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The Lisunov-2, - a 'sovietinized' version of an old and famous american design - the DC-3. This particular plane has its own and very interesting history. You can read it (if you can read in Russian) looking in a web site of the Public Aviation Comitee "To the Memory of Allied Airmen". It also has a detailed account of the mission (Again, in Russian). |
| Aleksand Kogut, sitting at the controls of the LI-2, while inflight. It seemed a bit unusual for a PIC-guy to occupy the right seat, for since ages there has been the left one for the captain. However, it was a technical reason caused the switch: a mechanism for adjusting the left rudder pedals got jammed leaving 'by default' the left seat to the co-pilot. |
| I guess you know well what means the word 'Siberia'. Maybe, 'Siberia' is the second known word to 'Russia' itself. (Mark, my son, doubted it, and gave his opinion: "the third, after 'Russia' and 'Moscow') In its turn, Siberia is famous for being astoundedly rich in natural resources, and among them the big and majestic rivers are not the last thing. This nice view of the Lena river was captured through an open left door frame, when the Li-2 was enroute. (Somewhere between Kirensk and Yakutsk). |
<Back< The project, as if to gain more weight, was labelled as a 'transcontinental flight'- not a mere 'crosscountry,' - even though it was technically going to cross the country as large as Russia. But soon you will realize that it was indeed the true name; for the flight planned to cross the Bering Strait and ultimately to some destinations in the USA and Canada!
The
core idea of this mission was to fly through the entire 'ALSIB' - a legendary
ALASKA-SIBIR route, along which the Allies were ferrying the american
'lend-lease' aircraft to the main battle fields of WWII in Europe.
The sole performer for this remarkably long route was the Lisunov-2 (Li-2), a rare (probably the only flying example of the type in the world) vintage plane.
And the PILOT-IN-COMMAND, flying the plane almost without a breather while at the wheel, was Aleksandr. It took them ca.40 hours of flight time in an 8-day journey to reach Anadyr - the last point of the Russian portion of flight.
Here in Anadyr, the comitee planned to provide the Li-2's crew with passports bearing American visas, and bless them on accomplishing the remainder (no less important) portion of the mission.
But,
probably, something went wrong on the 'diplomatic line'. Days were passing
by, and the crew, so eager at the beginning to reach the West in a twinkle
of a one short eastbound hop, was now enduring a forced stop-over, gradually
running out of hope, patience, and money.
Finally, the news came. For some unexplained reason the US Embassy refused to grant visas in those few days lasting to the date when the permission to fly over the US territory would become void. The crew, astounded, had to get going back to Moscow.
... On Sunday, July 30 I visited Aleksandr in his appartment in Krasnodar. We talked more about the flight, the ALSIB history, and the present Russian-American relationship. He filmed on a camcorder the crew's experiences during the journey. We watched this tape, and as I noticed that all but one episode of his filming were made on the ground, he simly explained, 'My hands had been holding the wheel almost all the time inflight.'
Aleksandr
courteously gave me some photographs taken during the flight, and other
materials that will be useful to create a detailed report on the mission.
So I solemnly promise to the Home Base's visitors to track this remarkable event in a web-diary I'm now working on.
