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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 1121.PDF
FLIGHT, NOVEMBER 10, 1932 -..« «'«afe^ "Xf*'* 'iSf^S mrr . .JZ •mwj* F**r "•'-«•' • • - rf /.A.. ' "***^ MOSCOW : Palace of Labour and the Yauza Bridge. A Flight In Russia A first hand account of a journey by air from Europe to Samarkand and back via Moscow and Astrakhan. Mr. Grierson tells his story from the private pilot's point of view and adds greatly to our knowledge of the flying conditions in the U.S.S.R. The aircraft he used being a Moth (Gipsy I) named "Rouge et Noir." By JOHN GRIERSON IF you look at a Map of the World you will see that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, comprising Kussia in Europe and Kussia in Asia (Siberia), stretches from the Arctic Ocean in the north to Bokhara in the south, from Poland in the west to the Pacific in the East ; in fact, it covers one-sixth of the whole earth! Thus, although my 8,800-mile outing to Astrakhan and Samarkand was as long a journey as from England to Australia, I can only claim to have visited one little corner of this enormous land. They told me that the flying visa would take six weeks to get from Moscow, but as the authorities remained silent, at the end of two months I set off up the Baltic meaning to collect the visa at Tallinn and enter Russia at Leningrad. But alas, five days' frantic cabling from Tallinn only brought the reply of " visa not granted," so sorrowfully I flew all the way back to London. How ever, after a further three weeks the visa was suddenly granted with permission only to fly direct to Moscow. The second start was not a great success, for on the first day I ran through a Channel fog, only to be forced back later by clouds, and I had to land at Essen. Next day I did manage to make Stettin, and then get within thirty miles of Minsk. The nearest landing ground on the map was Molodeczno, in Poland, so I had no other course but to fumble my way northwards in the mist and rain until I struck the railway which led to it. Imme diately I had landed I was given every assistance by the Polish military, and not allowed to pay for anything. The sky was blue and a strong cross wind was blowing as I started the thirty-six-mile hop to Minsk. The U.S.S.R. Reached My feelings were' mixed as I circled preparatory to the first contact with this extraordinary land of which I had heard so much—so many lies, so little truth. Immediately on landing I was met by a swarm of uniformed men who led me up beside two civil cabin .nonoplanes of a type exhibited at Olympia several years ago. Nobody seemed to want to do anything saving, to my horror, tether " Rouge et Noir " down with screw pickets! It would be hopeless to argue, so I resigned myself to the inevitable and filled in the time working on the engine. Seeing how dirty the fuselage was, the chief ordered his men to wash it down, and they did this most thoroughly lying on their backs. Here, indeed, was Russian hospitality expressed in a courtesy I had never received anywhere else, not even in Turkey. My labour finished, I was next taken to the buffet, where, in the course of a meal, I was cross-examined for several hours by the chief Foreign Officer of the O.G.P.U., who had brought an interpreter with him. Before this I had scented something in the air, and now it was disclosed that I had landed in a fortified area, that the Deruluft route by Veliki Luki is the only way one may enter Russia, and that I was as likely as not to be shot for my pains. However, I presume, because it was a special holiday for the Young Comrades' League, they decided to let me off. Then hundreds of questions followed, such as, how fast could my machine go, could -a " Moth carry bombs, and so on until, my voice grown hoarse, they at last filled up my machine. Finally, before taking off, I expressed thanks and farewells in my best German to the aerodrome Chief, the Chief Foreign Officer, and the President of the Osoaviakhim (Society for the Promotion of Chemical and Aerial Warfare). Now, with half a gale behind, I was soon at four thousand feet, making a ground speed of 130 miles per hour towards Moscow. Huge Aerodrome at Moscow After three and a quarter hours of ideal flying condi tions the Capital appeared, and on its main aerodrome, which is the greatest in all the world, I beheld a strange sight. There, along the western boundary, was a collec tion of all sorts of civil aircraft, drawn up in several lines as if prepared for an inspection. When I landed a Red Army soldier, who spoke good English, directed me to the end of the parade. Here a curious crowd soon formed, and I was calmly told that they would picket me down where I was. like the other aeroplanes I had seen. Against 1043 B2
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