AEROFLOT SOVIET AIRLINES (GRAZDANSIJ WOZDUSH-NIYJ FLOT): U. S.S. R. (1932-1992). As the result of resolutions made at the 17th Congress of the All-Soviet Communist Party in early 1932, it is decided that the existing state carrier should be reorganized, expanded, and upgraded. On February 25, all Russian civil aviation comes under the control of the Chief Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet or Glavnoe Upravlenie Grazhdanskogo Vozdushnogo Flota. On March 25, the previous state airline, Dobroflot, is renamed Airline Administration Aeroflot or Upravlenie Vozdushniykh Soobshchenii Aeroflot, but it becomes known popularly by its trading name, Aeroflot Soviet Airlines.
Dobroflot Director General B. I. Baranov continues in office for the remainder of the year. Previous routes and services are maintained. The Soviet-German international service, Deutsche-Russische Luft-verkehrs, A. G. (Dereluft) is not affected; however, Aeroflot now becomes the Russian partner in that particular multinational enterprise. In the Far East north of Vladivostok during these 12 months, a multistop network is finished, linking Khabarovsk with Okha on Sakhalin Island. Late in the year, the airline requests a large number of Tupolev ANT-6s, known in their military version as the TB-3 bomber, as well as the civil G-2.
Flying a Kalinin K-5, A. I. Petrov flies the Tbilisi-Moscow route nonstop in one day for the first time on June 25, 1933. Piloted by A. S. Demchenko, the first of five new Savoia S-55P flying boats acquired for the Far Eastern division, departs Saesto Calende, Italy, for Sevastopol and will fly via Brindisi, Athens, Constantinople, and Odessa. The company fails to fulfill its goals as laid out by the First Five-Year Plan. Consequently, in July, a Political Directorate is established (under N. S. Berezin), alongside the geographical subdivisions. I. S. Unshlikht now succeeds B. I. Baranov as director general.
On August 1, scheduled one-day Moscow to Tbilisi K-5 service begins. Inspired by the Lockheed Orion, the first three Neman KhAI-1s are delivered later in the month and in September. During September, the Red Air Force finally agrees to allow the airline six G-2s, the civil version of the TB-3 bomber. Having reached Vladivostock from Sevastopol via Khabarovsk, Demchenko’s new S-55P makes a proving flight, between September 26 and October 16, from Vladivostock to Petropavlovsk, via Sakhalin.
On December 15, a Kalinin K-5 completes the airline’s transcontinental route, having flown from Irkutsk along the Trans-Siberian Railroad to Vladivostok, making thirteen stops along the way. Also, in the Far East during the year, five new Italian-made Savoia-Marchetti S-55P flying boats are placed in service. These begin weeklong summer multistop flights north around the Sea of Okhotsk from Khabarovsk to Petropavlovsk. Meanwhile, Aeroflot is also given responsibility for agricultural and survey work, as well as air transport. During the year, 61 Kalinin K-5s enter service, bringing the total in Aeroflot service to 131.
Progress in the latter area is rapid and by the close of 1934 routes encompass the width and breadth of the Soviet Union, although those to the east still primarily follow the transcontinental railway. Several examples of the Kharkov Aviation Institute’s KhAI-1 are reportedly placed into service on a Moscow to Tbilisi express service.
The trading organization Amtorg purchases two Consolidated Model 17AF Fleetsters from Pacific-Alaska Airways, a subsidiary of Pan American Airways (PAA) on February 22 for use in a search for the wrecked icebreaker Chelyuskin. Repainted in Aviaarktika colors, the two are turned over to pilots M. T. Slepnev and S. A. Levanevsky at Nome on March 24. En route to Siberia on March 29, the latter pilot crashes his aircraft at Kolyuchin Bay. Slepnev’s aircraft departs Nome on April 2 and is able to participate in the rescue mission.
On September 7, a special Central Asia unit is established under A. E. Golovanov and is equipped with three Tupolev ANT-6/G-2s; the first two of the refurbished ex-military TB-3 bombers arrives at Ashkhabad from Moscow ten days later, followed by the third at month’s end. During the fourth quarter, the three planes haul 1,000 passengers and 1,400 tons of cargo. Their type is one of the first in Aeroflot service to employ female flight attendants.
The Laville ZIG-1 prototype of a twin-engine, low-wing monoplane transport designed by Frenchman Andre Laville is initially test flown at Moscow in the spring of 1935. On August 6, the first DC-2 is delivered, via the trading organization Amtorg, for evaluation and designer Boris Lisunov is sent to study for two years at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant in Santa Monica, California. An ANT-9, on August 31, opens the first Aeroflot international route to the West on a return service to Prague.
One of the five Savoia S-55Ps operating in the Far East is written off following a September crash. In the fall, I. F. Tkachev succeeds I. S. Un-shlikht as director general and, in October, it is reported that the carrier has 90 of its principal airliner, the Kalinin K-5, in service, along with 48 Tupolev ANT-9s, 8 new Neman KhAI-1s and 95 Putilov Stal’-2s; 5 G-2s are also in use in Siberia, Central Asia, and Transcaucasia. The ZIG-1 prototype is lost in a November 29 Moscow test (five dead); a second prototype will be more successful. During the year, the VAU GA, Higher College of Training for Civil Aviation, is established at Bataisk.
A total of 111,000 passengers and 11,000 tons of mail/freight are transported on the year.
By 1936, Aeroflot’s administrative structure has grown to include 12 regional districts across the country: Azov-Black Sea, Caucasus, Central Asia, East Siberia, Far East, Moscow, North, Trans-Caucasus, Ukraine, Ural, Volga, and West Siberia. The new VAU GA is now transferred to Minerainie Voda.
Completed in February, the only Tupolev ANT-37bis (DB-2B) is turned over to the airline and christened Rodina. The DC-2 acquired the previous year makes several demonstration flights over Moscow on May 6; it is then dispatched on a roundtrip proving flight to Tbilisi and back. Upon its return, the American transport, together with two ANT-9s, open a new Moscow-Prague route on May 31. Also in May, regular Neman KhAI-1 service begins over the route from Moscow to Simferopol.
A Moscow-Minsk K-5 connection is opened on July 7. The first Antonov ANT-35 (PS-35) makes its maiden flight on August 26 and in September undertakes a record-breaking Moscow-Leningrad-Moscow flight in 3 hrs. 38 min. Meanwhile, on August 31, a new Moscow to Prague route is begun followed by a service to Sofia. During the year, a small number of Zavod Imenya Gorkova ZIG-1s or PS-89s are introduced on a route from Moscow to Simferopol, via Kharkov. The first Douglas DC-3 is delivered, via Cherbourg, during the last week of November.
The partners agree in early 1937 that the Deutsche-Russische Luftverkehrs, A. G. (Dereluft) arrangement should end; however, negotiations with Deutsche Lufthansa, A. G. (the German partner) are delayed. Aeroflot’s DC-2 is chartered by the joint carrier during the first quarter and three Consolidated Model 28-2 Catalina flying boats are ordered from the U. S. on February 28. Although the paperwork is not finished, Deutsche-Russische Luftverkehrs, A. G. (Deruluft) concludes its operations on March 31 and a direct Aeroflot multistop service to Berlin is now opened.
Piloting a K-5, A. Mureev flies from Leningrad to Moscow on May 5 in a record 3 hrs. 35 min. Another DC-3, one of 11 completed units to be acquired by August, arrives at Stockholm on June 27 and, on July 1, it joins two Antonov ANT-35s in launching regularly scheduled service on a new Moscow to Stockholm, via Riga, route. The Scandinavian service is reciprocal with ABA Swedish Airlines, A. B. On July 4, three newly converted G-2s (military TB-3s transformed to 14-passenger civil transports) enter service on a route from Moscow to Tashkent. Fifteen days later, an Administration for International Routes is set up.
