Category An Illustrated History of the World’s Largest Airline

This book started a long time ago. In the late 1950s, when I was researching material for my History of the World’s Airlines, I was fascinated by the Soviet airline that seemed to be performing an enormous task, but of which little was known. An almost impenetrable curtain shrouded all but a trickle of information from Moscow. Travel was severely restricted, and even in the decades that followed, was scanty and sporadic, to selected tourist destinations. In 1988, however, when Mikhail Gorbachev drew aside the curtain, an opportunity seemed at last to be in sight, and I once again approached the Soviet Embassy for per­mission to visit Aeroflot.

In 1990, I made the first reconnaissance to Moscow, and asked to see the workings of the secondary, feeder, and bush services of the vast domestic network. The International Department responded admirably. I visited the Far Eastern Division, flew in the Antonov An-2 and An-24, and, in a Mil Mi-2, made a pilgrimage to the dignified monument to the Chkalov crew on the former Udd Island. I began to feel the pulse of Aeroflot, to meet its pilots, its managers, and its staff, and to realize that this huge airline was as dedicated to its task as any other airline of world stature.

Returning to Moscow, I was privileged to sit at the desks of the late Andrei Tupolev and Sergei Ilyushin, and to visit the museums of the great design bureaux. Welcomed every­where with courtesy and enthusiasm, my appetite was whet­ted for more.

In 1991, I cohtinued the mission. I visited the Leningrad Aviation Academy, did some simulated crop­dusting at Novgorod, and rounded off a round-the-world trip (all on Aeroflot) by visiting old friends in Khabarovsk. On the return to the U. S., I made the decision to begin this book.

In 1992,1 made a whistle-stop tour of Siberia (by this time the Soviet Union had become the CIS) and gained first-hand knowledge of the array of different roles played by Aeroflot, in agriculture, forestry, fishing patrol, ambulance and emer­gency work, and construction, especially in oilfields, pipelines, power lines, and railroads. Everywhere, I enjoyed visits to museums. Every region of Aeroflot has its historians, justly proud of their heritage.

Telling the story, and meeting some of the people who have contributed to it, has been an exciting and stimulating exercise. Finally, I must record the great pleasure of working once again with the ‘Old Firm’ who produced the previous books in the series: Pan Am, Lufthansa, and Delta. To con­sult, to review, to plan, and to organize — and yes, some­times to argue — with my good friends artist Mike Machat and producer/editor John Wegg has been a rewarding, (if at times strenuous), and totally fulfilling experience.

— R. E.G. Davies.

Momentum Maintained

With a variety of airliners coming off the production lines (see opposite) Aeroflot entered the 1960s with prospects of expansion and upgrading of equipment in all directions. On 3 January 1960, it took over Polar Aviation (Aviaarktika) and directed attention to the northern routes, to new settlements on the Arctic Sea, and a new route to the Far East. On 24 April, a Tupolev Tu-114 non-stop Moscow-Khabarovsk schedule inauguration immeasurably extended the range potential. On 15 December 1961, a specially-equipped Ilyushin 11-18 became the first airliner to fly to Antarctica, and this aircraft opened up new routes to several African countries during the next few years. The Tupolev Tu-104, too short in range for use on trans­ocean routes, was nevertheless able to carry Aeroflot’s flag to south-east Asia, with a service, opened on 31 January 1962, to Jakarta, via Tashkent, Delhi, and Rangoon. By this time, Aeroflot was carrying more than 20 million passengers each year (with fares at railroad levels) with a total fleet of about 2,000 aircraft.

Junior Jet

The short-haul routes were not neglected. While the U. S.S. R. was a country of vast distances, much of the western parts embraced an area characterized by dozens of cities only an hour’s flight from Moscow. Many of these were of medium size, not large enough to justify 100-seat aircraft such as the Tu-104 or the 11-18. To meet this need, the Tupolev design bureau produced a scaled-down version of the Tu-104, the 44- seat, later 56-seat Tupolev Tu-124, which entered ser­vice on the Moscow — Tallinn (Estonia) route on 2 October 1962. Trailing the French Caravelle by over three years, and a derivative, rather than an original design, it was, however, ahead of British and American short-haul jets by a similar margin.

FIRST GENERATION SHORT-HAUL JETS

Preparations

By the time the Soviet Union had established its fifth scientif­ic station on the Arctic ice floes in 1955, it was ready to join nations at the other end of the world, in Antarctica, the Last Continent. The first expedition was mounted on 30 November of that year, commanded by the Director of Geographic Sciences, M. M. Somova, 133 years after a Russian sea captain, P. G. von Bellingshausen, had been the first to set eyes on the Antarctic mainland. With Somova was an avia­tion detachment, under the command of E. E. Cherevechnova, who made the initial flights from the base that was to become Mirnyy, and who had the first taste of the harsh conditions of operating from the huge icy land mass.

