Category An Illustrated History of the World’s Largest Airline

. Fokker F. lll

DERULUFT FOKKER F. llls

Regn.

MSN

, In.

Service

Remarks

RR 1

4/22-26

RR 2

1653

4/22-26

Rebuilt as Grulich V1, to D 902

RR 3

4/22-5/28

to D 1389

RR 4

4/22-26

to D 904

RR 5

8/22-30

Rebuilt as Grulich V1. Via

RR 6

1656

5/22-26

to D 906

RR 7

5/22-26

RR 8

1658

8/22-26

to D 200

RR У

5/22-26

RR 10

1660

7/22-26

to D 910 Zugspitze

1530

ex H-NABR

1531

ex H-NABS, to D 180

Notes: Deruluft also operated Fokker F. VRR 13120501. ex H-NABW:

Fokker F. VIIRR21148451. to H-NACR: L VG С. VIRR11146443).

exD 123: Albatross L.76a D 1127 (10101): and at least one Polikarpov PM-1.

F.111s RR 3, RR 5, RR 6, &RR 10 to Ukrvozdukhput.

ANT-25

Going For the Distance

For propaganda and prestige reasons alone, the goal of beat­ing world records, especially in a technological field such as aviation, was attractive to the Soviet Union during the early 1930s. Andrei Tupolev realized that the existing long dis­tance record was within its grasp, and obtained authorization from the Revolutionary War Council on 7 December 1931 to proceed with a new design, the ANT-25 RD (Rekord Dal’nost, or record distance). It was a carefully-fashioned product. The corrugated wing had an aspect ration of no less than 13-0, with fuel tankage distributed along the whole length, to relieve bending stress (later the corrugations were smoothed over with fabric, and the drag coefficient was reduced by 36 percent.) The fuel load was eventually increased to 6.1 tons, more than half the total gross weight of the airplane. Instrumentation included the first Soviet gyro-compass, a 500 W, 12 V generator, MF and HF radios, and a sextant in a hinged room station.

Mikhail Gromov made the first flight on 22 June 1933. After the modifications, a series of closed circuit flights in 1934 culminated in Gromov, with A. I. Filin and I. T. Spirin, setting a new world’s record on 10 September, at 12,411km (7,713mi) in a multi-lap triangular flight lasting 75hr 2min. Then, as preparations were made for a spectacu­lar demonstration — trans-Polar flight — Gromov fell ill. In August 1935, the reputable Sigismund Levanevskiy flew towards the North Pole, but had to turn back (see opposite page); and that led to the critical meeting with Stalin. As the table below shows, the ANT-25 was in a great tradi­tion of long-range specialist aircraft. And the honor of matching words with deeds fell to Valery Chkalov.

About 16 ANT-25s were built. No more record­breaking flights were attempted, but the aircraft were used for experimental test flying.

Valery Chkalov, pilot of the fust trans-Polar flight of 1937.

Sigismund Levanevskiy, pilot of the third, and tragic attempt to fly across the North Pole in 1937.

In an amiable mood, the designer of the ANT-25, Andrei Tupolev, and Chkalov’s co-pilot, Georgy Baidukov, meet at Moscow airport in 1975. With them is General Bykov, Deputy Minister of Aviation, (photos: Boris Vdovienko)

ANT-25

The ANT-25 crew that flew from Moscow to California in 1937 (left to right) Danilin, Gromov, and Yumarshov.

Подпись: A Nationwide Airline

Aeroflot Consolidates

While all the headlines were being captured by Aviaarktika, with its brilliant support of the Papanin Expedition; by Chkalov’s and Gromov’s trans-Polar flights, and by Levanevskiy’s tragic disappearance; Aeroflot was building an air network, not so much by adding more routes (to those shown on the map on page 27) but by introducing better aircraft and more frequencies on the trunk lines and by adding small feeder services and bush routes to connect with the main arteries.

On 15 May 1937, for example, improved service from Moscow to Tashkent was announced, to augment the flights first started by Dobrolet in 1929, but which carried mainly mail and Pravda matrices. Rather as in the formative years of air transport in the United States in the 1920s, the passengers, mainly government officials, had lower priority. But from 1937 onwards, there was a distinct upgrading of service standards.

International Probing

The Prague route had opened, with PS-9 (modified ANT-9) ser­vice, on 31 August 1936, and following the demise of Deruluft on 31 March 1937, Berlin was added to the Aeroflot map. Service also started from Leningrad to Stockholm in 1937, but this was superseded — handsomely — on 11 November 1940, by a direct service from Stockholm to Moscow, via Riga and Velikie Luki. Operated jointly with the Swedish Airline A. B.A., both airlines used the Douglas DC-3; the Soviets, however, also flying the license-built Lisunov Li-2 version, production of which had begun in 1938, a contract having been made between Douglas and AMTORG (American Trading Organization) in August 1935 (see page 37). In an interesting preview of future events, the two airlines offered service from Stockholm (neutral during World War II) and Tokyo, via the Trans-Siberian Railway (interestingly, not by Aeroflot); while an even more ambitious connection was offered, from Scandinavia to San Francisco in 30 days, by Japanese ship from Kobe. This, of course, did not last very long.