The carrier’s only DC-2 is lost in a crash in Romania on August 6. Following the August 12 disappearance of the Tupolev DB-A flown by Soviet airmen Levanevsky and Levchenko during their polar flight to the U. S., Amtorg, the Russian trading organization, purchases an available Consolidated Model 28-1 Catalina on August 18 to assist in a search. Christened Cuba, the plane makes several search flights before being dismantled and shipped to New York by rail for transport to Leningrad by sea.
Later in the year, a “flying doctor” service of sorts is established as Aeroflot assumes responsibility for undertaking all air ambulance and medical supply work. The first of seven ZIG-1 (PS-89) 12-passenger transports is accepted and enters regularly scheduled service over the route from Moscow to Simferopol on October 20. In the same month, designer Andrei N. Tupolev is arrested and becomes a “non-person.” Consequently, his initials are removed from all of his designs and replaced with those of the State Aircraft Plant or Aircraft Production Company (Passazhirskii Samolet), with the ANT-9 transport, for example, quickly reborn as the PS-9 and the ANT-35 as the PS-35.
Built to Soviet specification as a pattern aircraft for license manufacture, the Martin M-156 (PS-30) Clipper is test flown in November. A slightly larger sister to the flying boats employed by Pan American Airways (PAA), the aircraft is flown to New York at year’s end. During the year, the company transports a total of 211,000 passengers, 36,000 tons of freight, and 9,000 tons of mail.
Vasily S. Molokov succeeds L. F. Tkachev as director general in 1938. Disassembled, the Martin 156 flying boat is shipped to Russia on the S. S. Southlure, which departs New York on January 20. Parts for two more Clippers are also supplied. The four Catalinas arrive early in the year, assembled, and provided to Aviaarktika in the north under the designation MP-7. A license is now received that allows manufacture of the Douglas DC-3 in Russia under the name PS-84 and, during the spring, a ZIG-1 (PS-89), piloted by S. Fokanov, makes a roundtrip flight across 11 Soviet republics.
Service is inaugurated to Cluj and Bucharest (Romania) and, on August 18, Director General Molokov, speaking at an “Aviation Day” meeting at Moscow, remarks on the previous year’s accomplishments. The next day, August 19, a PS-35 makes a forced landing near Stockholm. During the summer, a Polikarpov PR-5 and a ZIG-1 (PS-89) conduct a proving flight from Moscow to Irkutsk and back.
A third assembled DC-3 joins the earlier unit and the PS-35s on the Moscow-Riga-Stockholm frequency beginning in September. Moscow-Kiev PS-35 flights commence on November 16 and, late in the month, service is launched from Kiev to Mineral’nye Vody, via Rostov-on-Don. The Stockholm route is closed in December and the PS-35s are withdrawn from it.
In 1939, Aeroflot starts a new route to Sofia (Bulgaria) while the first PS-84 is test flown near Moscow in January-February. When the Stockholm route is reopened in May, two U. S.-made DC-3s are employed. Others of the thirteen American units to be received during the year fly from Moscow to Tbilisi, Ashabad, and Alma Ata and three are designated to launch a new route from Moscow to Baku, via Stalingrad. Five PS-35s commence service from Moscow to Simferopol during the spring. Since 1934, the number of civil TB-3s, known as G-2s, in company service has increased to 72, with many being employed as freighters.
As a result of the August Russo-German nonaggression pact, Soviet Red Army forces roll into Poland on September 17. Two LOT Polish Airlines, S. A. Lockheed Model 10A Electras are captured and turned over to Aeroflot. Later, on December 6, a joint air service is started with the Chinese; named Hamiata (Sino-Soviet Aviation Corporation) after its principal destinations, the line hosts flights between Alma Ata (now Almaty, Kasakhstan) and Hami, via Urumchi. Also during the month, a number of special units are created to support the Red Air Force in the Winter War with Finland. In the past four years, the number of Kalinin K-5s available has been reduced from 90 to just 33; however, 45 ANT-9s (PS-9s) remain on strength and three PS-30 Martin Clippers are on strength in the Far East.
Indigenously built PS-84s begin to supplant the ANT-9 in commercial service during 1940. On January 8, one makes a proving flight over the former Deruluft route to Berlin; regular flights over the route commence on January 21. In cooperation with ABA Swedish Airlines, A. B., flights begin to Moscow from Stockholm, via Riga and Velikie Luki and, on March 14, a DC-3 proving flight is made from Moscow to Sofia.
On May 6, the giant, six-engine ANT-20bis (PS-124) is placed into service on a route from Moscow to Mineral’nyye Vody while, next day, scheduled Kalinin K-5 flights commence from Kiev to Lvov in occupied Poland. PS-35s are assigned to the Lvov service on May 15 and to a new route from Moscow to Odessa. By July, five DC-3s are employed on the Stockholm-Moscow service.
Flown by A. Ovechkin and N. Derkunsky, a PS-30 Martin Clipper on July 8 inaugurates a new route from Khabarovsk to Petropavlovsk. Meanwhile, a single, small amphibian, the Schavrov Sch-7, is introduced to service communities along the Volga River between Saratov and Astrakhan. When Estonia is invaded in September, two Junkers Ju-52/3ms and a Lockheed Model 14H Super Electra are taken over; Latvia yields two de Havilland DH 89 Dragon Rapides, which also enter service.
The new Baltic directorate is established on October 29 and an MP-7 Catalina is provided to the Irkutsk directorate in December. The fleet now includes 26 DC-3/PS-84s, but only 1 PS-30 Martin Clipper is still available.
A total of 359,000 passengers and 45,000 tons of mail/freight are transported on the year over the airline’s 90,906-mile unduplicated route system. The work of the carrier’s pilots is detailed in the Mosfilm motion picture Workdays.
The Moscow-Stockholm route is not closed for this winter and, in January 1941, a sixth DC-3/PS-84 is assigned to the joint service with ABA Swedish Airlines, A. B. The Deutsche-Russische Luftverkehrs, A. G. (Dereluft) partnership is formally terminated on March 22. Germany invades on June 21 and all air routes west of Moscow are suspended, although those in the east continue. A DC-3/PS-84 from Stockholm is the last airliner to officially fly into Russian airspace this day. The airline is now placed directly under the People’s Commissariat for Defense and the Commander of the Red Army. Ever after, its organizational structure will be rigidly militaristic.
Between June 23-27, Aeroflot Soviet Airlines is divided into six Aviation Groups for Special Purposes (Aviagruppy Osobogo Naz-nacheniya-AGON GVF) based at Moscow, Kiev, Kharkov, Baltic, Be-lorussia, and the Southwest. Polar hero/Director General Molokov is made a major general and is placed in charge of military air transport. From Aeroflot are created air units, subordinate units, and detachments that are gradually entered into the organization of the Front air forces.
At the same time, Bykovo, Baltic, Black Sea, and Northern AGONs are set up to support the Soviet Navy. The VAU GA, Higher College of Training for Civil Aviation is evacuated from Minerainie Voda to Tashkent and is assigned to train military pilots.
On July 9, all AGON airline personnel are drafted into the military. Later, on July 27, a Moscow AGON PS-84 is attacked by German Me-109s while evacuating wounded from the front. As the plane spins out of control, flight engineer I. S. Bulkin is able to assume control from his comatose pilot and bring the heavily damaged plane to a safe landing. The 30 PS-84s of the Moscow AGON are ordered, as of September 20, to commence a regular supply run into besieged Leningrad.
