Wings of Russia: How Our Country Got Its Air Fleet

Today is Russian Air Fleet Day. A holiday with a colorful history, where romance intertwines with technical progress. Izvestia recalled how our country became a great aviation power.

On December 1, 1918, the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute ( TsAGI ) was organized in the Land of Soviets — a scientific center to which we owe the best achievements of aircraft construction. Aviation design bureaus appeared, headed by Andrei Tupolev , Nikolai Polikarpov, Dmitry Grigorovich, Konstantin Kalinin. Tupolev became one of the leaders of world aircraft construction for many decades. The first domestic all-metal aircraft ANT-2 took to the air on May 26, 1924. ANT is Andrei Nikolaevich Tupolev.

In 1923, the Joint-Stock Company of the Russian Air Fleet began operating under the name " Dobrolet ", which was renamed " Aeroflot " a few years later. At the same time, the first regular domestic airline in our country, Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod, began operating. Even then, Krasvoenlets and civil aviation pilots celebrated their holiday in August. In 1933, the Day of the Air Fleet of the USSR, or Aviation Day, began to be celebrated on August 18.

On August 18, 1933, a holiday, tens of thousands of Muscovites gathered at the Frunze Central Airfield on Khodynka Field. It was then that the tradition of spectacular reviews of aviation achievements was born. “The siren roars alarmingly. Its sounds come from the direction of the factory buildings that have grown up on the edge of the airfield. This is a model of a large plant. High-speed bombers, accompanied by fighters, rush here. Defense fighters take off to meet them. A salvo of anti-aircraft guns and exploding bombs recreate the spectacle of a real military action. The load of bombs falls precisely on target and blows up the factory buildings. The anti-aircraft batteries fall silent under the blows of the fighters.” Since 1934, such celebrations have been held annually at the Tushino airfield. As a rule, the heads of state gathered in its stands. Ceremonial events were held in the Aviators' Park in Leningrad and in hundreds of military units across the country... The performance of the aerobatic team, which was called the "Red Five", caused universal delight - they showed unique figures in the sky on five I-16 aircraft painted in the colors of the USSR national flag. During the festive days in August, national championships in airplane, helicopter, glider and parachute sports were traditionally held.

Since 1971, the holiday has been celebrated on the third Sunday of August. After all, air parades that gather tens of thousands of people are best held on weekends. They were held on Sundays before, and they did not always coincide with August 18. The tradition of Sunday aviation holidays continues to this day.

In 1927, the sports plane created by the young designer Alexander Yakovlev was the first in the USSR to break the world record for the longest flight from Sevastopol to Moscow – 1,420 km. Aviation became the love of the entire country, which believed in technical progress and was proud of its falcons.

Feats and outstanding achievements paved the way for serial aircraft manufacturing, and air travel became more and more a part of everyday life every year. If in 1929 domestic aircraft made up about 40% of our flights, then by 1935 the air fleet had become completely Soviet. Talents paved the way for accessible and mass aviation – civil and military. A unique pilot was twice Hero of the Soviet Union Vladimir Kokkinaki. Since 1935, he broke ten official world records for altitude and speed of flights, was a test pilot of the Il-28 jet bomber, and made a non-stop flight from Moscow to Misco Island (USA).

Grigory Bakhchivandzhi, a pilot of unrivaled courage, fought at the front and conducted groundbreaking experimental flights in the rear. He tested the first jet-powered aircraft and looked into the future of aviation. On March 27, 1943, while testing the Bi-3 monoplane, the pilot died. "Without Grigory Bakhchivandzhi's flight, there might not have been April 12, 1961," said Yuri Gagarin. The pilots who strove to go "faster, higher, further" were pioneers, they stepped into the unknown, "made a fairy tale come true." And the symbols of Russian aviation were Valery Chkalov and Mikhail Gromov, pilots who made transatlantic flights to the United States. In Russian-made aircraft!