Other indications of Aeroflot’s following the flag during this confused period of uncertain world politics were the opening of lines to Bucharest and Cluj, Romania, in 1938, and to Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1939. In that year also, a joint Soviet-Chinese air link was forged, from Alma Ata to Hami, in northwest China, the two points giving a name to the airline: Hamiata. But all hopes of further international expansion were dashed when Hitler’s Germany invaded the Soviet Union with Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941.

Gaining Stature

ANT-25Подпись: The Lisunov Li-2, license-built version of the Douglas DC-3, superseded the old generation, at Moscow-Khodinka. (Boris Vdovienko)Подпись:ANT-25By 1940, the unduplicated mileage of Aeroflot’s route system was close to 100,000, and in that year it carried 350,000 pas­sengers. The productivity, measured in passenger-miles flown, was 160 million. Aeroflot was now bigger than Deutsche Lufthansa, Europe’s biggest, and it was now the third biggest airline in the world.

Подпись: Flights Long and Short

The Lights Co Out Again

Europe was an unsettled part of the world in 1938 and 1939. The seizure of Austria and the Sudentenland by Nazi troops had put every country on a war-alert footing. Old-style diplo­macy had been replaced by a policy of might-is-right, and war seemed inevitable as Adolf Hitler pursued his insatiable desire for power. While some countries took defensive measures — France built its Maginot Line and Britain belatedly modern­ized its Royal Air Force — the U. S.S. R, disenchanted with try­ing to come to terms with the western democracies, signed a non-aggression pact with Germany — the infamous Molotov – Ribbentrop Pact — in August 1939. On 3 September, Germany invaded Poland, and the Second World War began. Echoing a famous phrase by British statesman Edward Grey in 1914, the lights went out in Europe once again.

Flight of the Moscow

Against the far-reaching political events, the world of com­merce and culture, as always, carried on until the guns and torpedoes were actually fired. In the United States, New York was planning a spectacular World’s Fair, and rather surprising­ly, the Soviet Union decided to mark the occasion by what was intended to be a spectacular airplane flight. Although the Chkalov and Gromov trans-Polar flights had been impressive, the disappearance of Levanevskiy had tarnished the image; and his death had further emphasized the severe dangers of

ANT-25

Vladimir

Kokkinaki

(photos: Boris Vdovienko)

challenging the Arctic wastes.

Accordingly, a shorter route was chosen, the Great Circle route westward from Moscow via Iceland and Greenland. The pilot was Brig Gen Vladimir Kokkinaki, flying an Ilyushin TsKB-30 (DB-3B) twin-engined bomber aircraft, the Moskva (Moscow), the same one in which he had made a non­stop flight to the Far East in June 1938. Accompanied by Major Mikhail Kh. Gordiyenko, he took off from Moscow on 28 April 1939, and then proceeded to face filthy weather, tem­peratures down to 54°C below zero, and, approaching the North American continent, dense fog. They lost their way and, with a certain amount of luck, managed to make a wheels-up forced landing in an ice-covered marsh on the little island of Miscou, New Brunswick, 6,250km (3,900mi) and 22hr 56min after leaving Moscow. They had actually flown farther, while they were lost, and made their landing with empty tanks.

ANT-25

Departure of the flight to Novaya Zemlya on 29 March 1936. Vodopyanov’s first segment, however, was only a few kilometers.

Polikarpov R-5 (SSSR-N127), one of only two built, and in which Mikhail Vodopyanov made a flight to Novaya Zemlya in 1936.

Vodopyanov’s Shortest Hop

When the famous pilot Mikhail Vodopyanov set off on his epic survey flight of 29 March 1936, to determine if a route to the North Pole was feasible via selected loca­tions in Novaya Zemlya and Franz Jozef Land (see page 28), he was given an enthusiastic send-off by a crowd of well-wishers at Moscow. He took off in a Polikarpov R – 5 (SSSR-N128), ostensibly en route to the Frozen North.

ANT-25

ANT-25

Подпись: REGD
ANT-25

Little did the crowd know of a certain hesitancy in the hero Mikhail’s demeanour. For the day was a Sunday, and he was superstitious about flying on a Sunday. The first leg of his arduous route to the dreaded Franz Jozef Land was as short as he could make it — just over the rooftops and hedges to the nearest landing strip;, and out of sight of the adoring fans.

The Mini-Liners

The Mini-Liners

The Smallest Jetliner

The Soviet industry had, by the late 1960s, acquired a reputa­tion — deserved, no doubt, in some cases — of copying western aircraft designs. But one aircraft owed nothing to western influ­ence. The Yakovlev Yak-40 was a small jet, seating up to 32 passengers, for use on feeder routes which did not generate enough traffic to justify even the 40-48-seat Antonov An-24.

The distinguishing feature of the Yak-40 was its tri-jet engine configuration, with two in fuselage-mounted pods, and one fared into the vertical stabilizer, all at the rear, like the engines in the Trident, the Boeing 727, or the Tupolev Tu – 154, but on a much smaller scale. The normal entrance was by a ventral stair. A. S. Yakovlev, who had produced the Yak-9 and Yak-3 fighter aircraft that did such an outstanding job in the Great Patriotic War, thus made his debut in the commercial arena with a unique formula. Not only that, but in so doing, and allowing for certain shortcomings such as a shortage of baggage space (only one overhead rack, as a rule, on the right side; and no under-floor hold), Yakovlev pro­duced a small jet airliner for successful inter-city use; and this accomplishment has not been matched in the West.