On September 22, an Aeroflot unit drops paratroops behind enemy lines in cooperation with the Black Sea Fleet air force as part of a counterattack against German troops besieging Odessa. The Leningrad airlift begins on October 10 and is strongly resisted by the Luftwaffe. En route from the city five days later with a group of 38 women and children, the PS-84 piloted by I. N. Ovsyannikov is one of 12 intercepted by Nazi Messerschmitts. Ovsyannikov is wounded and his plane badly damaged; however, the hero flyer is able to land his burning aircraft on the shore of Lake Ladoga where most of its passengers escape.
Also in October, the Moscow AGON formed from Aeroflot and units of the Long-Range Bomber Force bring arms and men in from the regions of Teykovo and Yaroslavl. In three days, some 5,500 men and thirteen tons of supplies are delivered in support of the Bryansk Front, mostly by 30 PS-84s.
In 1941, during the fall-winter Battle of Moscow, the aircraft of Aeroflot fly 32,730 sorties in direct support of Russian forces, including the transport of 49,822 troops and 1,365 tons of supplies. In the Far East, the five Savoia-Marchetti S-55Ps are retired from the Petropavlovsk service. During the fall, many factories are moved from Moscow to a line behind the Ural Mountains. Among these is the Passazhirskii Samo-let Plant No. 84, which is relocated to Tashkent, where the Aviation Production Company will be named in honor of V. P. Ckalov and through 1945, will turn out a staggering 6,157 DC-3/PS-84s.
Between October 10 and December 25, the Moscow AGON flies 6,235 tons of supplies into besieged Leningrad and evacuates 50,000 people, including 13,208 wounded soldiers. Having been formed six months earlier, a North Caucasian AGON, to which all remaining Kalinin K-5s have been assigned, is responsible in November for the evacuation of over 1,000 wounded from Rostov-on-Don. It is recorded on December 31 that, since the outbreak of war, Aeroflot has lost 67 of its 177 PS-84s, including 42 to direct Luftwaffe action. In addition, the two Baltic-directorate Ju-52/3ms are destroyed.
All commercial services are suspended in 1942, except for the Siberian route and the Arctic services of Aviaarktika. In the Far East, the last PS-30 Martin Clipper completes almost two years of service on a route from Vladivostok to Petropavlovsk, via Khabarovsk.
On January 3-4, those Aeroflot units attached to the Western Front are assigned to drop paratroops behind enemy lines near Medyn. The first PS-84 is delivered from the Lisunov factory (which had been moved to Tashkent the previous autumn) on January 7. From January 18 to 31, some 3,600 paratroops are placed behind German lines in the Moscow area and during February, the entire 4th Parachute Corps, some 10,000 soldiers, are dropped in the enemy’s rear.
F. A. Astakhov now succeeds Vasily S. Molokov as director general and, later in the year, the Aeroflot elements in the Red Air Force are formed into two official units: the First Transport Aviation Group and the Special Communications Aviation Group. Beginning in May, all Aeroflot aircraft not painted in national livery and markings are so colored. Between June 21 and July 1, the airline makes 229 relief flights into the beleaguered Crimean city of Sevastopol at night; 218 tons of supplies are brought in and 2,162 persons, including 1,542 wounded, are removed. Also in July, the MP-7 Catalina, known as the Guba before its transfer to the Red Navy, is shot down by a German U-boat at Novaya Zemlya.
During the defensive phase of the Battle of Stalingrad beginning in August, air groups of Aeroflot and some AFLRO units transport military personnel, materiel, ammunition, and food to the ground troops and evacuate the wounded to the rear. In September, in honor of its production supervisor, the Soviet government orders all of its PS-84s (DC-3s) redesignated Lisunov Li-2s. In November, it is reported that, since July 1941, Aeroflot-manned Po-2s have rescued 580,000 individuals from the areas overrun by German troops, including 150,000 wounded soldiers. In the same period, Aeroflot units have flown 58,000 sorties in support of partisans, including 4,645 that involve landing behind enemy lines. During 1942 alone, the onetime civilian carrier transports more than 38,000 men and 6,400 tons of supplies.
At the end of February 1943, it is announced that, during the Battle of Stalingrad, Aeroflot units had flown more than 46,000 sorties, carrying out over 31,000 soldiers and delivering 2,587 tons of military cargo. The Soviet official history of the air war reports that hundreds of flyers, engineers, navigators, and mechanics were given orders and medals as a result. Fifteen Polikarpov Po-2-equipped Aeroflot units are now created; known as Detached Aviation Regiments, these perform air ambulance and communications directly in support of frontline divisions. During the year, the first of 700 Douglas C-47s (military DC-3 s) are received from Alaska via the Lend Lease Act and, as PS-84s, are assigned to a newly formed First Detached Aviation Division for service on the Central Front. They are joined by upwards of 80 Junkers Ju-52/3ms captured and repaired following the Battle of Stalingrad. During the year, Aeroflot units transport more than 390,000 men to the Fronts and to the partisans and more than 29,000 tons of varied cargo. For courage displayed in battle, the 2nd, 6th, and 7th Air Regiments are created guards units.
In the Far East during 1944, three Consolidated Catalina flying boats (license built as the GST MP-7) are placed in service, allowing withdrawal of the SP-30. Meanwhile, the Aeroflot-manned units of the Red Air Force continue their operations in the West. During January-February, the transport air regiments of Aeroflot operating in the Leningrad area are able to deliver 278 tons of equipment and 383 personnel to the partisans, while evacuating 740 men, including 592 seriously wounded guerrillas. Later in the spring, during the battle for the Karelian Isthmus, the 40th and 52nd Transport Regiments are able to complete 5,700 sorties, transport 6,100 soldiers, a large tonnage of supplies, and evacuate 2,503 wounded.
Meanwhile, during the White Russian operation conducted between July 5 and August 29, Aeroflot transport regiments fly 35,000 sorties and carry in excess of 43,000 men. The First Transport Aviation Group becomes the 10th Guards Aviation Division, one of six frontline transport groups creates since 1942 to be transformed into
Guards Aviation Divisions. On November 5, scheduled services are resumed to Bucharest and Sofia.
On March 6, 1945, the carrier reestablishes the prewar LOT Polish Airlines, equipping it with Li-2s. An Li-2, piloted by A. Taimetov, gains the honor of being the Soviet aircraft chosen to fly the German surrender documents to Moscow on May 9. Following this V-E Day flight, Aeroflot statisticians report that, since 1941, the airline has transported 2.3-million passengers (including 330,000 wounded) and 400,000 tons of supplies in 4.5-million hours of flight time. In terms just of support to partisans operating in the German rear, Aeroflot units have made more than 109,000 sorties, including 13,000 that ended in landings on airfields and landing strips held by guerrilla units. Over 17,000 tons of ammunition, guns, food, radio transmitters, medicine, mail, etc. are flown in and 83,000 people, mostly wounded, are evacuated.
Partial domestic commercial service is resumed late in the year. The VAU GA, Higher College of Training for Civil Aviation, is tasked with training the pilots required to fly Li-2s for Aeroflot’s regional departments.
Hereafter, Aeroflot, widely regarded in the West as a civilian airline, will, in fact, retain its military links. Most of its personnel will hold reserve or former military status, its director general will be a marshal in the Soviet Air Force, and most of its transports will continue to be designed and configured for military as well as civil purposes. In time of crisis, the entire fleet will be instantly at the disposal of the military.
