of the State Commission on Prisoners of War, Hostages and Missing Persons. But that didn't resolve the issue. As a last resort, family members and Mammadov consulted a psychic and fortune teller. No "visionary" has said that he died. n 1992, he was legally declared dead by Baku City Nizami District Court.

On April 20, 1991, he married Nazakat Gurbanova. The couple had a daughter: Sevinj. She is also a military officer like her dad.

Vagif Gurbanov, originally from Qovlar, Tovuz, Azerbaijan, was born in 1967 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

According to the preliminary plan, Su-25 aircraft on a training flight from the Sitalchay military airport of the CIS Air Force, located at the 80th dislocated air regiment, were to fly to Khojaly and bomb Khojaly Airport. Ministry of Internal Affairs official Akif Hajiyev promised Gurbanov he would be provided with documents under a different name and would be able to live under a new name following the mission. But Gurbanov did not consider this plan to be feasible as the ammunition on board during the training flight would not be sufficient for the mission.