The Yak-40 made its first flight on 21 October 1966 and entered service with Aeroflot on 30 September 1968. More than 1,010 were built at the Saratov production line and 130 were exported to 17 countries.

A. S. Yakovlev

Yakovlev pro­duced a mini-air­liner that has no equivalent in the west, (courtesy: Von Hardesty)

The Smallest Turboprop

Not long after the introduction of what may be described as the world’s first mini-airliner, another small aircraft, designed for a similar air transport role, appeared on the scene. This was the 15-seat Let L410 (later produced as a 19-seater), sometimes known as the Turbolet, and was produced by the Let Narodni Podnik (Let National Corporation) in Czechoslovakia. The pre-war Czech aircraft industry had been obliterated by the Nazi occupation, but it pulled itself togeth­er again after the War, and by the late 1960s, was ready with innovative designs. The small turboprop seemed to be just

The Mini-Liners

Line-up of more than 20 Yak-40s at Krasnoyarsk in 1992.

right for Aeroflot as a replacement for the aging Antonov An-2.In the event, it did not completely replace, but was a worthy complement to the ‘Annuchik’ in its versatility in using grass or gravel strips.

Like the Yak-40, the L410’s baggage hold is at the back, but access is through a hydraulically actuated door in the left rear fuselage. Unlike the small tri-jet, however, there are no overhead baggage racks in the three-abreast configuration. A total of 902 of the Czech mini-airliners were exported to the Soviet Union.

The Mini-Liners

LetL410 SSSR-67544 at Khabarovsk.

The Mini-Liners

Cabin of a Yak-40 in 24-seat layout. In this version, baggage racks are open and on one side only. (Photos: R. E.G. Davies)

King of the Crop Sprayers

Подпись: View of a typical landing strip, about 300 meters (1,000 feet) long, Antonov An-2, preparing for a day's crop-spraying. (V. Grebnev) in a collective farm district near Novgorod. (R.E.G. Davies)King of the Crop SprayersПодпись:

King of the Crop SprayersProductivity

During the peak period of chemical spraying, more than

3,0 aircraft are put to use, although the number is declining as ecological concerns have reduced the activity in some areas. Ninety-five percent of the work is performed by the Antonov An-2, for which, in this application, the much – used word ‘workhorse’ is perfectly apt. The remainder, special­ized work in small gardens, vineyards, and small fields, is done by helicopters.

The productivity is impressive. In pollination work, for example, the An-2s can cover 400 times as much area as by manual applications; and for crop-spraying, the factors in at least 600- fold.

Doubie Duty

To fly the crop-sprayers, hour after hour, day after day, is demanding on the pilots, who must exercise strict control and discipline, with no margin for error. The An-2s fly at an altitude of three meters (10ft), and each crew makes between 30 and 50 flights per day, each flight lasting between four and 15 minutes.

Seventy percent of Aeroflot captains start flying in agricul­tural aviation, working their way up from the grass roots — almost literally. Many an Ilyushin 11-86 or 11-62 captain will look back on his agricultural apprenticeship with a certain affection, which is also directed at the veteran biplane, the Annachik, or, as it is sometimes called, by the name that it inherited from the Polikarpov U-2, the Kukuruzhnik.

King of the Crop Sprayers

Pilot’s-eye view of a field being dusted with fertilizer, from the cockpit of an Antonov An-2. (R. E.G. Davies)

Formation of Dobrolet

Formation of Dobrolet

Russian Aviation Recovery

By 1922, aviation in Russia was slowly recovering. The service to Berlin (pages 12-13) carried 400 passengers and 18 tons of mail. And some progress was being made elsewhere. On 8 July 1922 in Moscow, for example, the first experimental flight was made spraying insecticide from the air, as a prelude to developing aviation for agricultural use (page 82). Aerial pho­tography was quickly recognized to be ideal for mapping

Russia’s vast eastern expanses, almost totally devoid of surface transport north of the trans-Siberian Railway.

Other than Deruluft, another small air transport service, the All-Russian, was offered in 1922. On 1 August, flights began between Moscow and Nizhne Novgorod, in conjunc­tion with the annual fair. The aircraft used were Junkers-F 13s, lent by the German Junkers firm, which was planning to establish an assembly plant in Moscow (see opposite). The service operated until 25 September, and 57 flights were made, carrying 209 passengers and 2,600kg (5,8001b) of freight over the 420km (260mi) distance.

As a result, the Russian authorities ordered 20 Junkers-F 13s for future use, and the national budget for aviation pur­poses was raised to 35 million rubles. During 1922 also, the first Soviet-built aircraft made its debut in Leningrad. It was a small training model, designated the U-l, and named Red Pilot. Some 700 are reported to have been built, as well as 120 of the Mu-1 floatplane version. The U-2 was built in 1928.

Formation of the U. S.S. R.

