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.