During the Great Patriotic War, the Red pilots made more than three million combat sorties, destroyed 57 thousand enemy aircraft. And Soviet factories supplied the front with more than 125 thousand combat aircraft. Soviet pilots won the battle with the aces of the Luftwaffe, having gained air supremacy after the Battle of Kursk. Among the aircraft of the Victory, we will name only a few. Il-4 bombers bombed Berlin and other German cities in the first weeks of the war.

Alexey Maresyev and Ivan Kozhedub fought on the La-7 fighter. The maneuverable and durable machine, created by designer Semyon Lavochkin and his students, terrified the Nazi vultures.

The most mass-produced combat aircraft in history was the “flying tank”, the Il-2 attack aircraft.

The profession of a pilot is special. It is not a place of service, not a craft, but a way of life. Only those who have dreamed of heights since childhood and have managed to realize their dream take planes into the sky. The real heroes of the air fleet are test pilots. "When a soldier at the front carries out a combat mission, he also risks his life. But isn't the fight for a high-speed machine capable of protecting many thousands of lives worth the risk?" said Valery Chkalov. He did not change his principle and died testing the I-180 fighter designed by Polikarpov.

The standard of fearlessness was test pilot Sergei Anokhin. Having survived several crashes in the sky, he miraculously saved his life, but was left wounded and lost an eye. And he became a "flight dad" for many of our cosmonauts, passing on his experience to them. "This man combines two completely polar, opposite psychological qualities - courage and modesty. Imagine a pilot who has accomplished a feat and remained alive... This is the second birth of a person! They ask him: "Seryozha, how are you?" - "Nothing, everything is fine." Everyone who saw him at that moment was struck by his sweet to the point of naivety manner of answering. His courage seems like some kind of naive child's play. This is an example of a real hero-ideal. He is my idol! " - the great pilot Gromov, who was generally stingy with praise, said about him.

And how tragic and majestic is the fate of Alexander Fedotov. Hero of the Soviet Union, Major General of Aviation, Lenin Prize laureate, multiple world record holder... The list of his well-deserved regalia is impressive. Many colleagues recognize him as the best test pilot of the 20th century. He died on April 4, 1984, in a test flight on a MiG-31 , being an elderly man. "A pilot cannot help but fly."

At the age of 80, Colonel General of Aviation Vasily Reshetnikov, one of the great bomber pilots of the Great Patriotic War, and after the war, the world record holder for long-range flights, took the plane into the sky. He won the Hero of the Soviet Union star during the Battle of Stalingrad. And he passed away in March 2023, until his last days rooting for our aviation, especially for long-range aviation, to which he devoted his entire life.

In 1950, Soviet test pilot, lieutenant colonel, Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Ivashchenko was the first in our country to reach the speed of sound in horizontal flight, piloting the experimental aircraft SI-1, which later became the legendary serial jet fighter MiG-17. A new era began in aviation.

Since 1956, Aeroflot has had Tu-104 jet airliners at its disposal. For two years, this aircraft was the only jet airliner in operation in the world (the world's first jet passenger aircraft, the British De Havilland Comet, was temporarily removed from service due to design flaws that were discovered, and the American Boeing 707 only entered service at the end of 1958).

By 1980, Aeroflot was flying regularly to 85 countries in Europe, Asia, America and Africa, becoming the first airline in the world to carry more than 100 million passengers in a year. Today, Russian civil aviation is successfully overcoming the difficulties associated with achieving technological sovereignty and is replenishing its fleet with new domestic airliners.

The holiday remains one of the most beloved in the country today. Millions of people await the performances of the heirs of the "Red Five" - the aerobatic aviation group "Russian Knights". These are the aces from the 1st aviation squadron of the 234th Guards Proskurovsky mixed aviation regiment, which is based in Kubinka. No one in the world performs aerobatic figures on heavy fighters, only this magnificent six. They draw the word "Russia" in the sky, and these turns will be the best congratulations on the flying holiday for us.