Political consolidation was delayed until the end of 1922, when the Far Eastern Republic, which had declared independence during the turmoil of the Revolution, finally agreed to merge with the Russian S. F.S. R. On 30 December 1922, the 10th All­Russian Congress of the Soviets (and the First All-Union Congress) officially declared the formation of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (U. S.S. R.), consisting of Russia, the Ukraine, Byelorussia (White Russia), and Transcaucasia. Russia effectively controlled central Asia, but the republics in that region did not become part of the Soviet Union until 1924.

A Civil Aviation Administration

On 23 November 1922, the Institute of Engineers of the Red Air Force (page 12) in Moscow became the Academy of the Air Force, which was also named after its driving personali­ty, Nikolai Zhukovskiy. On 1 December, as the threat of war receded, the Revolutionary War Soviet of the Republic, under the Chief Directorate of the Workers and Peasants of the Red Army Air Force (Glavvozdykhoflot) was charged with the responsibility of inspecting all civil aviation and overseeing its technical activities. Simply put, this Inspectorate of the Civil Air Fleet was akin to the U. S. Civil Aeronautics Authority, and it paved the way for the establish-

Poster advertising the Junkers ‘Aviakultura’ flights between Moscow and Nizhne Novogorod in 1922.

ment of civil air transport. On 9 February 1923, the Soviet Council of Labour and Defence issued a decree whereby the establishment of airlines was entrusted to Glavvozdykhoflot, through the Inspectorate of the Air Fleet. With the support of the post office and other government agencies, the operation was, in turn, placed under a full-time Civil Aviation Board (or Council) and this event is recognized as the official birth date of Aeroflot.

The Great Patriotic War

Mobilization

With shattering force, and with the element of surprise, Hitler’s Germany launched Operation Barbarossa and invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. Within two or three days, at least half of the Soviet Air Force had been destroyed before the aircraft could take to the air. All Aeroflot services to the west were immediately suspended — including the one to Berlin! — but those to the east continued for a while, as did some of the routes of Aviaarktika. On 25 June, Grazdansij Vozduzhnij Plot (Aeroflot) effectively became a unit of the Soviet Air Force. Vasily S. Molokov, hero of the Chelyuskin rescue, and veteran of Polar aviation, was appointed head of the military transport organization, with the rank of Major-General.

The Battle of Moscow

In October 1941, the Germans made a concentrated effort to capture Moscow. The Soviet forces desperately defended their capital. On 16 October, the Government transferred to Kuibyshev (Samara), although Stalin himself (in an uncharac­teristic reflection of a similar decision by King George VI) stayed in Moscow. Aeroflot was directly involved in the defense of Moscow. The published statistics were impressive: 32,730 flights (845 behind enemy lines); 49,822 troops car­ried; and 1,365 tons of supplies, arms, and medicines carried.

Organization

Late in 1942, two special groups were formed: the First Transport Aviation Group (renamed in 1944 as the 10th

The Great Patriotic War

Guards Aviation Division); and the Special Communica­tions Aviation Group (later to become the 3rd Communications Aviation Division). The fleets were com­posed of the former aircraft of Aeroflot, plus a number of obsolete types no longer useful as military equipment, such as the TB-3 (ANT-6) four-engined bomber, designed back in 1930, but still useful as a load-carrier. Additionally, 15 Detached Aviation Regiments were formed in 1943. Equipped with Poiikarpov U-2/Po-2s, these units were highly mobile, providing close support to individual regi­ments at the front line, with ambulance, reconnaissance, and communications missions.

Reinforcements

With their backs to the wall in 1942 and the early part of 1943, the Soviet armed forces gladly accepted any help they could get, from whatever source. Paramount among such efforts was the American Lend-Lease program, and among the thousands of aircraft ferried from the east (see opposite) were hundreds of Douglas C-47s, which were promptly delivered to the First Detached Aviation Division, for operations on the Central Front, where they were joined by their matching twins Lisunov Li-2s, manufactured at Tashkent under a DC-3 license from Douglas, negotiated through AMTORG.

Other help to augment the meager resources of Aeroflot during the desperate conflict came from an unexpected source. Between 31 January and 2 February, the city of Stalingrad was the site of one of the greatest victories of the Great Patriotic War — or of any war. During the final days of the doomed German armies, they had been supplied by a large number of Junkers-Ju 52/3m transports. About 80 of

The Lisunov Li-2 was the transport workhorse for the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War. (photo: Boris Vdovienko)

The Great Patriotic War

The Great Patriotic War

In the Arctic, aircraft frequently stuck in the snow when icing effec­tively glued them to the runway. Such scenes as this were familiar in the north. The aircraft is an ANT-7, (photo: Boris Vdovienko) these abandoned ‘Tante Ju’s’ were repaired and put into ser­vice with Aeroflot.

A Great War Record

The Great Patriotic War ended on 9 May 1945. Aeroflot’s con­tribution to the war effort had been considerable, and was so recognized: 15,000 of its staff received medals and honors; 15 pilots were proclaimed Heroes of the Soviet Union; six of the Front-line Sections became Guards Units; and ten Sections were awarded special medals. They had been well earned. During the War, Aeroflot had carried 2,300,000 passengers and 300,000 tons of freight, including materiel and medical supplies. Of the passengers, 330,000 were wounded soldiers.