Meanwhile, beginning in August, scheduled services are resumed to Prague, Warsaw, Vienna, and Berlin. Douglas DC-3s, Junkers Ju-52/3ms, and support are provided allowing the reformation of CSA Czechoslovak Airlines on September 14. Late in the year, the first of five fifty-fifty partnerships are entered into with the governments involved to reconstruct national airlines. The first such company established is TARS in Romania, set up as successor to the prewar Lares.
Under the fourth Five-Year Plan in 1946, Aeroflot is directed to reconstruct and to restore and then expand its pre-1941 network to 108,740 unduplicated miles, initially with Li-2s. A fleet of 15 Lend-Lease Douglas C-47s (Li-2s) and 3 captured Ju-52/3ms is turned over to the airline at Yakutsk by the Red Air Force and on March 1 is formed into the all-freight 14th Cargo Aircraft Group for use in support of further Siberian development. Scheduled flights are undertaken to Belgrade and Budapest.
On March 29, Maszvoiet is established at Budapest with Soviet technicians and Li-2s as successor to the prewar Malert. Air Marshal Fas-takov announces Aeroflot’s expansion and modernization program at an April 8 civil aviation conference held at Moscow. Malert services begin on October 15 with Russian-supplied Li-2s and Po-2s.
Li-2 Moscow-Helsinki service is launched on November 25. The joint-stock Justa is set up at Belgrade (Yugoslavia) late in the year as successor to the prewar Aeroput.
An Li-2 with 24 passengers is lost near Meshed, Iran, on December 4.
An additional joint partnership, B. V.S., is established at Sofia (Bulgaria) in early 1947 as successor to the prewar Aeroput. G. G. Baidukov succeeds F. A. Astakhov as director general. Employing Li-2s, service begins in April; the same month, Justa undertakes Li-2 operations.
B. V.S. commences domestic flights on June 29 with Soviet supplied Li-2s and Ju-52/3ms. The first Soviet postwar transport, the Ilyushin Il-12, enters limited Aeroflot service during the summer.
The Yugoslav-Soviet split in 1948 ends Aeroflot technical advice and partnership in Marshal Tito’s nation; however, the Communist coup in Czechoslovakia places Soviet aeronautical technicians into CSA Czechoslovak Airlines. Full-scale Il-12 services commence in late spring, beginning with a flight from Moscow to Tashkent on May 25. On September 23, the carrier begins ice reconnaissance flights as well as responsibility for forest-fire patrol and fire-fighting (“water-bombing”) operations. The Antonov An-2 biplane enters Aeroflot service late in the year and it remains in Russian service as this book goes to press.
G. F. Baidukov is succeeded by S. F. Zhavaronkov as director general in 1949. Large numbers of An-2s now begin to join the fleet, serving as a light transport, agricultural and meteorological workhorse, air ambulance, forest fire patrol, and water-bomber aircraft. An-2 support for the fishing industry also begins with over-water school reporting.
Some 200 Il-12s are now in service. Soviet domestic and East Block routes and frequencies are now expanded dramatically as new equipment becomes available. The VAU GA, Higher College of Training for Civil Aviation, is transferred from Tashkent to Ulyanovsk.
During 1950, the route network is stretched to 186,720 miles. Il-12s now make the nine-stop Moscow to Vladivostok run in 33 hrs. A total of 1.6-million passengers and 181,500 tons of mail/freight are transported. Additionally, 8.5-million acres of agricultural lands receive attention.
Operations continue apace in 1951. On March 26, 1952, it is reported that over 70 are killed when an Il-12 from Odessa collides with a military transport after landing at Tula Airport in the nation’s worst postwar air disaster to date.
In February 1953, Joseph Stalin, who has personally approved all major transport aircraft designs for decades, is shown the plans for the Tu-104 jetliner by Academician Tupolev; the adaptation of the Tu-16 Badger bomber will be the last aircraft approved by the Soviet dictator prior to his death.
En route to the Soviet Union from Lushun, China, on July 27, an Il-12 with 6 crew and 15 passengers is, unexplainably, located flying in an easterly direction, 35 mi. NE of Kanggye, North Korea, by patrolling USAF F-86 Sabres. Believing the airliner to be a transport “assigned to Communist Air Forces in China,” the fighters make one firing pass, causing the engines to burst into flame. The Ilyushin explodes and disintegrates, falling to earth in pieces. There are no survivors.
Mil Mi-1s, the first Soviet helicopters, join the fleet in May 1954 and are assigned to agricultural and air ambulance duties. On September 5, an agreement is signed with SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System) and Air France for Moscow to Stockholm and Moscow to Paris services. The Ilyushin Il-14P enters service on November 30, and thereafter is employed to inaugurate services to Stockholm and Paris.
Two fatal crashes are suffered during the last three days of the year; one near Moscow on December 29 (45 dead) and one following a takeoff failure from Irkutsk on December 31 (17 dead).
Il-14 flights to Peking (now Beijing) commence on January 1, 1955. Kiev to Tirana flights are started on February 1. The Tupolev Tu-104G Krasnyi Shapochka (Little Red Riding Hood) is flown in the Tushino Aviation Day event on July 3 by test pilot Yu. Alaskeyev; meanwhile, Aeroflot Capt. A. K. Starikov begins training flight crews for the new jetliner. The Little Red Riding Hood is, in fact, a demilitarized Tu-16G operated as Grazhdanskiy/Civil. En route from Stalingrad to Moscow on August 6, an Il-12, with 25 aboard, including a ten-woman Norwegian parliamentary delegation, crashes while landing at Voronezh, Ukraine; next day, the Russian government apologies to Norway and offers to pay indemnities. On August 15 service is inaugurated to the central Asian city of Karanganda.
A Moscow to Vienna Il-14 frequency begins on September 10. In exchange for a Helsinki-Moscow route for Finnair, Aeroflot is able to launch thrice-weekly flights to Finland on November 15. During the fall-winter season, Il-12 flight time on the Moscow-Irkutsk, via Sverdlovsk/ Novosibirsk, is cut to 24 hrs. 35 min.
Designed to provide pilots with turbojet operating experience, the Il-20 (a civil version of the Il-28 bomber) is introduced by Aeroflot in February 1956. Employed to fly matrices from Moscow to Novosibirsk, via Sverdlovsk, it will allow newspapers to be published in those cities at the same time as those in the nation’s capital. The first Russian passenger jetliner, the Tupolev Tu-104, flies a VIP Moscow to London (LHR) service on March 22. On August 24, the carrier signs an agreement with Pan American World Airways (1) whereby each company will honor the other’s passenger tickets and cargo documents.
Only the second in the world to enter regular airline service (after the de Havilland Comet), the Tu-104 begins scheduled Moscow-Irkutsk, via Omsk, operations on September 15. This, the world’s first sustained (short-haul) jetliner service, requires seven hours to complete the route instead of the 17 hrs. 50 min. previously needed by the carrier’s Il-14s. On October 12, Prague becomes the first foreign capital to be regularly served by Tu-104, followed by Peking in December. Meanwhile, beginning on October 18, one of the new jetliners flies from Moscow to Rangoon, via Tashkent and New Delhi.
P. F. Shigarev succeeds S. F. Zhavaronkov as director general in early 1957. Piloted by Ya. I. Vernikov and V. P. Vazin, the first An-10 Ukraina turboprop, a stretch of the twin-engine, piston-powered An-8, makes its maiden flight on March 7. Moscow-Sverdlovsk-Novosibirsk Tu-104 service is inaugurated on June 12. The second forthcoming new Aeroflot airliner of the year is initially test flown on July 4, the four-engine Ilyushin Il-18 turboprop piloted by V. K. Kokkinski.
