Category An Illustrated History of the World’s Largest Airline

The Mil Mi-6

When, late in 1957, the Mil Mi-6 made its first flight, the reac­tion was justifiably one of awe. It was as long as an Ilyushin 11-18 and weighed almost as much. John Stroud, never inclined to use superlatives, described it as “truly enormous.” Each of the five rotor blades was 17m (55ft 9in) long, and, as with pre­vious Mils, they had electro-thermal leading edge de-icing. Small, removable wings were fitted to the middle section of the fuselage. Two Soloviev D-25V turbine engines, rated at 5,500shp take-off power, enabled the Mi-6 to carry a load of 12,000kg (26,5001b) — this alone is the all-up weight of a DC-3.

Its rugged floor could accommodate trucks, drilling rigs, tanks, any large or bulky object. Its electric winch could han­dle a slung load of 9,000kg (almost ten tons) and in a fire­fighting role, it could carry 14,000kg (15 tons) of water. It was used almost exclusively in specialized air-lifting roles, but could carry 75 passengers if necessary. Deliveries began to Aeroflot in 1961, and it was first used in Turkmenistan on 10 August of that year. The airline had about 100 of these impressive aircraft by the late 1960s, and about half of these were allocated to the oil and gas fields of West Siberia.

The Mil Mi-10

A direct development of the Mi-6, the Mil Mi-10 had the same enormous rotor and transmission, with a re-designed fuselage of about the same length, with long landing gear legs to make room for a platform underneath the fuselage and supported by hydraulic grips attached to the gear legs. If the Mi-6 could carry a small truck, the Mi-10 could carry a bus. To assist the crews in maneuvering at touch-down, the flight deck had closed circuit television monitors. The Mi-lOK (Korotkonogyi, or Short-Legged) version featured a special cabin under the nose, with rearward-facing controls for coor­dination with the winching crew. At Tyumen, base airfield for the region containing the world’s largest reserves of oil and gas, the demand is matched by the supply of helicopter strength (see page 77) of which the Mil Mi-lOs, fitted with both internal and external extra tankage, can carry out mis­sions of up to 5 V2 hours duration. In the desolate areas of

Heroic Mission

If ever a case was to be made for the advantages of heli­copter operations over those of fixed wing aircraft — and many were made in the U. S.S. R. in many diverse indus­trial activities, in the oilfields, the cotton fields, and the fishing grounds — it was made, under the most tragic circumstances, in 1986. On 26 April of that year, a nucle­ar reactor at Chernobyl, in the northern Ukraine, exploded with devastating effect, spreading a radioactive cloud over the area and for hundreds of miles around.

With a Hind military helicopter, with its gyro-stabilized gunsight, acting as a pathfinder for precise observation of the 1200°C ‘target’, the molten reactor, Mi-6s and Mi-26s plugged the lethal opening laid bare in the concrete struc­ture. After several unsuccessful attempts to solve a problem that had a hundred unknown factors, by dropping graphite, sand/boron, gravel, lead composite, and con­crete, the Mi-6s dropped a total of 250 tons of prefabricat­ed 14-ton cubes, containing special filtering/ventilation units to shut off the radiation emission.

Ground staff, clad in lead-lined suits, and teams of heli­copter pilots carried out this elaborate plan. The cost was high as everyone involved risked their lives by the delib­erate exposure to the dangers of radiation. Many were affected and one, Anatoly Grishchenko, died as a result. But the reactor was capped, and the world breathed a sigh of relief.

Most of this brave work was performed by the Soviet Army’s helicopters, flown by some of the top test pilots. But Aeroflot played its part, supplying some observation Mi-6 and Mi-8 helicopters, and Antonov An-24s for inspection of the radiation-affected area.

taiga and tundra, with little surface communication, and opportunities for airfield construction rare, such vertical lift performance is priceless.

The Mil Mi-26

This development of the Mil Mi-6 also calls for superlafives. The Lotarev D-136 turbine engines develop ll,240shp, so as to drive on eight-bladed rotor (the Mi-6 had five). This enables the Mil Mi-26 to lift 20,000kg (20 tons). Inside the roomy fuse­lage — the size of that of a Lockheed C-130 — is a gantry crane able to carry two tons along the available space.