The Great Patriotic War

The Great Patriotic War

A Soviet Navy GST (license-built Consolidated 28 Catalina) at Khabarovsk in the early 1940s. The military GST was also used for passenger transport along with a few civil versions (designated MP – 7) built for Aeroflot. The pilot on the right is Mikhail Vodopyanov, (photo: Far Eastern Regional Directorate Museum, Khabarovsk)

A Poiikarpov U-2 (Po-2), diminutive maid-of-all-work, was to be seen everywhere during the War. This Aeroflot U-2 (SSSR-L3373) pictured at Tobolsk in 1941 has a sliding canopy enclosed cockpit- for the pilot, and three passenger windows in the fuselage and con­tainers underneath the wings, (photo: Boris Vdovienko)

Ilyushin 11-76

50 TONS ■ 750km/h (470mph)

Soloviev D-30KP (4 x 12,000kg st, 26,4551b st) ■ MTOW 170,000kg (375,0001b) ■ Normal Range 3,650km (2,190mi)

The Second Big Freighter

The Antonov An-22 (see page 67) had captured the aviation world’s attention during the mid – 1960s, with its impressive size and the ability to carry 80 tons of cargo. When the Ilyushin 11-76 made its maiden flight at Moscow’s almost-downtown Khodinka airfield on 25 March 1971, it did not attract quite as much publicity, possibly because it did not beat any records in sheer size. Its all-up weight was about 44 tons less than the big Antonov’s, but it was nevertheless just as impressive, and appears to have been more popular with the operators, as far more Il-76s are to be seen the length and breadth of Russia and the former Soviet republics than its larger rival.

The big freighter went into series production for civil use as the 11-76T in 1975, and deliveries began to Aeroflot in 1976. Like the Antonov series of heavy lifters, the 11-76 had a pronounced anhedral wing, and — also like the An-22 (and the Lockheed C-141) — it had superb short-field and rough-field performance, thanks to the manner in which the total weight of the aircraft was distributed among the multiple-wheeled landing gear. Sixteen main wheels are mounted in fuse­lage pods, and are arranged in banks of tandem axles, four abreast on each side. The 11-76 can car­ry 40 tons, but habitually carries loads of around 20 tons over ranges of about 7,000km (4,000mi), i. e. nonstop from Moscow to Khabarovsk or Yakutsk. It can moreover make this performance to and from airfields with runways about 1,700 meters (one mile) in length.

Universal Popularity

Such versatility makes it almost indispensable for long-range cargo operations, especially as its 24-meter (almost 80ft) – long cargo hold is more than 3m (10ft) high and wide. Every main traf­fic center of Aeroflot, and especially the big air traffic centers in Siberia, enjoys regular air cargo connections with all corners of the system, from Murmansk to Vladivostok; and it is especially welcomed at Yakutsk, which is not served by rail, and where road and river traffic is burden­some and restricted to a short season. A longer range variant, the I1-76TD, went into production in the early 1980s.

Ilyushin 11-76Подпись:The Ilyushin Il-76’s finest hour, however, was almost certainly when it made a flight to Antarctica in 1986, and repeated the performance in 1987 and 1989. For this operation, it was able to alight on packed snow and on slick ice, both challenges to airmanship and aircraft integrity. These remarkable long-distance heavy-lift sorties are described on page 71.

Lotarev P-36 (3 x 6,500kg st, 14,330ib st) ■ MTOW 56,500kg (124,5601b) ■ Normal Range 2,200km (l,320mi)

Early Promise

Soviet aircraft that traditionally attracted attention in the West, notably at such shop windows as the Paris Air Show, did so because they were bigger or faster than had ever been seen before. The Yakovlev Yak-42 was different. When it first flew on 7 March 1975 (as a 100-seater), and when Aeroflot ordered 200 of the new trijet in June 1977, the world sat up and took notice; because at last, it was suspected, the Soviet Union had produced an airliner that could compare with equivalent western types, not only in performance, but also in operating, efficiency.

Although Aeroflot discussed the possibility of the 120-seat Yak-42 being a replacement for a wide range of obsolescent types, from the Antonov An-24 to the Ilyushin 11-18, it was directed mainly to supersede the Tupolev Tu-134 80-seat twin. Certainly, the figures look promising. The 120-seat six-abreast Yak-42 was only five tons heavier than the four-abreast Tu-134, and was not much bigger. It needed only two crew members, instead of the three or four of the Tupolev. It had good short-field performance, could use rough airstrips, and had the additional features of built-in airstairs and baggage racks on each side of the door entrances. It seemed to fit halfway between the Tupolev Tu-134 twin and the Tupolev Tu-154 trijet, and a great future seemed assured.

The Pace Slackens

The Yakovlev Yak-42 entered service with Aeroflot in November 1980, on routes such as Moscow-Kostroma and Leningrad-Helsinki. Later on, it was introduced as a back-up to the heavy air corridor traffic to the Caucasus; and it operated to Prague, both from Kiev and Lvov.

