How Chkalov returned from America. Three Russians over the Pole: how a “loose commander” Chkalov became a hero

On June 18, 1937, pilots Valery Chkalov, Georgy Baidukov and navigator Alexander Belyakov set off on an unusual flight. Taking off on an ANT-25 plane from the Shchelkovo airfield near Moscow (now this air harbor bears the name Chkalovsky), they headed for the North Pole. After 63 hours, having covered 8,504 kilometers in the air without landing, the pilots from the USSR landed in the suburbs of American Vancouver. The importance of this event, which forever entered the annals of victories of domestic aviation, was precisely in the chosen route: before that, no one had tried to “connect” the continents through North Pole. Soviet pilots were the first to conquer this air route. The website of the Zvezda TV channel recalled the little-known facts of this historic flight. 1. The first pilot to fly over the North Pole was to be Levanevsky. An accident got in the way Three candidates were considered for crew commanders, and Chkalov was not initially a priority. They thought about Mikhail Gromov, who knew the ANT-25 well and had already set a range record with it. However, he suffered from a stomach ulcer and was even in the hospital. In addition, shortly before the flight, upon arriving at the hangar, Gromov discovered that the engine from his plane had been removed and transferred to Chkalov’s car. He never found out the reasons. The second applicant for the flight was the famous polar pilot Sigismund Levanevsky, who, for his participation in rescuing people from the Chelyuskin steamship crushed by ice, became one of the first Heroes of the Soviet Union in the country. Interestingly, Levanevsky had already begun a similar transcontinental flight, but his car was forced to return due to an alleged malfunction, which later turned out to be an oil overflow. The pilot refused to fly the ANT-25 for the second time. But Chkalov was not afraid and eventually led the crew for a daring throw across the pole. 2. Otto Schmidt opposed the flight The “chief polar explorer” of the Soviet Union, head of the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route, Otto Schmidt, fundamentally objected to this flight. He even wrote a memo to Stalin, where he indicated that in the event of a plane crash, the chances of providing assistance to the crew were zero. Even the arguments presented that the pilots were equipped with emergency supplies, including a rubber boat, a tent, skis, guns and more than a hundredweight of food, did not convince Schmidt. Experts were skeptical about the pilots' chances of holding out until rescuers arrived. However, the icebreakers and steamships of the Northern Fleet were focused on providing assistance to Chkalov’s team in case of real danger. 3. Papanin set off to drift across the Arctic Ocean specifically to provide radio communications for this flight. In preparation for the flight, a network of radio stations was put into operation along the entire Northern Sea Route. In addition, the flight was planned specifically during the operation of the drifting polar station "North Pole - 1" under the leadership of Ivan Papanin - it launched on June 6, 1937. The pilots even managed to receive a weather report from the station, but just while passing this area on the ANT-25, the antenna of the on-board radio station failed. So the crew sailed over the Arctic Ocean without communication.
4. The crew's oranges froze during the flight. The Arctic greeted the crew with severe frost - the temperature in the cabin dropped to a stable subzero. Warm clothes saved the day. The apples and oranges taken turned into pieces of ice: they were heated on the heater. 5. Ice was cut off from the cabin windows with a fin Navigator Alexander Belyakov wrote in the logbook: “...We determined that we were going over Banks Land. We're going southwest... Baidukov's windows are frozen. They cut off the ice with a fin...” All along the plane’s route, the plane was threatened by icing of the blades and hull elements. Already over the European part, having encountered a cyclone, it was necessary to use a propeller de-icer. While one pilot was at the controls, the other had to pump anti-icing fluid by hand almost continuously. They also fought the threat of icing by changing the flight altitude - either rising above the clouds or descending below them. 6. When a problem arose with the coolant, Chkalov ordered tea and coffee from thermoses to be poured into the system Baidukov practically dived, reducing the engine speed to the limit. The engine has cooled down, causing the coolant expansion tank drain pipe to freeze. The vapor pressure in it increased, breaking through the ice plug, but along with the steam a lot of water splashed out. Its level dropped, the cylinder heads were left without cooling. This meant that in a few minutes the engine would overheat and jam over the icy expanses of the Arctic. They rushed to look for water, but its supplies froze. Chkalov showed composure and resourcefulness. He ordered tea and coffee from thermoses to be poured into the system. We flew on this mixture. Baidukov recalled that it was after this incident that he first noticed gray hair in the commander’s hair. 7. “Arctic” plane It was Chkalov’s copy of the ANT-25 (two aircraft of this brand were built) that was considered prepared for such a flight. The Arctic modification of the machine was specially modernized for low temperatures: the radiator of the cooling system was reduced, and a three-blade propeller was installed on the engine, allowing the choice of the optimal operating mode. The vehicle had a unique design for those times - the wings were 2.5 times longer than the fuselage, which made it possible to take more fuel and also increased gliding capabilities. The engine installed on the ANT-25 was the first domestic high-power serial aircraft engine and was superior to the best foreign models. A few years later, the English company Rolls-Royce and the American Packard adopted the power design from the M-34 to boost their engines.
8. Baidukov spent more time at the controls during the flight than Chkalov Georgy Baidukov flew the plane for two thirds of the flight, including the last 13 hours before landing. He was one of the best masters of blind flight in the country - he could fly a plane in the clouds using instruments for hours, maintaining a course without losing spatial orientation. By the way, the experience of transcontinental flights came in handy with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War - Baidukov was sent to the USA to organize the supply of air equipment under Lend-Lease. Georgy Filippovich also distinguished himself at the front: he commanded an air force, participated in the liberation of Kyiv, in Operation Bagration, and in the storming of Berlin. He rose to the rank of Colonel General of Aviation and retired in the late 1980s.
9. When the plane landed, only 77 liters of fuel remained In fact, the crew covered 9,130 ​​kilometers, but in a straight line the distance between the takeoff and landing points was exactly that same 8,504 kilometers. Headwinds and bad weather conditions lengthened the actual flight path of the aircraft. By the way, after landing only 77 liters of fuel remained in its tanks out of the original 5,700.10. The commander of the air base where Chkalov landed would later become Secretary of Defense, US Secretary of State and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The first official to meet Chkalov's crew in the United States was the head of the garrison, General George Marshall. The commander of a provincial military base, he, in the company of Soviet pilots, got a reception with President Franklin Roosevelt. Perhaps this is what predetermined the rise of the general’s career: Marshall would later become US Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, as well as the author of the famous plan that determined the structure of post-war Western Europe. The Americans greeted the Soviet crew as real heroes: President Roosevelt received the flight participants in the Oval Office of the White House, allotting two hours for communication instead of the planned 15 minutes. There is an opinion that it was this flight that contributed to the establishment of friendly relations between the two countries and became a prerequisite for fruitful cooperation between the USSR and the USA during the war. By the way, Vancouver still honors the memory of the events of June 1937: a monument was opened in the city, built with private funds from local residents, and a street, a park and a museum are named after Chkalov, where souvenirs donated over the years by guests from Russia are carefully kept.