During the next two years, two more bases were estab­lished, with P. P. Moskalenko and B. C. Ossipov in charge of aviation. In 1958-1959, the airmen encountered temperatures of -70°C but managed to deliver much-needed supplies from Mirnyy to the new scientific station Novolazarevskaya, a distance of 3,600km (2,240mi). In December 1958, an aircrew commanded by V. M. Petrov, from Novolazarevskaya, was able to rescue the crew and passengers of a Belgian aircraft that had made an emergency landing, well out of reach by land from the Belgian Roi Baudouin base about 500km (300mi) away.

Historic Flights

In 1961, an important milestone was reached in Soviet Antarctic exploration. Headed by the veteran of the Polar Aviation Directorate, M. E. Shevelev, two large turboprop air­craft flew from Moscow to Mirnyy. An Ilyushin 11-18 (A. S. Polyakov) and an Antonov An-12 (B. S. Osipov) left Moscow on 15 December and arrived on Christmas Day, returning on 25 January to arrive triumphantly from a 52,800km (32,800mi) round trip on 2 February 1962. The two aircraft were able to deliver supplies and instruments. The An-12 showed its prowess on skis, while the 11-18 made a round trip to McMurdo Sound to help save an Australian mechanic who had become ill.

Encouraged by the success of these flights, two more Ilyushin Il-18s made the long trip to the Antarctic in 1963, carrying members of the 9th Soviet Expedition. Flights were also made inland to the Vostok station, established on the top of Dome Charlie, the gigantic icecap of East Antarctica, where the record low temperature of -89°C was recorded on 21 July 1983. Vostok is 3,488 meters (11,440ft) above sea lev­el, and the ice thickness is 200m (650ft) more than that. It is
1,420km (880mi) from the main Mirnyy base on the coast, and can claim to have a runway that is as thick as it is long. By 1975, the Soviet Union had six permanent scientific sta­tions and some other temporary satellites in Antarctica.

In 1973, the diesel-electric boat Ob, bringing the winter shift to Antartica, was lost. The Nabarin, supported by Mil Mi – 2 and Mi-8 helicopters and Antonov An-2s (they are every­where!) rescued 57 men and 6 tons of precious cargo for the Molodezhnaya and Mirnyy stations.

Communication between the four main ones, Mirnyy, Molodezhnaya, Novolazarevskaya, and Vostok, was main­tained by a small fleet of aircraft that included five heli­copters — Mil Mi-4s in the early years, then half a dozen of

the larger Mil Mi-6s and Mi-8s, with up to ten Ilyushin II – 14Ms, even a couple of Antonov An-2s, based at Molodezhnaya and Mirnyy. These aircraft also provided links to the bases of other nationalities, U. S., British, French, and Australian, in an area where the formalities of international bureaucracy could be dispensed with, politics and their encumbrances having been cast aside by the Antarctic Treaty.

New Route

In 1980, a new route was forged to Antarctica. Previously (see map) the Soviet aircraft had flown the same path as the American and Australian flights, from Christchurch, New Zealand (which boasts the only ticket counter with Antarctica on the destination board); but this had entailed a long flight through Asia. Now, with a special version of the Ilyushin 11-18, the 11-18D, under the command of B. D. Grubly, Moscow was connected by a shorter route, through Africa (see map) made possible by the ability of the I1-18D to cover the longer dis­tance from Maputo to Molodezhnaya — 5,000km (3,100mi) with no en route alternates. This flight, in support of the 25th Antarctic Expedition, made the outbound journey from 10-13 February and returned from 19-23 February. The 45,600km (28,380mi) round trip was made in 78hr 54min flying time.

150 TONS ■ 800km/h (500mph)

Lotarcv P-18T (4 x 113,700kg st, 51,5901b st) ■ MTOW 405,000kg (892,9001b) ■ Normal Range 4,500km (2,700mi)

As with previous books in this series, Machat’s Law has been a constant and often unwelcome companion. The Law states (as some readers will know) that for any single type of airlin­er, no two individual aircraft are painted exactly the same; and very few carry their original paint scheme for the whole of their lives.

In recent years, Aeroflot’s enormous fleet of front-line air­craft — I exclude the feeder types, whose color schemes are legion — have carried more or less standardized markings. But this was not the case in years gone by, when Soviet aircraft design bureaux seemed to delight in individualism. Dozens of lettering styles were used for the word AEROFLOT, and I have identified a host of different versions of the airline’s logo. Fortunately (and unlike its U. S. counterpart) the Soviet flag remained constant.

