"MOONFISH"

He was born in Shepetivka, Khmelnytska Oblast. His father was a serviceman, and his mother was a teacher. In 2016, he graduated with honors from the Ivan Kozhedub Kharkiv Air Force University. He served in the 204th Sevastopol Tactical Aviation Brigade, rising from pilot to commander of a MiG-29 squadron. In September 2019, Oleksii Mes took part as an observer in an in-flight refueling of an F-15D Eagle fighter jet. He became the first among Ukrainian pilots to observe air-to-air refueling. With the start of the full-scale invasion, he became one of the symbols of the fight for Ukraine’s sky. Together with his brother-in-arms, “Juice,” he traveled to Washington in 2022 to convince the U.S. Congress to provide Ukraine with F-16s. They were believed. After a meeting in Washington with Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, Kinzinger introduced the Ukraine Fighter Pilots Act for consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives. After that, it became clear that Oleksii Mes would lead the first training group of pilots who began learning to fly the F-16 in Denmark in late summer 2023—and that he would become the first pilot to land an F-16 on Ukrainian soil. On 26 August 2024, “Moonfish” was killed while repelling the largest missile attack, flying an F-16. During his final sortie, he destroyed three cruise missiles and one drone. This was not a pilot error. Oleksii is survived by his parents, a sister, two brothers, a wife, and a daughter. He will forever remain the one who lifted Ukraine’s sky even higher.