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Exactly 70 years ago, Valery Chkalov’s legendary non-stop flight across the North Pole to America successfully completed. The crew also included pilots Georgy Baidukov and Alexander Belyakov.

The ANT-25 plane took off from Moscow on June 18, 1937 and landed in the American city of Vancouver on June 20. The aviators covered a distance of over eight and a half thousand kilometers. The flight took place in difficult weather conditions.

“I launched the plane along the concrete path. The most difficult, most difficult flight began. The engine roaring at full speed carried the plane. Now just don’t turn off. With every second the plane picks up speed. The last greeting with my hand towards those seeing off, and I lift the plane off the ground ". Having jumped once or twice, the car remains hanging in the air. Baidukov removes the landing gear. Hangars and factory chimneys flash by. We are flying. Below are forests, fields, rivers. Morning. The country is waking up," - this is how Chkalov himself began the book about the legendary flight.

The ANT-25 single-engine aircraft for long-distance flights, designed by Andrei Tupolev, was built by the fall of 1934. The car had such technical innovations as a retractable landing gear with an oil shock absorber and electric lift. On September 10-12, 1934, the crew under the command of Mikhail Gromov set a world range record on the ANT-25, covering a distance of 12,411 km in 75 hours of continuous flight along a closed route. The Soviet government sought to open an air bridge with the United States and Canada across the North Pole. On August 3, 1935, pilots Sigismund Levanevsky, Georgy Baidukov and navigator Viktor Levchenko lifted into the air the Arctic version of the aircraft, overloaded with oil and fuel, heading for the pole and then to America. Due to a technical fault, the flight did not take place.