Inbound from Riga to Copenhagen in dense fog on August 14, an Il-14P with 5 crew and 18 passengers, crashes into a factory chimney at Copenhagen, Denmark, and spins into the harbor; there are no survivors.
The first Tu-104A is unveiled on September 4 when a unit, transporting a group of Soviet delegates to a UN session, arrives at Wrightstown/ McGuire AFB, New York, following a 21 hr. 54 min. flight from Moscow, via Goose Bay. On September 14, the foreign minister and his staff arrive at New York aboard a Tu-104A, following an 18 hr. 30 min.-flight from Moscow, via Goose Bay. A Moscow-Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy Tu-104A proving flight is undertaken on October 24.
An Il-14P with 5 crew and 16 passengers must be written off following a bad landing at Helsinki on December 3; there are no fatalities. On December 7, Tu-104s open regularly scheduled service to Copenhagen.
The Irkutsk service is stretched to Khabarovsk in January 1958.
En route from Moscow to Peking (now Beijing) on February 19, a Tu-104G runs out of fuel and crashes 1,500 m. short of the runway at Sovosteevka; there is no information on casualties.
The first Tu-114A arrives at Tokyo (HAD) in a demonstration flight on April 12. Tu-104 service from Moscow to Brussels, via East Berlin, begins on June 2, followed by inaugural flights via the East German capital to Amsterdam on July 26 and Paris on August 1. Seventeen days later, Moscow-Tashkent-New Delhi Tu-104 flights are started.
ATu-104A with 64 passengers crashes near Chita in a thunderstorm on August 25; there are no survivors.
The pilot of a Tu-104A with 79 passengers loses control of his jetliner at 10,000 meters over Kanash, Chuvashakaya A. S.S. R., on an October 17 flight from Omsk and crashes; there are no survivors. This is the first fatal accident reported concerning the Soviet jetliner; indeed, the Russians are quiet on the subject and all information reported on the accident comes from the Communist Chinese, who note that 16 of their citizens from a cultural mission are among the dead.
The Mil Mi-4 becomes the first helicopter to enter scheduled service in the U. S.S. R. beginning on November 13, flying a Simferopol-Yalta route. A Tu-104 arrives in Cairo on December 4 to inaugurate twice-weekly services to Moscow, via Tirana, next day.
Direct Tu-104 service Moscow-Vladivostok begins on January 8, 1959 followed by Tu-104A flights from the Soviet capital to P’yongyang, North Korea, via Irkutsk and Chita, on March 3. Ye now succeed P. F. Shigarev as director general F. Loginov.
Regularly scheduled Adler-Sochi Mi-4 rotary wing flights begin on April 1, followed by flights linking Adler Airport to Gagra, Khosta, Lazarevskaya, and Gelendzhik. The Tu-104B enters domestic service on April 15 over the Moscow-Leningrad sector. The Il-18 turboprop is first introduced on the Moscow-Alma Ata and Moscow-Adler/Sochi routes on April 20, following by two days the introduction of the new Tu-104B on a direct Moscow-Leningrad frequency.
On May 15, two new domestic services are inaugurated: Moscow-Kiev and Moscow-Petropavlovsk-Kamchaiskiy. The following day, Moscow to London, via Copenhagen, Tu-104A flights begin. On May 17, a new Antonov An-10 conducts a proving flight from Kiev to Moscow, Tbilisi, Adler, Kharkov, and Kiev. On May 21, a long Leningrad-Sverdiovsk-Novosibirsk-Irkutk-Vladivostok Tu-104 frequency is introduced. The same day, a Tu-114 flies 4,200 miles nonstop from Moscow to Khabarovsk.
A new Tu-114 turboprop, the largest commercial airliner of its day, makes a proving flight from Moscow to Tirana on June 2. Irkutsk-Yakutsk Tu-104 service is launched on June 15 while, simultaneously, Alma Ata to Rostov, via Tashkent and Baku, Il-18 flights. Later in the month, An-10 turboprops begin cargo services in the Ukraine, the Arctic, and in western Siberia. On June 28, a Tu-114 undertakes an 11-hr. 6-min. proving flight from Moscow to New York nonstop.
Il-18s initiate two new routes on July 1: Moscow-Ashkhabad and Tashkent-Adler/Sochi, via Baku. Tu-104Bs begin flying from Moscow to Kiev on July 7. A Tu-114 flies from New York City to Moscow nonstop on July 14 in a record 9 hrs. 48 min. On July 22, an An-10 begins regularly scheduled operations over a route from Moscow to Adler; a second An-10 simultaneously launches flights from Kiev to Simferopol.
Moscow-Khabarovsk, via Sverdlovsk and Novosibirsk, Tu-104 flights commence on August 1; the next day Il-18s first begin flying from Moscow-Frunze. Premier Nikita Khrushchev and his party fly the Tu-114 prototype to New York (IDL) in September, making the 5,611 mile journey from Moscow in 11 hrs. 5 min.
On October 12, Tu-104s are withdrawn from the Moscow to London route for the winter and are replaced with Il-18s. Premier Khrushchev and other Soviet VIPs inspect the carrier’s new rotary-wing unit at the Kremlin on November 12.
An Antonov An-10 with 40 passengers is lost on approach to Lvov in the Ukraine on November 16; there are no survivors.
As the first passenger, Khrushchev inaugurates Mi-4 shuttle flights from Vnukovo Airport to the Kremlin on November 17. An Il-14 with 29 aboard disappears on December 13 while en route from Tashkent to Kabul; wreckage will later be found on a mountain and there are no survivors. An An-10 makes a proving flight to New York on December 24.
On January 3, 1960, Aviaarkitika is renamed Polyarnaya Aviatsiya (Polar Aviation). Moscow-Bucharest-Sofia Il-18 flights begin two days later followed by Il-18 service to Krasnoyarsk and Yakutsk on January
6. On January 20, the search for the Il-14 lost en route to Kabul in December is officially abandoned.
An improved An-10A enters service on February 1 on a flight from Moscow to Rostov. Three days later, Aeroflot assumes all functions of Polyarnaya Aviatsiya. On February 20, Tu-104B flights are initiated between Moscow and Simferopol. On February 20, Moscow-Krasnoyarsk service begins. An Antonov An-10 with 32 passengers crashes while on approach to Lvov on February 26; there are no survivors.
On March 2, the turboprops initiate service from Moscow to Dushanbe; the same day, Mi-4s begin a helicopter shuttle between Baku and the oil drilling sites on Neftune Kamne island offshore. Another Tu-114 proving flight is made on March 10, Moscow-Khabarovsk and return.
Four new Il-18 routes are opened in April: to Prague and Cairo (April 1), to Kiev and Vienna (April 10), and to Norilsk (April 12). Meanwhile, An-10s, transferred to the north earlier, commence all-cargo services on behalf of the Aeroflot division, formerly Polyarnaya Aviatsiya.
An Il-18 crashes while on final approach to Sverdlovsk on April 27; there is no information on casualties.
On June 1, the turboprops start flying to Riga from Moscow. Simultaneously, the number of Moscow-Leningrad daily frequencies is increased to 15. Mi-4 helicopter flights begin to link Moscow Central Air Terminal and Sheremetyevo Airport on July 20.
An Il-18B, with 8 crew and 27 passengers, suffers an in-flight fire that forces it to crash near Kiev on August 17; there are no survivors.