The Kamov Ka-32

While not aspiring to the dimensions of the mighty Mils, Kamov did not allow the grass to grow under its rotor blades. It produced, in the early 1980s, the Ka-32, a larger version of the multi-purpose Ka-26, about the same size and of the same capability and performance than the Mil Mi-8, but of the Kamov traditional technology and design, and with the advantage of two decades of developmental experience.

(Top) The supplementary control cabin of the giant Mil Mi-10. Rearward facing, the pilot has direct control of the helicopter, work­ing in unison with the winch controller, (photos: R. E.G. Davies) (Bottom) This picture of the Kamov Ka-32 (with another hovering behind) illustrates the contrarotating rotorhead mechanism.

(V. Grebnev)

The dimensions and performance of these two large heli­copters, together with those of the Mil Mi-26, are tabulated on page 75. Their size is dramatically illustrated by comparison with two well-known western fixed-wing aircraft on page 79.

(Right) This picture of the huge rotorhead of the Mil Mi-6, indicates the extent of the engineering of this large helicopter.

(Far right) The enormous Mil V-12 used two sets of Mi-6 engines, gearboxes and lifting rotors, mounted on stub wings. First flown in July 1968, it never entered seivice although it was extensively demonstrated in Aeroflot titles (photos: Boris Vdovienko)

The Great War did not go well for Russia. Although possessing far superior numbers, its armies lacked good logistics, and were generally badly led. By the time the infrastructure of armaments, food, and clothing supplies were showing signs of improvement, the administration of the Tsarist government had collapsed. Of several political parties, one, the Bolshevik, succeeded in mounting a coup in Petrograd (the new westernized name for St Petersburg) and the October Revolution of 24-26 October 1917 changed the course of history. The autocratic monarchy was replaced by an idealistic but ruthless ruling class.

Brest-Litovsk

One of the Bolshevik policies had been, effectively, ‘peace at any price’. When it signed the Treaty of Brest Litovsk on 3 March 1918, Russia lost all the western provinces as, one after another, independent republics were formed (see map). The Bolshevik leader Vladimir I. Lenin, was forced to surrender territory as the price of peace — territory that Josef Stalin was to regain (Finland and Poland excepted) after World War II.

Siege and Counter-Attack

The agony was not yet over. In April 1918, a contingent of British troops had landed at Murmansk, at first in support of its Russian ally, but quickly becoming part of an international alliance of intervention whose objective was to destroy the threat of a communist Russian state. As the map shows, the intervention was widespread, encircling the besieged Bolsheviks with a ring of opposing forces that became known as The Whites, to distinguish them from the Bolshevik Reds. The British in the North, at Murmansk and Archangelsk, were joined by the troops and naval forces of many nations, both on land and in the Black Sea. Many Russians themselves, with their Slavic cousins in the Ukraine, Byelo-Russia, and Poland, took up arms in a bloody civil war. In the east, a makeshift army including Czech prisoners-of-war, under the leadership of Admiral Kolchak, actually set up a Government of West Siberia at Omsk on 1 July 1918, and changed its name to the All-Russian Government on 18 November 1918. On 8 August of that year, British and French troops landed at Vladivostok, to be joined by the Japanese on 12 August and the Americans on 15 August. By 6 September, the British and Japanese had reached Chita, in a westward march to outflank the Russians.

But the tide turned. Just as the British troops in the north, reinforced by White Russians, reached the shores of Lake Onega, posing a threat to Petrograd, the Red Army, under the direc­tion of Leon Trotsky, counter-attacked in the east on 28 April 1919, repulsing the Czechs, who had reached the Volga at Samara. In October, the Red Army went on to the offensive against General Denikin in the Ukraine and against General Yudenich on the Baltic front. During the next year, the Bolshevik forces steadily re-occupied the lost territories, meeting, however, stiff resistance from the Poles, who won a great victory under General Pilsudski, with considerable losses on the Russian side. But by the end of 1920, it was all over. The White forces under General Wrangel evacuated southern Russia, and the Peace of Riga on 18 March 1921 ended the war with Poland.