Then Valery Chkalov was offered to implement the idea of ​​​​a non-stop flight and command the new crew. On July 20, 1936, a “control” flight was made along the route: Moscow - Victoria Island - Franz Josef Land - Severnaya Zemlya - Tiksi Bay - Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. 9374 km were covered in 56 hours 20 minutes in difficult weather conditions. The single-engine ANT-25 passed the test, and the world record for distance along a broken line became the Soviet one. Chkalov, Baidukov and Belyakov were awarded the Order of Lenin, awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and given large cash prizes. However, in order to make a record flight and overcome the airspace between the USSR and America, it took another year.

On the morning of June 18, 1937, the ANT-25 took off from the Shchelkovo airfield near Moscow and headed for the North Pole. Particular attention was paid to the issue of aircraft loading. At Chkalov’s insistence, the total weight of food products was reduced from 350 kg to 115. Only a tenth of the food was intended for a three-day flight, the rest was taken in case of an emergency landing in an uninhabited place. For the same reasons, the oxygen supply was also reduced. For more than 15 hours, the ANT-25 flew in extreme conditions: an ice crust formed on the wings, stabilizer, and antennas. There was a moment when the water in the engine cooling system ran out, and the water in the reserve tank froze. The engine could seize at any moment.

Due to strong headwinds, more fuel was consumed than expected. The main task of the flight, to travel the entire Arctic through the pole and land in the USA or Canada, was completed. Chkalov decided to land in Portland. In the middle of the day on June 20, ANT-25 began to descend. 63 hours 16 minutes after takeoff, having covered 8,504 km, the crew landed the plane at the Barracks military airfield in the Portland suburb of Vancouver. There was practically no fuel left in the tanks. The US press and radio spent many days talking in ecstatic tones about the unique flight. President Franklin Roosevelt received the pilots in the Oval Office of the White House.

To mark the fortieth anniversary of the flight, the Leningrad Mint issued a commemorative bronze medal. On the front side of the medal were depicted the heroes of this flight, and on the reverse side was a monument in honor of the flight, erected in Vancouver on June 20, 1975. And at the Moscow Mint, a medal and two commemorative badges were made for the 50th anniversary of the flight.

“Then there was such childish admiration, these were heroes. Of course, to fly sixty hours on one engine, even more - sixty-three hours, this is real heroism,” recalls Ivan Vedernikov, Hero of the Soviet Union, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR.

In September 1934, the world learned about the outstanding achievement of the crew of M. M. Gromov (second pilot A. I. Filin, navigator I. T. Spirin). On a single-engine ANT-25 aircraft, he spent 75 hours in the air and flew 12,411 km. This absolute world record for the distance of a non-stop flight on a closed route stood for many years. In July 1936, pilots V.P. Chkalov, G.F. Baidukov and navigator A.V. Belyakov made a non-stop flight from Moscow over the polar regions to the Far East on the same plane. Having flown 9374 km in 56 hours 20 minutes, the ANT-25 crew landed on a sandy spit of Udd Island (now Chkalov Island).

Another year has passed. Once again, the world admired the outstanding skill of Soviet pilots and the excellent qualities of the ANT-25 aircraft. The machine, driven by V. P. Chkalov, G. F. Baidukov and A. V. Belyakov, starting in Moscow, flew through the North Pole for the first time in the history of aviation and landed in the city of Portland (USA). The weather was bad along most of the huge route and the length of the air route exceeded 9 thousand km.

Soon after Chkalov’s crew, on July 12, 1937, another ANT-25 aircraft took off from the Moscow airfield. It was also piloted through the North Pole by pilots M.M. Gromov, A.B. Yumashev and navigator S.A. Danilin. The weather on the route was more favorable, and the crew was able to fly 11,500 km (10,148 km in a straight line) in 62 hours and 17 minutes, which became an absolute world record for straight flight distance. After landing near the city of San Jacinto, on the US-Mexico border, the plane had fuel left in its tanks for another fifteen hundred kilometers.

The author of this remarkable aircraft was the design team of P. O. Sukhoi, working under the general leadership of A. N. Tupolev, who gave the preliminary design of the machine, as well as the theoretical group of TsAGI, led by the prominent Soviet scientist Professor V. P. Vetchinkin. A prototype and its duplicate were built simultaneously.

In June 1933, the first ANT-25 (RD) took off with an engine of 750 hp, then boosted to 874 hp, and in September testing of a backup with an M-34R engine began.