While transporting 46 passengers including Uganda National Party Secretary Kale and his party from Cairo to Moscow to witness the Francis Gary Powers trial, another Il-18 crashes near Moscow on August 21; there are no survivors.
The same day, a couple attempts to take over a domestic flight, but are thwarted when wounded members of the crew are able to overpower them.
Also during August, An-10s inaugurate a Great Circle route from Moscow to Khabarovsk, via Syktyvkar, Noril’sk, and Yakutsk.
ATu-104A with three crew crashes while on approach to Ust-Orda on October 21; there are no survivors.
Mi-4s begin connecting Bykovo and Ynukovo Airports with themselves and with Moscow on November 1. Il-18s replace Tu-104s on the London route on November 1.
On December 20, a Moscow-Tiksi-Magadan Il-18 proving flight is flown. An Il-18 is lost after failing its takeoff from Ul’yanovsk on December 28; there is no other information.
At year’s end, Aeroflot retains its rank as the world’s largest singleunit airline (United Air Lines in the U. S. is the largest non-state company) as enplanements total 13 million.
Moscow-Tiksi-Magadan scheduled Il-18 flights commence on January 10, 1961. A Tu-104A overshoots the runway on landing at Vladivostok on February 1; although the aircraft must be written off, there are no fatalities.
Il-18P turboprop service from Leningrad to Krasnoyarsk started on February 3.
Following double engine failure, a fully loaded Tu-104B crashes while making an emergency landing on frozen water on March 13; five persons are reported killed.
A Tu-114 with 170 passengers makes a final proving flight from Moscow to Khabarovsk on March 17. Also in March, Antonov An-10s are in service between Moscow and Dnepropetrovsk, Donetzk, Chisinau, Kharkov, Krasnodar, Kuibyshev, Lwow, Mineral’nyye Vody, Norilsk, Odessa, Rostov, Syktyvkar, and Zaparozhe and from Khabarovsk to Magadan.
Moscow to Kabul service is resumed on April 3. Regular Tu-114 service on the Moscow-Khabarovsk route begins on April 24. Also in April, Irkutsk to Yakutsk An-10 flights begin. On May 15, two new services are inaugurated from Moscow: to Kuybyshev and to Mineral’nyye.
In June, Minsk to Leningrad An-10 services start. During the summer, Il-18s open three new services: Moscow to Yerevan (July 1), Karaganda east and west to Alma Ata and Moscow (August 15), and Moscow-Anadyr (August 17).
ATu-104B with 85 passengers strikes an approach light in heavy rain during its final approach to Odessa on July 10 and crashes (1 dead).
Later in the month, scheduled Mil Mi-4P helicopter flights begin in the Crimea and between all of Moscow’s airports, including the newest at Domodedovo.
On August 10, newly delivered Mi-6s begin operations in Turkmenistan. A Tu-104A is destroyed as the result of a heavy landing at Tashkent on September 17; no injuries or fatalities are reported.
An airline pilot foils three Armenian hijackers over Armenia on October 15, killing one and capturing the other two; after a trial, the two surviving would-be pirates will be executed in June 1962.
A Tu-104B strikes an antenna while on initial approach to Vladivostok on November 2; an engine fails, causing the pilot to carry out an emergency landing in a field. No deaths are reported.
An-10 Kiev to Minsk flights begin in November followed by frequencies in early December from Novosibirsk to Sochi.
Rates are cut by 15% on some routes as of December 1. On December 25, ten days after departing Moscow, a specially equipped Il-18 and an An-12 becomes the first airliners to land in Antarctica, arriving at the Soviet research station Mirnyy, via Tashkent, New Delhi, Rangoon, Jakarta, Darwin, Sydney, Christchurch, and McMurdo (the U. S. Antarctic station).
Having appealed for assistance in reintegration of the breakaway province of Katanga first to the UN, President Patrice Lumumba of the Democratic Republic of the Congo now turns to the Soviet Union. Moscow dispatches 10-15 Ilyushin Il-14s, with their Aeroflot titles painted over in favor of hastily applied Congolese markings.
These join five DC-3s requisitioned from Air Congo in transporting 1,000 Congolese National Army troops on December 31 to Luluabourg, capital of Kasai province, from where they are trucked toward Katanga, where their drive is halted by rebel forces.
The Congolese civil war will intensify during the remainder of the year and into 1962, particularly after the death of Lumumba.
On January 11, 1962 a Moscow-Adler proving flight is made by the new Tupolev Tu-124. An An-10A with 13 passengers fails its takeoff from Batataevka, Ukraine, on January 27; there are no survivors. On January 31, a Tu-104A initiates service from Moscow to Jakarta, via Tashkent, New Delhi, and Rangoon.
ATu-114 proving flight is made Moscow-Vladavostok on February 2. The same day, after a 32,800-mile roundtrip, the Antarctica-flown Il-18D and An-12 return to Moscow. The last new Il-14 service is introduced by a stretched Il-14M (M = Modifikatsiya) over a route from Syktyvkar to Sverdlovsk on February 28. Moscow-East Berlin flights by Tu-104As begin on April 4. Later in the month, the first production Antonov An-24 is delivered to the Ukrainian Directorate base at Kiev.
Il-18 Moscow-Astrakhan flights begin on May 3. Il-18s begin flying from Moscow to Leninabad and Semipalatinsk on May 15, followed by introduction of a service from Krasnoyarsk to Adler/Sochi on June 2. When an engine fails, a Tu-104B with five crew crashes into a mountain near Sofia, Bulgaria, on June 4; there are no survivors.
On June 11, Mi-4 helicopters begin a scheduled service between Lvov and Truskavets. An An-10A is lost under unknown circumstances near Sochi, Russia, on June 27
Two days before the end of the month, multistop Moscow-Khartoum Il-18 frequencies are opened. After the crew loses control, a Tu-104A with 84 passengers crashes near Krasnoyarsk on June 30; there are no survivors.
An Il-14M with 14 passengers crashes near Tashkent on July 7; there are no survivors.
On July 22, a Tu-114 returns to Moscow after a flight to Havana, via Guinea, in preparation for regular Moscow-Havana service. Six days later, a Moscow to Paris flight is delayed as Italian Dr. Meloni is returned to Moscow following his refusal to surrender photographs taken aboard his airliner.
An An-24 fails its takeoff from Ternopol, Ukraine, on July 29; there is no information on casualties.
All-cargo An-24 Kiev-Nikolayev-Kherson flights also begin in July followed by a passenger proving flight from Kiev to Krasnodar in September.
Suffering severe post-takeoff vibration, a Tu-104A with 86 passengers crashes near Khabarovsk on September 2; there are no survivors. On September 5, Moscow-Kemerovo Il-18 service begins, followed by Moscow-Accra, via Belgrade, Rabat, and Conakry Il-18 flights on September 11.
The first scheduled flight by a turbofan-powered airliner is made on October 2 by a Tu-124 over the route Moscow-Tallin (Estonia).
While on a maintenance test flight from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on October 25, a Tu-104B with ten crew crashes; there are no survivors.
An-24s begin regularly scheduled service on October 31 with a flight from Kiev to Kherson. In November-December, three new Tu-104 domestic routes are opened: Ul’yanovsk (November 10); Gorky (December 1); and Vilnyus (December 25).
On January 1, 1963, three additional internal routes are started by Tu-124s: Moscow-Mineralnyye Vody, Moscow-Stavropol, and Rostov-Simferopol. Regularly scheduled weekly Tu-114 flights commence on January 7 from Moscow to Havana, via Murmansk. A reduction in capacity will be required on the new over-water service until an intermediate stop in Africa can be set up. On January 18, Moscow-Chelyabinsk Il-18 service is initiated.