The introduction of the Yak-42 was marred by many technical problems and, following an in-flight structural failure of the tailplane, the type was withdrawn from service in the early 1980s. After more than 2,300 design changes, it re-entered Aeroflot service in the late 1980s and quickly gained an impressive reputation for reliability, efficiency, and economy.

Подпись: Comparison with 11-86 LENGTH 36m (119ft) SPAN 35m (115ft) Подпись:

Ilyushin 11-76

In 1990, the longer range 120-seat Yak-42D was introduced, and is probably one of the most comfortable Russian-built aircraft in the Aeroflot fleet. By June 1992, 115 Yak-42s and 50 Yak – 42Ds had been delivered to Aeroflot.

Jynkers-F 13

4 SEATS ■ 165km/h (105mph)

A Great Airliner

To the relief of the whole of Europe, the Armistice of 11 November 1918 brought an end to the Great War, Professor Junkers drew on the experience of building military aircraft almost entirely of metal, and designed one of the most suc­cessful transport aircraft of the 1920s, and one of the great air­liners of all time.

Designated the Junkers-F 13 — defying superstition — it first went into service in Germany in 1919, and the last F 13 in scheduled service retired in Brazil in 1948. Constructed of corrugated light-weight aluminum, it easily outlived the wood-and-fabric steel-framed aircraft of the time, few of which survived for more than two or three years — and would not have lasted long in northern Russia or Siberia.

Restrictive Practices

The F 13s were, like all German aircraft, handicapped by severe restrictions imposed by the victorious Allies. In May 1920, all German aircraft were confiscated by the occupying powers, and under the terms of the ‘London Ultimatum’ of 5 May 1921, these were enforced with even more severity. Not until 14 April 1922 was the ban on aircraft construction finally lift­ed, albeit with limitations on engine power and load carrying.

German companies evaded the letter — and the intent — of the law by setting up production in other countries. It also sponsored the formation of airlines in those countries which had no aircraft industries of their own (and even one or two that had) by setting up joint ventures. The host country sup­plied the infrastructure of installations, airfields, and adminis­trative staff; Junkers supplied the aircraft and technical support.

The little four-passenger F 13 carried its customers in a comfortable cabin, in comfortable seats; however, the two crew sat in a semi-open cockpit. Altogether, over 300 F 13s were built, an astonishing production performance for the period, and the F 13 formed the basis for later types such as the W 33, and ultimately the Ju 52/3m. The F 13s were to be seen all over Europe, in South America, and in other countries such as Persia and South Africa.

Aeroflot Turns to Douglas

Подпись: Type First Right Date Dimensions- m(ft) Seats No. Engines MTOW kg (lb) Speed km/h (mph) Range km (mi) No. Built Length Span Type h.p. DC-3 17 Dec 19.66 28.96 21-28 2 Wright Cyclone 860 11,430 290 2,000 11,413* 1935 (54,6) (95,0) P & W Double Wasp 1,200 (25,200) (180) (1,250) Li-2 1940 19.66 28.96 18-28 2 Shvetsov 900 11,280 225 1,600 6,157 (64,6) (95,0) M-62 (24,900) (140) (1,000) Notes: * This figure includes 10,493 military versions, mainly C-47s, built in the U.S.; 487 built in Japan: but only 433 commercial DC-3s built specifically for airlines. Li-2 figure also includes production for military. Aeroflot Turns to DouglasAeroflot Turns to Douglas

Technical Slowdown

Although the ANT-9 of the late 1920s had been on a par with the commercial aircraft of other countries; and the ANT-6 had been an adequate heavy lifter, Soviet designers lost momentum dur­ing the 1930s. Kalinin was executed. Tupolev himself spent much of his time under house arrest, and escaped being shot only by the intervention of, of all people, Beria, head of the secret police.

Buying the Best

In August 1935, AMTORG (American Trading Organization) in New York, took delivery of the first DC-2 (NC14949, msn 1413) and Boris Lisunov was sent to California to prepare for the licensed production of the Douglas twin. The Soviet-built Douglases were first designated PS – 845 (Pashazhyrski Samolyet, or passenger aircraft), and from 17 September 1942, Lisunov Li – 25. These were standard DC-3s, with a right-side – entry door. By the end of World War II, 2,258 had been built. The type remained in production until 1954, by which time a total of 6,157 had been built at Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Lend-Leases

After the Nazi invasion of the summer of 1941, much of western Russia and the Ukraine had been devastated or pillaged. In a mighty display of determination and improvised organization, all the aircraft production lines in Europe were moved eastwards to cities beyond the Ural Mountains. This massive logistics task took many months, and meanwhile the Air Force had to be reinforced.

At an Allied conference in Moscow on 31 July 1941, Harry Hopkins, President Roosevelt’s special envoy, laid the foundations of what was to become the Lend-Lease Program. Slow to get under way at first — few aircraft arrived in time for the Battle of Moscow, and these were from Britain, via Murmansk — the unprecedented machinery of the historic airlift began on 29 September 1942, when the first Bell P-39 Airacobra left Fairbanks, Alaska, and arrived in time to go into action early in October.