According to its design, the ANT-25 (RD - range record) is a cantilever low-wing aircraft with a wing area of ​​87.1 m2, an unusually large aspect ratio - 13.1. Gas tanks are located between the two wing spars. The fuselage is a monocoque with an oval cross-section. All-metal construction. The landing gear was retracted into the wing up to half the diameter of the wheels. The empty weight of the aircraft is 4200 kg, the takeoff weight is 11,500 kg.

Production aircraft were built with smooth duralumin wing skin. They were equipped with M-34R engines with a power of 900 hp, which provided a cruising speed of up to 185 km/h.

In the mid-thirties, our Soviet aviation industry, for the first time in the entire history of Russian aviation, created aircraft that, in terms of their record performance, were far ahead of foreign models, in particular in terms of flight range.

The first Soviet aircraft specifically designed for setting world records was the famous ANT-25, created in the design bureau headed by A. N. Tupolev, in the brigade led by P. O. Sukhoi.

At the beginning of 1933, the first flight prototype of the ANT-25 with a liquid-cooled M-34R engine with a power of 950 hp. With. designed by A. A. Mikulin was completed, and in April it was rolled out to the airfield.

The aircraft was extensively tested in flight for a year. And so on September 10-12, 1934, pilot M. M. Gromov, navigator I. T. Spirin, engineer A. I. Filin set a world record for non-stop flight along a closed curve - 12,411 km. At the same time, the record held by the French pilots Bassutro and Rossi was significantly exceeded - 10,601 km. For this exceptional achievement, pilot M. M. Gromov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

After long-term operation of the first copy of the ANT-25, the designers made a number of improvements to the aircraft and prepared it for setting further records. Two years after the first flight of the ANT-25, from July 20 to 22, 1936, the crew consisting of pilots V.P. Chkalov, G.F. Baidukov and navigator A.V. Belyakov flew a new copy of the ANT-25 along the route Moscow-North Arctic Ocean-Kamchatka-Nikolaevsk-on-Amur. Udd (Chkalov Island), covering a distance of 9374 km (in a straight line 8784 km) in 56 hours. 20 minutes. For their outstanding flight, all crew members were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Four months after this flight, in November 1936, the ANT-25 was exhibited at the XV International Aviation Exhibition in Paris and was an exceptional success.

A year later, on June 18, 1937, Heroes of the Soviet Union V.P. Chkalov, G.F. Baidukov and navigator A.V. Belyakov again entered the cockpit of the ANT-25 aircraft. Over the course of two days, from June 18 to 20, 1937, they made their historic flight: for the first time in the world, they flew non-stop by plane across the North Pole from Moscow to the USA and ended the flight in the vicinity of the city of Vancouver (Washington State), covering the distance 9130 km (in a straight line 8509 km) in 63 hours. 16 min. A month later, on July 12, on another copy of the ANT-25-1 aircraft, pilot Hero of the Soviet Union M. M. Gromov, A. B. Yumashev and navigator S. A. Danilin fly over the North Pole to the USA for the second time. They landed in St. Gesinto (California), covering a distance of 11,500 km (10,148 km in a straight line) in 62 hours. 17 minutes, setting a new world record for flight distance.

The exceptional record set by the crew of M. Gromov on the ANT-25 could not be broken for nine years and lasted until the end of 1946! For setting a distance record, B. Yumashev and S. A. Danilin were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The basic data of the aircraft are as follows: wingspan - 34 m; length - 13.4 g; height - 5.5 m; wing area - 87.1 m2; empty weight of the aircraft - 4200 kg; take-off weight - 11,280 kg; average operating flight speed - 200 km/h; take-off length - 1590 m.

The wing and horizontal tail of the aircraft were painted red, the fuselage and vertical tail were painted white, the engine cowling and the entire nose were painted dark blue. There are dark blue longitudinal stripes along the top and bottom of the fuselage. On the wing there is an inscription in white paint: “URSS NO 25”. On the left side of the keel is painted (in dark blue paint) a diagram of the route Moscow - o. Udd (Chkalov Island); on the right side is the route Moscow-North Pole-USA. In this form, the ANT-25 aircraft, on which the famous flight of Chkalov, Baidukov and Belyakov was made, is currently stored in the museum named after V. P. Chkalov in the city of Chkalovsk, Gorky region.

On June 18, 1937, Valery Chkalov's crew began a non-stop flight from Moscow through the North Pole to America.

