Russia’s military offensive and invasion of Ukraine has now become a hot topic while the world is watching closely for that crisis. Meanwhile, a photo showing a fighter pilot was posted on a Facebook page on social media recently. It was attached with a claim stating that he was the “Ghost of Kyiv” who has shot down 6 Russian air jets during the recent battle between Ukraine-Russia. This photo was reacted with mixed comments and reshared by Facebook users who are speaking Khmer. However, after running a Google Reverse Image search, it proves that the photo above was altered.
This is about our investigation of this photo.
Social Media Claim
On February 27, 2022, one of the Facebook pages called SPK posted a photo showing a view of a fighter pilot and attached it with a claim that he was the pilot who shot down Russian planes up to six units in less than an hour. This man has also been named as “Ghost of Kyiv” in his claim.
This photo attached with the claim has been shared hundreds of times with many comments and reactions from Facebook users who are speaking Khmer.
The following is an image from the Facebook page above which translates into English as “He is becoming very famous on social media worldwide and is getting a lot of attention from professional flight coaches and fighter jets around the world because he alone can fly and drop up to 6 Russian planes in less than an hour. His plane was written with the ghost of Kyiv which means that he would die as a ghost in his city. One Giant Hero, one machine, 6 pieces for an hour, not normal. Quick name of the ghost shadow of Kyiv city”.
Fact Check
Fact Crescendo Cambodia had started to check and verify this photo directly by running a Google Reverse Image search, which brought us to the sources containing the following photos.
An exact photo of the same shape and form was found on the Air Force Times website published on October 18th, 2018. The same website has confirmed his real identity and displayed a photo of the fighter pilot under the name Seth Nehring as well. Lieutenant Colonel Seth Nehring is a fighter pilot with the California Air National Guard, 194th Fighter Squadron, 144th Fighter Wing, was killed in a training accident, on October 16, 2018, during “Clear Sky 2018,” in the Khmelnytskyi Region, Ukraine.
The following screenshot was captured from the website above written in English as “Capt. Seth Nehring prepares himself for a mission in an F-16 Fighting Falcon during Operation Cooperative Cope Thunder at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, in this July 2004 photo. Nehring was killed this week along with a Ukrainian pilot when a Su-27 aircraft crashed during an exercise in Ukraine”.
Air Force Times Link | Archived Link
The above case was also verified and checked by the AFP news agency on March 9. 2022. This website has confirmed and added in English that “Internet hoaxers falsely identify US comic Sam Hyde as Ghost of Kyiv”.
Sam Hyde is an American comedian, writer, performance artist, and actor. He co-created the sketch comedy group Million Dollar Extreme with Charles Carroll and Nick Rochefort. Hyde is known for his involvement in several public pranks and internet hoaxes.
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You may find the details of this fact-check in Khmer language here as well.
Conclusion
Fact Crescendo Cambodia found that the photo posted by the Facebook page above is false. This photo had been altered with US Comic, Sam Hyde, before posting on social media. It is factually Capt. Seth Nehring prepares himself for a mission in an F-16 Fighting Falcon during Operation Cooperative Cope Thunder at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska in July 2004.