Of the 18,700 aircraft supplied under the Allied Lend – Lease program, 14,750 were flown along this route, by U. S. pilots to Fairbanks, where Soviet flyers took over. Of these, over 4,900 were P-39 Airacobras, 2,400 P-63 Kingcobras,

2,900 Douglas DB-7/A-20 Havocs, and 860 North American B-25 Mitchells. About 640 were lost in transit. The Lend – Lease aircraft accounted for 12% of the 136,800 of all types used by the Soviet Air Force in the Great Patriotic War.

Of the several other types, other than those men­tioned above, 700 were Douglas C-47s, the most widely used of the military variants of the DC-3 workhorse trans­port airplane. They were used everywhere. The Soviet pilots liked them as much as did the U. S.A. A.F. ‘Gooney Bird’ and the R. A.F. Dakota flyers. And they were to make a solid contribution to Aeroflot’s recovery after the con­flict came to an end. On 1 March 1946, for instance, the 14th Cargo Aircraft Group of Aeroflot was formed at Yakutsk. Fifteen C-47s were transferred from the Soviet air fleet, together with, remarkably, three Junkers-Ju 52/3m’s that had been captured on the eastern front.

COMPARISON OF DOUGLAS DC-3 AND LISUNOV LI-2

Aeroflot Turns to Douglas

The old Yakutsk terminal building, in traditional Russian wood construction, first erected for the Lend-Lease program, is still there, as this photo, taken in 1992, shows. Just down the street is the original building which housed the offices of the Lend-Lease program during the vital years, 1942-1945. (R. E.G. Davies)

Подпись: Post-War Struggle

Подпись:Подпись:Подпись: Helsinki G- - - © Leningrad RESUMPTION OF EUROPEAN AIR SERVICES 1944-47 ' oscow Dates shown are of first flight. Regular services introduced later East Bloc Подпись:Подпись: 1947 TiranaПодпись: REGDAeroflot Turns to DouglasПодпись: Pr«3 4- Aug. 1^45 Vienn< 194; Подпись:

Resumption of European Services

The Soviet Union emerged from World War II (The Great Patriotic War) weakened by its sustained and intensive efforts to beat the Nazi war machine into the ground. Aeroflot had to re-group as the national flag carrier, as Moscow began to isolate itself from its allies in the west, at the same time trying to dominate the countries on its borders, simultaneously spreading the creed of communism and fashioning a cordon sanitaire to guard against a repetition of the events of 1920.

In 1944, the U. S.S. R. had declined an invitation to attend the historic Chicago Conference, at which most of the world’s nations hammered out the basis for what was to become the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The Five Freedoms of the Air were not wholly accepted in Moscow, where, nevertheless, plans were quickly made to spread Aeroflot’s wings westwards. By the end of 1945, services had been reinstated, or started anew, to most of the capitals of eastern and central Europe, and also to Teheran. At home, the trans-Siberian and other main arterial routes were revived, and the social work in the Arctic, which had continued even during the war, was maintained.

Like the British, French, and nations other than the excep­tionally well-equipped United States, the U. S.S. R. had to make the best with what it had: the trusty Lisunov Li-2s and the ex-Lend-Lease Douglas C-47s.

Baidukov Has PrabBems

The Fourth Five-Year Plan had provided for ambitious Aeroflot expansion, with a target of 175,000km (110,000mi) of routes

Aeroflot Turns to Douglas

The Ilyushin 18, first flown on 30 July 1947, was a 60-seat four – engined airliner which never went into production. It was too large for the traffic of the day and demanded ground support which would not be available for years, (photo: Ilyushin Design Bureau)

throughout the Soviet Union. Yet to service this great plan, Aeroflot had little more than a large fleet of Li-2s for the main routes, and hundreds of little Polikarpov Po-2s.

This was the situation confronting Georgy Baidukov, veteran crew member of the Chkalov trans-Polar flight of 1937, and Stalin’s personal envoy to the United States during the war years, when he was put in charge of Aeroflot in 1947. The equipment upgrading prospects were gloomy. Sergei Ilyushin had made preliminary drawings for what was to become the Ilyushin 11-12 as early as 1943, and this unpres­surized tricycle-geared twin made its first public appearance on 18 August 1946. But this was no ‘DC-3 Replacement’.

On the ground, airports were totally inadequate, with poor runways, bad passenger buildings, and maintenance, as often as not, in the open. Baidukov effectively made his point by taking a party of officials, including Mikoyan, on a proving flight from Moscow to Khabarovsk. The shortcomings were only too obvious, and this inspection trip no doubt had some effect on subsequent actions taken with the next Five Year Plan.

The First Ilyushins

Making the best of a sub-standard inventory, Baidukov intro­duced the 11-12, on a few selected routes, on 22 August 1947, and more widely in the following year when the summer schedules started on 23 May. Some relief was expected from the 60-seat four-engined Ilyushin 11-18 (the piston-engined one, not the later turboprop) but although it made its first flight on 30 July 1947, and went into service — again on selected trunk routes — at the end of 1948; it was too big and complicated for the traffic and ground infrastructure of the day, and very few were built. They were withdrawn from ser­vice by 1950.

Baidukov fought off official skepticism and introduced flight attendants on the more important routes; and he wit­nessed the introduction of the amazing 12-seat Antonov An-2 biplane, which made its first flight in March 1948.