In the early 1930s, Soviet aviation progressed rapidly. Pilots and aircraft designers were ready to set their sights on the most prestigious world records, including flight range records.
In December 1931, the Council of Labor and Defense of the USSR instructed the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) to begin developing a RD (range record) aircraft, specifically designed to make a record flight.
The concept of the aircraft was developed by aircraft designer Andrei Tupolev, and the development of all the details of the project was entrusted to a team of engineers led by Pavel Sukhoi. A new AM-34R engine was developed for the aircraft, the creator of which was designer Alexander Mikulin.
The first achievement of the ANT-25.


The pilot Mikhail Gromov was involved in testing the new vehicle, which in its final form was named ANT-25. A total of two such machines were built, which were tested almost simultaneously. The ANT-25, which made its first flight in 1933, was an experimental, “raw” machine, and it still had to be perfected to achieve record-breaking flights.
On September 10, 1934, the crew consisting of Mikhail Gromov, Alexander Filin and Ivan Petrov began an experimental flight along a closed route. The flight lasted 75 hours, during which the ANT-25 covered 12,411 km. In terms of range, this was a world record, but it was not counted, since the USSR was not yet a member of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).


But the main thing is that the flight was carried out along a closed route, that is, in fact, the pilots did not move a critical distance from the base, making, figuratively speaking, “circles around the stadium.” The most prestigious category among distance records was considered to be flight in a straight line. In order to achieve results in this form, the ANT-25 was actually built.
Nevertheless, for this flight, the crew members were awarded the Order of Lenin, and the commander of the ANT-25, Mikhail Gromov, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Failure of Sigismund Levanevsky.


The question arose about achieving a record distance flight in a straight line. Among the options were flights Moscow - Australia, Khabarovsk - Morocco. The most promising route in terms of chances for success was Moscow - South America, proposed by Mikhail Gromov.
Gromov’s option had only one, but very serious, disadvantage - it required approval of the right to fly with a number of countries, and the refusal of even one of them could ruin all plans.
However, pilot Sigismund Levanevsky offers an ambitious, albeit extremely risky option - a flight over the North Pole to America. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who favored Levanevsky, approves of his plan. He is given the ANT-25, and the flight itself is scheduled for August 1935.


On August 3, 1935, an ANT-25 aircraft with a crew of Sigismund Levanevsky, Georgy Baidukov and Viktor Levchenko begins a flight along the route Moscow - North Pole - San Francisco. However, after 2000 km, oil began to leak into the cabin. Levanevsky decided to stop the flight and take a return course. ANT-25 landed near Novgorod.
As it turned out, the oil leak was caused by too much oil being poured in and it began to foam. There was nothing fatal in this, but Levanevsky declared the ANT-25 an unreliable machine, and refused to fly Tupolev aircraft in the future, declaring the designer a “pest.” These statements by Levanevsky cost Andrei Tupolev a heart attack.
Moscow - Udd Island.


Georgy Baidukov, who disagreed with Levanevsky, said that the ANT-25 could complete the task. But after Levanevsky’s refusal, he needed the first pilot in the crew. Baidukov managed to persuade his friend, one of the best test pilots in the country, Valery Chkalov, to become one.
The third member of the new crew was navigator Alexander Belyakov.
In the spring of 1936, Chkalov's crew asks for permission to fly across the North Pole to America. However, Stalin, remembering Levanevsky’s failure, prescribes a different route: Moscow - Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
July 20, 1936 ANT-25 takes off. After 56 hours and 20 minutes, the plane landed on a sandy spit of Udd Island. Chkalov landed the car in difficult conditions on a small patch. In order for the plane to take off from the island, the military that arrived to help had to build a wooden runway 500 meters long.
In Moscow, the pilots were personally met by Joseph Stalin. The entire crew was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Who will be the first to fly to America?


The question of flying across the North Pole to America arose again. But the Soviet leadership decides that such a flight can be carried out during the operation of the drifting polar station “North Pole”. Polar explorers will have to provide pilots with accurate data on weather conditions in the polar area, which will increase the chances of success.
The work of the North Pole-1 polar station under the leadership of Ivan Papanin began on June 6, 1937. At this point, everything was ready for the flight to America.


At the preparation stage, the question again arose - who will fly first? The crews of Valery Chkalov, Mikhail Gromov and Sigismund Levanevsky were considered as candidates.
Levanevsky was the author of the flight plan, Chkalov had a flight to Udd Island behind him, and Gromov knew the ANT-25 better than anyone, on which he set a record for flight distance along a closed route.
Levanevsky again confirmed that he will not fly on Tupolev’s machines. As for Chkalov and Gromov, it was decided to send two crews on two ANT-25s with a difference of half an hour.
Comrade Alksnis's precaution.


