29 heroes martyred while defending our sky - LIST

Country

14 February 2026, 13:15

On February 14, 1992, the Air Force of the National Army was established as a separate unit, and since then, this date has been celebrated as Air Force Day.

Air Force Day, celebrated today, is not only a holiday for one type of troops, but also a day of remembrance for our pilots who served in the skies of the Motherland and sacrificed their lives while defending those skies.

During the years of independence, the Azerbaijani Air Force has played a strategic role in the country's defense system. From the early years of the Karabakh conflict to the April battles of 2016, the 44-day Patriotic War, and subsequent military processes, military aviation actively participated in both combat operations and reconnaissance and air support missions.

During the period of independence, 29 of our military pilots attained martyrdom.

Modern.az reminds that in the Second Karabakh War, 4 of our military pilots - Abbas Gasimov, Khalid Gozalov, Ramiz Gasimov, Zaur Nudiraliev - heroically became martyrs.

On the first day and in the first minutes of the Second Karabakh War, Major of the Air Force, military pilot Abbas Gasimov, and Senior Lieutenant of the State Border Service, military pilot Khalid Gozalov, became martyrs in the skies of Karabakh.

It should be noted that Abbas Gasimov was born on March 17, 1986, in the Masis district of Zangibasar. Together with his family, he was deported from his native district by Armenians in November 1988.

Khalid Gozalov was born on November 4, 1996, in the village of Ashaghi Jurali, Bilasuvar district. He received the rank of senior lieutenant in 2019.

Abbas Gasimov and Khalid Gozalov, who sacrificed their lives for the Motherland, were posthumously awarded the "For the Motherland" medals and "For Service to the Motherland" orders.

Another martyr pilot of the Second Karabakh War is Ramiz Vagif oglu Gasimov. The Lieutenant Colonel of the Air Force was one of the first pilots who, in the first hours of the Patriotic War that began on September 27, 2020, destroyed strategically important targets of the Armenian Army in the Tartar-Madagiz-Talish directions of the front with a "Mi-17" attack helicopter armed with "SPIKE" long-range missiles.

After the destruction of military targets, the "Mi-17" attack helicopter piloted by Ramiz Gasimov was shot down by the Armenian Air Force in the direction of Azad Garagoyunlu village of Tartar district while returning.

Ramiz Gasimov immediately gave the order to "eject" from the helicopter to the other 2 crew members on board. He himself began to steer the "Mi-17" attack helicopter towards an empty field to prevent it from falling onto residential houses.

Although he ejected from the helicopter with a parachute at the last moment, he suffered a severe head injury. After remaining in a coma for 25 days, he died on October 22. He was granted martyr status for his bravery.

Zaur Nudiraliev is also a martyr of the Second Patriotic War. Our pilot was tasked with using new methods in "Su-25" attack aircraft during the Patriotic War that began on September 27.

Nudiraliev implemented a new method of dropping bombs using mathematical methods without using a sight. He also carried out the first launch of laser-guided bombs from a "Su-25" attack aircraft. Zaur Nudiraliev, who successfully completed 12 flights, died on October 4 when the "Su-25" attack aircraft he was piloting was shot down while approaching a target in the direction of Jabrayil district.

Zaur Nudiraliev is the only colonel in the history of the Azerbaijani Air Force to become a martyr. He is also the first pilot to perform a "fire ram" after 1941.