In the size comparisons, I have used the Ilyushin 11-86, Aeroflot’s largest wide-bodied aircraft, roughly comparable with the McDonnell Douglas DC-10. — Mike Machat.

An Infant Aircraft Industry

Vladimir Lenin did not live to see the outcome of some of the policies that he had instigated. He died on 21 January 1924, and only a few days later, on 1 February, the British Government recognized Soviet Russia, the first foreign power to do so, excluding Germany, which had done so earlier. Simultaneously with the easing of tension overseas, the Russian industry, which had been laying dormant during the political upheaval and economic disruption caused by the Revolution, began to revive.

The aircraft manufacturing plants stirred into life. At Fili, in Moscow, the German Junkers company started a small pro­duction line of the sturdy metal-built F 13, (known as the Ju 13 in Russia) and deliveries began to Dobrolet in 1924. At least 24 aircraft are believed to have been completed. For sev­eral years, reports of Ju 13s performing various services all across the Soviet Union included, in addition to inaugurating new routes, demonstrations of the benefits of air travel to the amazed citizenry of remote lands, and joyrides for workers who had shown special talents in exceeding their assigned quotas.

Also, the TsAGI (see page 12), under the direction of V. L. Alexandrov and V. V. Kalinin, completed, on 8 March 1924, the first test flight of the first successful transport air­craft to be designed and built entirely in the Soviet Union (also see page ’12). The AK-1 (AK for Alexandrov-Kalinin) could carry three passengers and attained 146km/h (90mph). It was a start, and on 15 June 1924, the AK-1 was assigned to Dobrolet’s Moscow-Nizhne Novgorod – Kazan route.

Reference has already been made (page 16) to the activi­ty of K. A. Kalinin, the designer working in conjunction with Dornier in Kiev. On 20 April 1925, a series of govern­ment-supervised experimental flights was completed with the K-l, Kalinin’s first design. Back at TsAGI, A. N. Tupolev had become head of the organization which had an experimental laboratory, and was building engines and aircraft, including the all-metal ANT-2, able to carry two passengers.

Then on 20 August 1925, an improved version, the ANT-3, was flown. Tupolev was proceeding cautiously. This aircraft weighed only 2,100kg (9601b) but it flew at 201km/h (125mph), and was considered a worthy enough product to carry the Soviet flag overseas (see opposite page). Tupolev was on a roll. On 26 November 1925, the ANT-4 took to the air; and more designs were to come.

In Central Asia

On 1 May 1924 — possibly to coincide with the May Day cel­ebrations, and also as a practical measure to demonstrate the benefits of rule from Moscow, Dobrolet began to operate scheduled services in the area formerly under the Tsarist gov­ernor-generalship of Turkestan. The Soviet Government had replaced this, by setting up several Peoples’ Republics in 1921 to supplant the khanates of Khiva and Bukhara; and by 1925 the new republics of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tadjikistan, and Kirghizia were formally incorporated into the U. S.S. R.

Most probably with Junkers Ju 13s, Dobrolet opened a route from Khiva to Dushanbe, via Bukhara. While hardly operating with clockwork regularity and punctuality, it was reasonably successful, as the alternative land transport was by horse or camel. There were also boats on the Amu Darya river, but these were often left stranded when the river shifted course.

At the end of their epic flight from the U. S.S. R. to the U. S.A. in 1929 the Soviet crew was welcomed by the Mayor of Oakland. Left to right: the helmeted Sterligov, Shestakov, the Mayor, Bolatov, and Fnfayev. (photo: Eugene Altunin)

Ilyushin Keeps Pace

Believing that the turbopropeller solution to turbine-engined power was a good alternative to that of the pure jet, the British and American manufacturers had persevered with dif­ferent designs. Following the successful four-engined (but only medium-range) Vickers Viscount of 1952, the Bristol company in England had developed the Britannia, a long-range four – engined airliner that, but for slow production and unforeseen engine problems, would have gone into service in 1956. Even so, by 1957, the Britannias were making their mark around the world. In the United States, Lockheed produced the Model 188 Electra, a smaller but efficient aircraft designed primarily for U. S. domestic inter-city routes, but not with full transcon­tinental range. Quickly brought into service early in 1959 — too quickly perhaps — the Electra had severe problems with the engine installation, and came close to being grounded because of fatal accidents soon after entering service.