But a few days before the flight from Mikhail Gromov’s ANT-25, the engine was suddenly removed. The crew was told that it was necessary to transfer it to Chkalov’s plane, where problems were discovered. Instead, Gromov's plane was to be equipped with a new engine ordered from the factory.
This meant that Gromov would not fly with Chkalov. Experts doubt that the engine from Gromov’s plane could really be transferred to Chkalov’s car. Rather, it was a reason to detain Gromov’s crew.


According to Gromov himself, the decision on this could have been made by Yakov Alksnis, Deputy People's Commissar of Defense for Aviation, who oversaw the flight. He was concerned about possible competition between the two crews, which threatened to lead to excessive risk during the flight.
As a result, it became completely clear that Valery Chkalov’s crew would make a new flight attempt.
Flying on the edge.


At 4:05 on June 18, 1937, an ANT-25 aircraft with a crew of Chkalov, Baidukov and Belyakov took off from the Shchelkovsky airfield.


The flight took place in very difficult conditions. The plane often entered the zone of cyclones and clouds, as a result of which it became covered with a layer of ice. While one pilot was at the controls, the other had to pump de-icing fluid almost continuously. In addition to severe frost (the temperature in the cabin dropped below minus 20), the crew had to face oxygen starvation. Scientists believed that the height of the clouds in the polar region would not exceed 3500 - 4000 meters, which means that pilots would not need to rise higher. In practice, everything turned out differently, and we had to fly at altitudes where it was impossible to do without an oxygen mask. This led to a lack of oxygen, which began to have an acute effect in the second part of the flight.


It was also not possible to receive a weather report from the North Pole-1 station. Just while passing through this area, the radio antenna on the ANT-25 failed.
The feat of Georgy Baidukov.


For a very long time the plane had to be piloted almost blindly, and here the experience of Baidukov, who was a master of such flights, came in handy. Of the more than 60 hours of flight, he was at the helm for two thirds.


Departing from the next cyclone, the ANT-25 was forced to overcome the Rocky Mountains at an altitude of over 6000 meters, that is, almost at the maximum altitude for this aircraft. Chkalov and Belyakov gave the remaining oxygen to Baidukov, who was at the helm, and they themselves lay down on the floor, trying to save strength in conditions of oxygen starvation.


On June 20, 1937, at about 15:15 Moscow time, in conditions of low clouds and rain, ANT-25 reached Portland, America. The crew decided to land on the north bank of the Columbia River, at the Vancouver military airfield. Despite the fact that the runway was a bit short for the ANT-25, the landing was successful. And within a few minutes, the Soviet pilots found themselves surrounded by enthusiastic Americans, who were not stopped by the fact that the airfield was a military one, and entry to its territory was closed to outsiders.


The first official to meet Chkalov's crew in the United States was the head of the garrison, General George Marshall. This is the same man whose name will be named after the plan for the post-war reconstruction of Europe.
The world record was set by Mikhail Gromov.


In the 1930s, Soviet-American relations were on the rise, and heroic pilots were greeted with delight throughout America. The flight over the pole was truly an outstanding event, and the Americans appreciated it. In Washington, Chkalov's crew was personally received by US President Franklin Roosevelt.
In their homeland, Chkalov, Baidukov and Belyakov were greeted as winners. Amid these stormy celebrations, one fact went almost unnoticed - the world record for straight-line flight distance was not achieved. The figure of 8582 km was a record for the USSR, not the world.


This gap was eliminated by Mikhail Gromov. On July 12, 1937, the second ANT-25 with a crew of Gromov, Andrei Yumashev and Sergei Danilin began its flight. Gromov tried to take into account all the shortcomings identified in Chkalov’s flight.
After 62 hours and 17 minutes of flight, Mikhail Gromov's ANT-25 landed on a field near San Jacinto, California. The flight range in a straight line was 10,148 km, and this was an unconditional world record. Having calculated the remaining fuel after landing, the pilots found out that they could even reach Panama, since there was still fuel left in the tanks for another 1,500 km.


In the history of the American city of Vancouver, even 80 years later, the main event remains the arrival of Soviet pilots in June 1937. One of the city streets is named after Valery Chkalov.