Aeroflot inaugurates its first long-haul, over-water service on February 7-8 as a Tu-114 flies 5,328 miles Moscow-Havana, via Murmansk.
An An-10 is lost at Syktyvkar, Russia, on February 8; ten people are reported killed. Three new Il-18 services are introduced in February, two in April, and three in May: Yerevan to Tashkent (February 6); Moscow to Arkhangelsk (February 25); Leningrad to Arkhangelsk and Murmansk (February 27); Chelyabinsk to Adler/Sochi (April 2); Riga to Gorky and Sverdlovsk (April 5); Riga to Novosibirsk (May 14); Moscow to Ulan Bator (May 20); and Moscow to Damascus (May 23).
New Delhi from Moscow Tu-114 frequencies begin on March 25, replacing those previously offered by Tu-104s and Il-18s. An An-12 is lost during takeoff from Magadan on April 2, while an Il-18 is lost at Kazan two days later; casualty reports are not provided for either loss.
A Tu-104B stalls while on approach to Leningrad on May 18 and crashes; there is no information on deaths or injuries. Moscow-Stockholm Tu-104 flights begin during late spring. On June 27, Moscow to Conakry (Guinea) Tu-114 service is inaugurated and then stretched across the Atlantic to Havana.
Having arrived from Moscow on July 13 en route to Peking, a Tu-104B with 32 passengers crashes short of the runway while on final approach to an intermediate stop at Irkutsk; there are no survivors. A Tu-104 crashes near Irkutsk on July 15 while en route from Peking to Albania (7 dead).
Il-18s initiate new Moscow-Bamako flights on August 12 followed by Moscow to Gudauta service on August 15. On August 16, Moscow-Kazan Tu-124 service is inaugurated.
When its undercarriage fails to retract following takeoff from Tallin on August 21, a Tu-104B with 7 crew and 45 passengers must, because of fog, divert to Leningrad. As the jetliner approaches, an engine quits 13 mi. out from the airport; the second fails shortly thereafter. The pilot consequently ditches the Tupolev in the 300 m.-wide River Neva. Everyone remains aboard as the floating aircraft is towed ashore and no injuries are reported.
In September, the An-24 begins operations on a Moscow-Voronezh/ Saratov route. The carrier, on October 7, signs a reciprocal service agreement with Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIA),
Which becomes the first foreign line to be given landing rights in Moscow and permission to continue its flights through the U. S.S. R. to other countries. Tu-124s open two new foreign services on November 2, to Helsinki and Stockholm. A Moscow-Karachi preservice flight is made on November 20.
On December 1, nonstop Moscow-Chelyabinsk Tu-104 service is inaugurated; the same day An-24s are placed on the Moscow-Saratov run and Il-18s begin flying from Moscow to Gorky and Murmansk. Moscow-Karachi flights begin on December 5. On December 7, Il-18 service is launched from Moscow to Tselinograd. An An-10 is lost under unknown circumstances at Kirensk, Russia, the same day.
The Mil Mi-8 transport helicopter enters commercial service during the year.
On January 21, 1964, Kuybyshev-Krasnodar Tu-124 flights begin. Moscow-Cheboksary An-24 service starts on February 5 followed by Moscow-Belgrade-Algiers Il-18 service on February 21. On March 14, Il-18s undertake their first flights from Moscow to Colombo (Ceylon), via Tashkent and Karachi. Moscow-Warsaw Tu-124 service is launched on April 1. Tunis is served from Moscow beginning on May 8. Tu-104s begin flying to Kutaisi from Moscow on May 15, the same day five new Il-18 routes are opened: Moscow-Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk; Leningrad-Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk; Moscow-Blagovesh-Chensk; Moscow-Gudauta; and Moscow-Zaporozhye.
A Tu-104B overshoots the runway on its second attempt to land in heavy rain at Novosibirsk on June 9; there is no information on casualties.
Three new An-24 frequencies are inaugurated from Moscow on June 10: to Gudauta, to Kursk, and to Tula. Five days later, a new Moscow to Vladivostok, via Petropavlovsk and Kamchatskiy, Tu-104 service is initiated. Il-18 Moscow-Sukhumi flights commence on July 1 followed by turboprop services from Moscow to Damascus and Baghdad (July 16) and from Moscow to Nicosia (July 21).
An Il-18 is destroyed as the result of a bad landing at Magadan on August 3; there is no information on possible casualties. On August 24, Moscow to Makhachkala An-24 frequencies are opened.
During the summer, Antonov An-2s offer daily flights from Moscow to Bryansk, Kasimov, Novomoscovsk, and Tula and twice daily to Vladimir.
An Il-18B is lost near Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on September 2; no further details are available.
An-24 services are also launched from Krasnoyarsk to Kyzyl (September 6) and Moscow to Groznyy, via Voronezh, Volgograd, and Elista (October 28). An Il-18B with 4 crew and 29 passengers crashes into Mt. Avala, Yugoslavia, on October 19; there are no survivors.
On November 1, Moscow-Tehran service is inaugurated. Tu-104B flights from Moscow to Ulyanovsk, via Sukhumi and Moscow, are started on November 15, the same day Tu-124 frequencies are begun from Moscow to Adler/Sochi and Moscow to Minsk and Il-18 service is introduced to Volgograd from Moscow. On November 16, Il-18 Tashkent-Nukus flights begin while Moscow-Nukus service begins on December 1.
The STOL-capable An-14A enters domestic service during 1965. On January 7, Frankfurt to Moscow reciprocal service is agreed upon, but its initiation is delayed when the U. S. exercises its prerogative against it under terms of the 1956 treaty on West German sovereignty. A Tu-114 bound for Havana with 66 aboard makes an emergency landing at New York (JFK) on January 15 after running low on fuel. The plane is refueled and resumes its journey after the U. S. State Department provides clearances and three USAF officers go aboard to act as navigational aides. The three Americans are feted in Havana by the Swiss ambassador before returning to the U. S. on January 17.
In February, Moscow-Belgrade Tu-124 flights commence. On February 16, Il-18 Moscow-Perm frequencies are started followed by frequencies from Frunze to Krasnoyarsk on March 1. Meanwhile, on February 22, the first Antonov An-22 cargo aircraft, powered by 12 turboprop engines, makes its maiden flight. The next day, February 23, a reciprocal service agreement is signed with Alitalia, S. p.A.; Rome to Moscow flights begin two days later.
A Tu-104 with 25 passengers fails its takeoff from Kuybyshev on March 8 and crashes; there are no survivors. Brazzaville becomes an announced destination on March 17. An An-24 crashes on final approach to Hanty-Manssyesk, Russia, on March 20; there is no information on casualties.
On April 15, the Ukraine Directorate inaugurates the first Tu-104D service over a route from Moscow to Odessa. Moscow-Rome, via Zagreb, flights begin on April 20. The last Il-12 passenger route, Za-porozhye-Moscow, via Kharkov and Simferopol, route is closed in May.
Moscow-Donetsk service begins on May 15. On May 21, Moscow-Petrozavodsk Tu-124 frequencies are opened. Two new Ilyushin turboprop routes are started in June: Arkhangelsk-Kiev-Odessa (June 1) and Moscow-Beirut (June 28). During the summer, Tu-104Ds begin flying from Odessa from Leningrad while Tu-104Bs launch Kiev to Prague flights. The Konakry Tu-114 route is stretched down to Accra on August 19.