Lost Opportunity

One of the casualties in the terrible conflict had been the dismemberment of the Escadra vozduzhnykh korablei E. V.K. (see page 10), and the destruction of many of the Il’ya Muromets aircraft. A few were assembled near Moscow and in spring 1920, were sent to the western and southern fronts. The Russo-Baltic Works ceased production. Igor Sikorsky him­self was on the wrong side, and, like thousands of other educated technicians and scholars, he fled to the West, arriving in New York on 30 March 1919.

Well-Earned Fame

After the various great flights made by Soviet aircraft, the pilots and crew were lavishly decorated, receiving many medals and testimonials in the Soviet tradition. Moscow wit­nessed receptions that were as impressive, if not quite so lav­ish, as those bestowed in New York on Lindbergh, Earhart, or Hughes. And they were well earned. Mikhail Vodopyanov, for example, had built up hundreds of hours of flying in remote parts of Russia, including the opening of the Dobrolet route to Sakhalin (page 24). He had pioneered the route to Rudolf Island, and had campaigned for aircraft landings on the North Polar ice, in opposition to other views that the Papanin party should be dropped by parachute. His crew members Mikhail Babushkin and Ivan Spirin had both flown big airplanes as early as 1921, in the Il’ya Murometsy, no less. Vasily Molokov had been one of the heroes of the Chelyuskin rescue, and his radio operator had been with him on the long Siberian circuit (page 27). Anatoly Alexeyev had flown on a relief party to the Severnaya Zemlya islands in 1934; while Ilya Mazuruk and Pavel Golovin already had outstanding records. When the Soviet Union decided to Go For The Pole, it had the best cadre of trained and experienced pilots in the world to face the daunting challenge.

_______ FLIGHT TO THE NORTH POLE, 1937_____

Director of Operations Dr Otto Shmidt

Deputy Director of Operations Mark Shevelev Meteorologist at Rudolf Island Boris Dzerdzeyevsky

ANT-6 N-170 Total on board

(inc. Papanin party, below), 11

Pilot, M. V. Vodopyanov • Co-pilot, M. S. Babushkin • Navigator, I. T.Spirin Radio Op., S. A. Ivanov • Air Mechanics, F. Bassein, Morozov, Petenin

ANT-6 N-171 Total on board, 11

Pilot, V. S. Molokov • Radio Operator, Stromilov • Navigator, Ritsland ANT-6 N-172 Total on board, 11

Pilot, A. D.Alexeyev • Navigator, Zhukov, Moshkovsky ANT-6 N-169 Total on board, 5

Pilot, i. p. Mazuruk • Rozlov, Akkuratov ANT-7 N-166 Crew only, scout aircraft)

Pilot, P. c. Golovin • Navigator, Volkov, Terentyev

• Mechanics, Shekurov, Timofeyev

Polar Party (with N-170) Remained at the North Pole

Leader, I. D. Papanin • Navigator, Y. K. Fedorov

• Radio Operator, E. T. Krenkel, P. P. Shirshov

Total weight of supplies carried to the North Pole 9 tons

Weight Watchers

To equip the Papanin Expedition, every ingenious precau­tion was taken to avoid superfluous weight. Tents were of light-weight silk and aluminum. Utensils were of plastics or aluminum. The aircraft ladders were convertible into sleds. Special equipment such as the sounding line and the bathymeter were re-designed to save weight. Both the aircraft crews and the members of the expedition were eternally grate­ful for the innumerable contributions made by the ‘back­room boys’ in Leningrad, Moscow, and other sources of equipment supply.

Mow Much Extra

To carry even this finely tuned total weight of nine tons, divided between the four ANT-6 load-carrying aircraft, extra fuel also had to be taken, in addition to the provisions listed in the tables on this page. Almost two tons extra had to be car­ried by each aircraft. But the dome-shaped airfield on the plateau at Rudolf Island offered shallow slopes, down which the departing aircraft could gain speed and lift; and every item of nonessential equipment was stripped from the interior, and every non-essential item of personal effects was left behind.

lest Bombing

Landing a 24-ton aircraft on an ice-floe, no matter how big, was a speculative proposition. It was determined that the minimum ice thickness required was 70cm (2ft); engineers then devised a 9.5kg (211b) ‘bomb’. It was shaped like a pear and fastened at its rear or trailing end was a 6-8m (20ft) line with flags attached. If the ice was less than 70cm, the ‘bomb’ went straight through. If more, it stuck, and the flags, draped on the ice, indicated that landing was possible. This method was first utilized on the Papanin expedition.