Coinciding with the announcement of the Sixth Five-Year Plan, which once again emphasized the need to increase air travel on all fronts, Sergei Ilyushin and his team produced a Soviet four-engined turboprop which, as the table on the opposite page shows, fell in between the Britannia and the

This dramatic picture of an Ilyushin 11-18 was taken at Tiksi, on the Arctic coast of northern Siberia, in 1960, during the long polar night, as it was being serviced, (photo: Boris Vdovienko)

Two great aircraft designers, Andrei Tupolev (left) and Sergei Ilyushin (right) photographed informally in 1963. (Vdovienko)

Electra in performance and size. In outward appearance, all three aircraft looked somewhat similar.

Solid Performance

The Ilyushin 11-18 — at first called the Moskva — went into Aeroflot service on 20 April 1959, on the Moscow-Adler route, to provide needed extra capacity for Muskovite vaca­tioners seeking the sun. Simultaneously, it started a non-stop route from Moscow to Alma Ata, the fast-growing capital of Kazakhstan. A direct Leningrad-Adler service, begun on 23 May, helped the citizens of Russia’s former capital to enjoy
the sun too; and on 20 June, the 11-18 reached Alma Ata by a circuitous route via Baku and Tashkent, the capitals of oil-rich Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, respectively.

The PaSar Mainlisier

Reference has already been made to the expansion of Aeroflot’s horizons in 1960 by its taking over Aviaarktika (page 47), so that it could now study the potential for route expansion on a broad front north of the Trans-Siberian Railway. While Ilyushin had a set-back on 17 August of that year, when an 11-18 crashed near Kiev, another 11-18 made a proving flight on a new trans-Siberian route, by the great cir­cle itinerary (as did also an Antonov An-10) and on 10 January 1961, opened regular service to Magadan, via the Arctic Sea port of Tiksi. Nine months later, another branch brought Anadyr, in remote Chukotka, within only eleven hours journey time of Moscow, eleven time zones away.

The Ilyushin 11-18 quickly established a reputation as a reliable, if not record-breaking airliner. It seemed to be at home in frigid climates of the northlands, and soon it was to experience an even more formidable challenge. For on 15 December 1961, it was selected to make the first flight by a commercial airliner to the Last Continent, Antarctica. For such a journey, extra tankage was provided, but later on, with growing maturity, a long-range version of the turboprop, the Ilyushin I1-18B, became almost standard equipment.

Mark Shevelev, the head of Polar Aviation, responsible for the pio­neering development by air of vast areas of northern Russia, greets Sergei Ilyushin (right), one of the aircraft designers who made his work possible, (photo: Boris Vdovienko)

Ivchenko AI-20M (4×4, 250ehp) Ш MTOW 61,200kg (135,001b) Ш Normal Range 4,425km (2,750mi)

THREE LARGE FOUR-ENGINED TURBOPROPS COMPARED

First Service Bate Aircraft Type Dimensioms-ni(ft) Speed ism/h (mph) №ed Class Seating MTOW kg m Normal Range ism (mi) First Airline No. Built Length Spam 19 Dec 19571 Bristol Britannia 310 38(124) 43(142) 620(385) 110 (185,000) 84,090 (3,750) 6,000 B. O.A. C. 853 12 Jan 1959 Lockheed 188 Electra 32(105) 30(99) 650(405) 85 (116,000) 52,700 (2,500) 4,000 Eastern Airlines 170 20 Apr 1959 Ilyushin 11-18 36(118) 37(123) 640(400) 100 (135,000) 61.2002 (2,750) 4,4252 Aeroflot 565 Notes: 1The medium-range Britannia 102 entered service on 1 Feb 1957. 2The long-range Ilyushin II-18D had a MTOW of 64,000kg (141,0001b) and a range of6,500km 14,000mi). ^All Britannias including 100 Series.

Comparison with 00-86 LENGTH 53m (174ft) SPAN 43m (142ft)

Il-18s still serve in a variety of roles today. This modified aircraft (SSSR-7S449) surveys the extent of the polar ice pack from its Moscow-Sheremetyevo base. (photo: Patrick Vinot-Prefontaine)

Sergei Ilyushin.

A Very Special Flight

In the interests of time and economy of effort in delivering supplies to the Arctic Expeditions, and in spite of the now reg­ular annual trips by the Ilyushin 18Ds, a decision was made in 1985 to use a bigger aircraft, a real heavy lifter, the Ilyushin 76TD, weighing in at a 190,000kg (420,0001b) — say 200 tons at take-off — and able to carry a 50-ton payload over a dis­tance of 3,650km (2,270mi). Already equipped as a specialized freighter, with winches and ramps, and able to use the so-called unprepared strips, i. e. without concrete or paving, the one destined to make this historic trip was fitted with 90 seats, plus kitchen, medical, and life-saving equip­ment. On 18 February 1986, the I1-76TD took off from Moscow, and flew by a slightly different African route direct to Novolazarevskaya, then to Molodezhnaya, and arrived back home on 4 March 1986.