A Chita to Moscow Tu-104 frequency is opened on October 12. On October 27, the Berlin, or “Six-Pool,” Agreement is signed by Poland, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Hungary, Bulgaria, East Germany pledging mutual support and dependence upon Soviet equipment.
ATu-104B with 34 passengers is lost at Murmansk on November 11; there are no survivors.
Late in the year, a 13-month old experimental Mi-4 airmail service between the main post office in central Moscow and the outlying airports is discontinued. Enplanements of 36 million are reported for the year.
An-12 freighter operations commence in February 1966. The first Il-62 proving flight, Moscow to Khabarovsk, is made on February 2. While taking off from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on February 17 on Aeroflot’s inaugural flight to Brazzaville in the Congo, an Il-114B with 13 crew and 8 passengers, collides with a snowbank and catches fire; there are no survivors.
Tu-104 Leningrad-London direct flights commence on April 7.
Moscow-Tokyo Tu-114 proving flight is made on August 11. Later in the month, three men attempt to hijack a domestic service, wounding a passenger in the process, before being overwhelmed by the flight crew. The aircraft makes a safe emergency landing at Batumi, Georgia.
An Il-18 fails its takeoff from Archangelsk on August 27; there are no details announced on casualties.
The first of five Yakovlev Yak-40 trijets makes its maiden flight on October 21 and, on November 4, Tu-114s inaugurate an Hi-z-hr. 4,568-mile Moscow-Montreal service, via Murmansk. The flights to Canada are made under a reciprocal agreement with Air Canada, Ltd. During fall-winter, Moscow-Tashkent Tu-114 flight service is launched.
An Il-18 fails its takeoff from Alma Ata on November 22; there is no information on casualties. An An-24 crashes on December 30 while going around after a missed landing at Liepaya, Latvia; there is no information on casualties.
Passenger boardings for the year rise to 48 million.
Company airliners, as of January 5, 1967, alter the Moscow-New Delhi route so as to avoid flying over the People’s Republic of China. An An-12 fails its takeoff from Novosibirsk on January 14 and crashes; there are no details on casualties.
On January 20, the governments of the Soviet Union and Japan sign an agreement under which Japan Air Lines Company, Ltd. (2) will be allowed to fly to various European destinations via Moscow. The deal requires the use of Soviet aircraft and cockpit crews.
Seven days later, the airline receives permission to fly over Scandinavia, in return for Moscow’s allowing SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System) to fly over Siberia.
On March 1, Il-62 Moscow to Khabarovsk all-cargo service is launched. An An-12 crashes on takeoff from Salekhard, Russia, on March 3; no other information is available. Moscow to Novosibirsk and Khabarovsk Il-62 passenger flights begin on March 10.
An Il-18B is lost under unknown circumstances at Domodedovo Airport at Moscow on April 6.
In cooperation with Japan Air Lines Company, Ltd. (2), a joint, 4,563-mile “Great Circle” route Moscow-Tokyo, via Siberia, Tu-114 return service is inaugurated on April 17. Aeroflot flight crew pilot the aircraft while JAL cabin crew service passengers. The Tupolevs employed wear JAL’s tsuru (crane) logo and name on their lower forward fuselages.
An An-12 is lost at Blagoveschenksk on June 4 under unknown circumstances. Twice-weekly Moscow-Montreal flights are undertaken in June and July for Expo ’67 tourists.
A Moscow-Montreal Il-62 proving flight is undertaken on July 11 and is followed by nonstop Moscow-Tashkent Il-62 frequencies on July 14. On July 31, Moscow-Zurich Tu-104A service is inaugurated, via Warsaw.
Regularly-scheduled Moscow-Stockholm flights begin on September 12 with the new Tu-134. Two days later, Moscow-Vienna, via Kiev, Tu-134 frequencies are opened. On September 15, the new Il-62 enters regularly scheduled, long-haul service on a 9-hrs. 50-min., 6,000-mile transatlantic run to Montreal via Shannon and Gander. The flight cuts an hour and a half off normally scheduled time. Next day, Tu-134s begin flying to Warsaw from Moscow. The first Yak-40 enters service on September 30.
On October 2, direct Moscow-Warsaw Tu-134 service is inaugurated. Il-62s begin flying to Rome (October 9) and Paris (October 14) and replace Tu-104s and Il-18s on New Delhi flights as of October 17.
An Il-18B hits a mountain and crashes near Sverdlovsk on November 16 (130 dead) and December 18 is launch day for direct Moscow-Zurich Tu-134 flights. An An-24B crashes 350-m. short of the runway while landing at Voronezh on December 31; there is no information on casualties.
During the year, Mi-2 helicopters are received for passenger, agricultural, and air ambulance flights. Enplanements of 55 million for the year are claimed.
The Aeroflot Service Department is established during the year and is made responsible for training flight attendants and others involved in passenger services. The quality of its graduates will become the stuff of legend over the next 30 years.
The first sustained service from Moscow to East African destinations are undertaken on January 1, 1968 as weekly Il-62 Moscow-Mogadishu/ Dar es Salaam flights begin.
An An-24B is lost at Olyomkinsk, Russia, on January 6, followed by an Il-18B on final approach to Karaganda, Kazakhstan, on January 9; there is no further information on either accident.
Weekly service is inaugurated from Moscow to the UAR and Yemen on January 15. An An-12 crash-lands at Magansk, Russia, on January 29.
Two more planes are lost within a week in February. An An-24 with two crew hits a building while landing at Baghdad and crashes on February 19. On February 24, an Il-18 fails its takeoff from Donetsk. Just five days later, another Il-18D goes down, 160 km. from Bratsk, while, on March 7, a Tu-104 crashes on takeoff from Volgograd (one dead).
Leningrad to Amsterdam, via Stockholm, Tu-104A service is launched on April 3; the next day, Tu-104Bs begin flying from Leningrad to London, via Copenhagen.
An Il-18 is lost on a training flight from Domodedovo Airport at Moscow on April 22.
In cooperation with Air France, regularly scheduled and reciprocal Leningrad-Paris flights begin on May 15. Mowcow-Ankara flights begin on May 20. A large number of frequencies are added from Leningrad to Prague in June.
A Moscow-Cairo-Aden route is opened on July 4. Regularly scheduled Il-62 Moscow-New York, via Shannon/Gander, service is inaugurated on July 15.
An An-12 is lost at Mirny on August 8; no other details are available.
Also during August, the carrier covertly fly KGB agents into Prague to make preparations for the Warsaw Pact occupation of Czechoslovakia on August 21, ending the reform program of that nation’s government.
On September 30, the short-haul Yak-40 joins the fleet.
An An-24 is lost at Mery, Uzbekistan, on October 6. Il-62 service to Alma Ata is started on October 17. An Il-18 is lost near Krasnoyarsk on October 20. Dakar becomes a destination from Moscow on October 31.
An An-12 crashes while on approach to Lensk, Russia, on November 2. On November 21, direct Moscow-Bratislava service is begun. The Tu-144 SST makes its maiden flight on December 31, two months ahead of the Anglo-French Concorde.
A total of 62-million passengers are carried to 47 countries during the year.
Antonov An-26s join the fleet beginning in 1969. An An-24V fails its takeoff from Alma Ata on March 24; there is no information on casualties.
Moscow-Oslo flights begin on April 1, followed next day by the inauguration of services to Entebbe, via Cairo.
A Tu-104B is destroyed as the result of a bad landing at Irkutsk on April 28. A Moscow-Tashkent-New
World History