PAPANIN EXPEDITION

CLOTHES/PERSONAL ITEMS PER TEAM MEMBER

Their Tiny Hands Were Frozen

During the final flight from Rudolf Island to the North Pole, Mikhail Vodopyanov realized that one of the ANT-6’s engines was leaking water from its radiator, with its precious anti-freeze liquid disappearing into thin air. Vodopyanov’s trusted chief air mechanic, Flegont Bassein, together with co-mechanics Morozov and Petenin, crawled along the tunnel in the wing (see oppo­site and diagram below) and tried to stop the flow. They came up with an ingenious solution, by placing cloths over the leak, soaking up the outflow, squeezing them out into a container, and pouring the liquid back into the radiator. The engine kept going.

The mechanics did too, but barely. To reach the leak, they had had to force an opening in the leading edge of the wing, radiators obviously being exposed to the airflow. It was an act of fortitude that nearly cost them their hands.

PAPANIN EXPEDITION
TOTAL FUEL, FOOD, AND EQUIPMENT

FOOD TAKEN ON PAPANIN EXPEDITION

Two ANT-6s of Aviaarktlka (SSSR-N211 and N212), wanning up to go to search for Levanevsky in October 1937.

A special feature in the design was a tunnel that permitted air mechanics to crawl along the whole length of the wing, to inspect fuel tanks and cargo holds; and on one notable occasion (see opposite page) this was used to perform some unusual maintenance on one of the engines.

AM-34RN (4 x 970hp) ■ MTOW 22,600kg (49,8201b) ■ Normal Range 1,350km (840mi)

A Great Airplane

Bill Gunston, renowned technical aviation authority and compiler of encyclopedic volumes about aircraft, including a masterpiece on Soviet types, says this about the Tupolev-designed ANT-6, also known as the TB-3 or the G-2: "This heavy bomber was the first Soviet aircraft to be ahead of the rest of the world, and one of the greatest achievements in aviation history" and that, "the design was sensibly planned to meet operational requirement and was highly com­petitive aerodynamically, structurally, and in detail engineering." This was in 1930.

A Big Airplane — and Plenty of Them

Give or take a ton or two, depending on the version, the ANT-6 weighed, fully equipped for take-off, about 22 tons. Most G-2s weighed 22,050kg (48,5001b). By comparison, the contempo­rary German Junkers-G 38 weighed 24 tons, but only two were built, compared with no less

A rear view of ANT-6 SSSR-N-170 in which Vodopyanov took Papanin to the North Pole. This picture well illustrates the excellent basic 1930 design of the world’s first heavy transport that went into series production, (photo: Boris Vdovienko)

than 818 ANT-6s. Of these, the vast majority were for the Soviet Air Force, painted dark green, with sky blue undersides; about ten or twelve ANT-6s were allocated to Mark Shevelev’s Polar Aviation (Aviaarktika), and painted in the orange-red and blue colors. The four special versions prepared for the Papanin expedition, according to Tupolev historians, were in bare metal, prob­ably to save precious weight. The British and French industries had nothing in the same league, and the U. S.A. had not yet thought of the B-17.

A Versatile Airplane Too

Designed primarily as a bomber, the type was adapt­ed for other purposes. Design started way back in May 1926, wind tunnel testing was completed in March 1929, and Mikhail Gromov made the first test flight on 22 December 1930. Throughout its lifespan (production ceased early in 1937) it under­went many improvements, culminating in the ANT – 6A, specially modified for Dr Otto Schmidt’s Aviaarktika’s assault on the North Pole; and it was also used during the 1930s by Aeroflot, reportedly carrying as many as 20 passengers.

He Meeting

On 3 August 1935, the latest product of the TsAGI design organization, the ANT-25, designed by Andrei Tupolev, was on a proving flight over the Barents Sea, north of Murmansk. The crew consisted of Sigismund Levanevskiy, then considered to be the Soviet Union’s leading pilot, Georgy F. Baidukov, and Victor Levchenko. The aircraft had fuel system problems and, nearing the point of no return, Lavanevskiy turned back, landing near Novgorod, instead of the Moscow base.