And Very Special Landings

While the thickness of the ice that formed the runway at Novolazerevskaya may not have reached the astonishing proportions of Vostok (see opposite page), it was, however, a slick surface, and all of the 3,000 meters (10,000ft, or almost two miles) length was needed for the I1-76TD to slow to a stop after touching down. Molodezhnaya, on the other hand, presented a different problem. The runway was long enough, again 3,000 meters; and wide enough — 90 meters (300ft). But the composition of the runway was not of ice; it was of snow, 82 meters thick. When properly pre­pared this was all right for most aircraft; but the Ilyushin II- 76 weighed 200 tons.

The ground staff at Molodezhnaya must have heard the story of the English gardener who, when asked by an American tourist how he had produced such a perfect lawn, suggested that it may have been the result of mow­ing it once a week, and rolling it once a week… for 500 years. Overcoming difficulties of alternate melting during long summer days of unbroken sunshine and crusting of surfaces with repeated freezing, the ground staff rolled and rolled and rolled the runway… for a whole year. The 11-76 landed and took off successfully.

Antonovs Everywhere

Not content with providing normal air service to small com­munities, supporting the Arctic ice stations, surveying fishing grounds, agricultural work of all kinds, supporting railroad construction, and laying out oil-pipe lines, the Antonov An-2 demonstrated its almost unlimited flexibility and versa­tility by being a school bus in places where wheeled vehicles did not dare to venture.

In this picture-essay — once again the product of Boris Vdovienko’s peripatetic camera — an An-2V is seen at the tiny community of Laboroveya, in the Poluostrov Yamal (the Yamal Peninsula), just north of the Arctic Circle in northwest­ern Siberia. Invited by the Aeroflot pilot from their ‘yaranga’ houses in the treeless tundra, the children are taken to the secondary school at Katrovozh, near Salekhard, the ‘big city’ of the Yamal Nenets Autonomous District.

(Top) Summer homes in the Yamal Nenets district of northwestern Siberia. The tents, of slender tree trunks and animal skins, are called yaranga. Normal transport, even in the unfrozen brief sum­mer, is by sled, but the ubiquitous Antonov An-2, seen here to the right, has added a new dimension to travel.

(Bottom) Children from the Yamal Nenets village ofLaborovaya are shipped out to the await­ing Antonov An-2V, to attend secondary school.

Metamorphosis

After Mikhail Gorbachev launched the policies of glasnost and perestroika in the mid-1980s, the Soviet Union was never the same again. The fires of communist revolutionary spirit, long dampened, were extinguished as the smoldering embers of independence broke into flames when Boris Yeltsin led the final overthrow of communist power in 1991. In the capi­tals of the autonomous republics, political and social instincts combined to proclaim regional identities and to break away from the perceived domination of centralized Moscow con­trol. But in a country that stretched almost halfway around the earth, complete balkanization would have led to chaos, and recognizing practical and economic realities, eleven of the states of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U. S.S. R.) were proclaimed the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on 22 December 1991.

Problems of Fragmentation

The three Baltic republics had already reclaimed their inde­pendence. The remaining twelve states came to grips with the challenge to replace a 70-year-old economic system. The 29 local regions (other than the four Moscow entities and the three Baltics of Aeroflot) took steps to go their own way.

The sheer magnitude of sharing out some 11,000 aircraft and more than 600,000 staff was an awesome prospect. Nevertheless, aircraft, ground installations, airfields and air­ports, navigational services, and personnel of the old Aeroflot giant would be reidentified with the new regional airlines, with the transfers amounting almost literally to no more than the signing of documents. At the time of the publication of this book, however, only a handful of aircraft have been paint­ed in the new color schemes of the independent companies.

The New Aeroflot

Even before the creation of the CIS, the decision was made in Moscow that the Aeroflot name should remain as that of the official flag carrier of Russia’s international air routes. Effectively, it simply adopted the fleet of Sheremetyevo II, Moscow’s main international airport, formerly one of the 36 regional subdivisions. Of the 103 aircraft, 28 were long-range Ilyushin ll-62s and 18 were Ilyushin 11-86 Airbuses

The new Russian International Airlines was no longer inhibited by an obligation to operate only Soviet-built air­craft, although Aeroflot Soviet Airlines remained as the legal name until 23 July 1992. As described on page 93, it leased a small fleet of Airbus A310s. A new era had begun.