Widening Responsibilities

After two and a half years, during which the Politburo often accused him of poor management, Baidukov resigned — with­out incidentally apologizing for anything, a procedure that was the expected protocol in those times. He had been sorely tried. For apart from the problems of inadequate aircraft, airfields, ground services and engineering staff, pilots who were apt to take on too much vodka and not enough fuel, and a meager budget, he had been given additional responsibilities.

Back in 1932, Aeroflot had taken on the task of agricul­tural support in crop-dusting and crop-spraying, an activity in which the U. S.S. R. had been a pioneer. In 1937, it had added ambulance and medical supply flights to supple­ment its other work, with a ‘flying doctor’ service. Now, on 23 September 1948, it added forestry patrol, ice reconnais­sance and water-bombing; and on 30 November 1949, it was given the additional task of supporting fishing fleets by sur­veying the seas to locate shoals of fish.

Yet in spite of all the difficulties, Aeroflot must have been doing something right. In 1950, it carried 3.8 million passen­gers, and flew over a network of 75,600km (47,000mi).

18 SEATS □ 225km/h (140mph)

Подпись: Lisunov Li-2Подпись:Aeroflot Turns to DouglasShvetsov M-62 (2 x 900hp) Ш MTOW 11,280kg (24,9001b) Ш Normal Range 1,в00кт (l,000mi) Ш Length 20m (65ft) И Span 29m (95ft)

Подпись: COMBTltry AlrBame Pate Date of Initial Bate Remarks FfflMradled First Aircraft Terraimatesi Service Fleet Poland LOT* 6 Mar Dec Li-2 (still Rejuvenated pre-war airline. Most of post- 1945 1945 Po-2 operating) war fleet was Soviet-built. Czechoslovakia CSA* 14 Sep 4 Mar DC-3 (still) Rejuvenated pre-war airline. Used Soviet 1945 1945 Ju 52/3m operating) equipment exclusively after coup of 1968. Hungary Maszovlet* 29 Mar 15 Oct Li-2 Late 1954 50% Soviet shareholding in new airline to 1946 1946 Po-2 succeed MALERT. Succeeded in turn by MALEV, which used only Soviet aircraft. Romania TARS* 1945 1947 Li-2 Late 1954 50% Soviet shareholding in new airline to Ju 52/3m succeed LARES. Succeeded in turn by TAROM which used mainly Soviet aircraft. Yugoslavia JUSTA Late Apr Li-2 1948 50% Soviet shareholding in new airline to 1946 1947 succeed Aeroput. Terminated when Tito severed relations with Soviet Union. Bulgaria B.V.S. Early 29 Jun Li-2 1954 50% Soviet shareholding in new airline. 1947 1947 Ju 52/3m Succeeded by TABS0* which used Soviet-, built aircraft North Korea SOKAO 1950 1950 11-14 1954 50% Soviet shareholding in new airline. Succeeded by CAAK, which operated only Soviet aircraft. East Germany Deutsche 1 Jul 4 Feb 11-14 1991 Name changed to Interflug* 13 Sep 1958. Luft Hansa 1955 1956 Liquidated with German reunification. Mongolia Air Mongol 1956 7 Jul Li-2 (still Currently operates as Mongolian Airlines 1956 Po-2,11-12 operating) (MIAT-Mongolyn Irgeniy Agaaryn Teever). * Members of Six-Pool, formed 15 February 1956

Joint Ventures

The term joint venture’ has become part of the language of international commerce during the past few years,. But such a device was common in airline associations back in the early 1940s when, for example, Pan American Airways set up such partnerships in Latin America. In exchange for certain privileges, such as exclusive mail contracts, Pan Am would provide the technical and administrative expertise, and supply aircraft at bargain rates, to set up local air­lines, ostensibly as national carriers, but in reality Pan Am subsidiaries.

During the latter 1940s, as Europe rearranged itself into two halves of political persuasion, the U. S.S. R. took a leaf out of Pan Am’s book, and set up similar airlines in eastern Europe, with Aeroflot as Big Brother. Ironically, the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3, in its Lisunov Li-2 disguise, was invariably the basis of the small post-war communist-directed airline fleets, just as with Pan American on the other side of the world.

Tie First Exports

Interestingly, therefore, a California-designed aircraft, license-built in the U. S.S. R., was the key factor in this particular channel of political influence. The Lisunovs were the only aircraft in adequate supply in 1945 and 1946; but they were to be the basis for a secure Soviet foothold in what was later to become known as the Six-Pool group of eastern European airlines. This foothold was to prevail for the next half-century.

Aeroflot Turns to Douglas

JOINT VENTURE AIRLINES IN POST-WAR SOVIET SATELLITE COUNTRIES

This Lisunov Li-2 is pictured atMirnyy, the center of the diamond industry in the Yakut autonomous republic of eastern Siberia in 1961. The ‘Russian DC-3’ performed sterling work for over a quarter of a century, and the Yakuts held it in such high esteem that they have preserved one on a pedestal at Chersky, near the delta of the Kolyma River, on the East Siberian Sea of the Arctic Ocean, 240km (150mi) north of the Arctic Circle. (Y. Ryumkin, courtesy John Stroud)