In mid-September, a meeting was held in Josef Stalin’s office in the Kremlin. It was attended by the three crew members, faced across the table by Molotov, Voroshilov, and Andrei Tupolev. At the head of the table, Stalin con­ducted an enquiry, aided by his pipe, whose smoke drifted over the room. He asked Levanevskiy about his plans, whereupon the pilot said he did not trust the ANT-25, and Tupolev left the room in disgust. Stalin suggested that, for the next flight into the Arctic, American assistance should be sought; but Baidukov felt that the aircraft’s problem could be rectified. Answering Levanevskiy’s allegation that a single-engined aircraft (the ANT-25) had a 100 percent chance of disaster if an engine failed, Chkalov responded with the remark “With four engines, you have a 400 per­cent chance!" He won the day.

He Flight to Udd

Although Stalin had originally wished to make a prestige-seek­ing flight across the Pole to the U. S.A., he decided, early in 1936, that, for political reasons, a flight to the U. S.S. R.’s Far East would be preferable. Later, he was reported to have said that the successful flight had been “worth two armies." By this time, Baidukov had begun to work with Valery P. Chkalov, a pilot with a reputation for taking risks, but a master of his trade. The ANT-25’s fuel problems were corrected.

On 20 July 1936, Chkalov, Baidukov, and navigator Aleksander V. Belyakov flew the aircraft from Moscow, by a route that took them first due north from Moscow and then by a near-Great Circle course over eastern Siberia, aiming for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, which, however, was blanketed by impenetrable weather. Turning west, they made landfall across the Sea of Okhotsk, on the tiny island of Udd, near the mouth of the Amur River. On this island, now renamed Chkalov (along with neighboring islands Baidukov and Belyakov), a dignified
monument commemorates this notable flight of 9,374km (5,825mi) in 56hr 20min. The ANT-25 had made its case.

The First Trans-Polar Flight

The following year, from 18 to 20 June 1937, they made the historic flight that ranks as one of the greatest trail-blazing conquests of the air, and one of the most dramatic. Flying at first due north to the Pole and then continuing due south, they made their way to Portland, Oregon, landing, however, at the military Pearson Field at Vancouver, Washington State. The ANT-25 had covered a distance of about 10,000km (6,200mi), officially recorded as a Great Circle distance of 8,504km (5,285mi) in 63hr 25min. The flight captured the imagination of the whole world and Chkalov was hailed as the Russian Lindbergh.

Tie Second Trans-Polar Flight

As if to trump Chkalov’s ace — and perhaps to remind every­one in the U. S.S. R. that he was once the premier Soviet pilot — Mikhail Gromov, with Andrei B. Yumashyev and Sergei A. Danilin, made a second trans-Polar flight only a month after Chkalov. On 12-14 July, also in an ANT-25, with its bright red wings making a dramatic impact, this crew flew from Moscow to a grass meadow near San Jacinto, in south­ern California. This time the Great Circle distance of 10,148km (6,306mi), flown in an even shorter time (62hr 17min) than Chkalov’s, because of more favorable winds and conditions, beat the world’s distance record held by the Frenchmen Codos and Rossi.

Tragic Postscript

One month later still, it was Levanevskiy’s turn. Convinced that a multi-engined aircraft was the best suited for long-dis­tance flying (and who could argue this point today?) he set off from Moscow on 12 August 1937, in a DB-A (URSS-N209). Designed by Viktor Bolkovitinov, this was a mid-winged and much-developed version of the veteran but well-trusted ANT – 6, the very same type that so successfully had made the flights to the North Pole earlier in the year (see page 30). Levanevskiy had a crew of five: Nikolai Kasteneyev (co-pilot), Viktor Levchenko (navigator), Grigory Pobezhimov (mechan­ic), Nikolai Godovikov (mechanic), and Nikolai Galkovsky (radio operator). After 17hr 35min, the radio station at Cape Schmidt, in the far northeast of Siberia, heard a brief message, reporting severe trouble. The DBA and its crew were never heard of again, although repeated searches have been made.