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Aviation History
1954
1954 - 2115.PDF
120 54 RUSSIA'S AIRLINE SYSTEM . . . workers' settlements, kolkhozes and sovkhozes (collective and state farms). . . . In the course of the Fifth Five Year Plan for the development of the U.S.S.R. the transport air force is growing at a greater rate than before. Air freight turnover for 1955 will be at least doubled as compared with 1950. Aircraft and engine stocks are being considerably increased, and the network of air routes and airports equipped for 24-hour operation is also being greatly extended. A great deal of work is being carried out by the "special purposes" Air Force of die Civil Air Fleet. Aircraft assist in the destruction of vermin, attacking grain and "technical" crops, forests, gardens and vineyards, in the mineral fertilization of winter crops and in sowing rice from the air. Pilots carry out patrol duty over large forests, keeping a look-out for outbreak of fire. They carry out air observation of fish and sea animals, deliver tens of millions of fish fresh from spawn for collective farm ponds and reservoirs, search for new pastures for cattle, carry incubator chickens for kolkhoz and sovkhoz poultry farms, and destroy with chemical poisons the larva of the malaria-carrying mosquito, the deadliest enemy to the health of the workers. Over the whole expanse of our immense country there is spread a wide network of medical air stations where aircraft are kept ready night and day to fly doctors at a moment's notice to give immediate aid in cases of serious illness or accident. Passenger Aircraft.—Along the Aeroflot air routes fly 11-12 and Li-2 passenger aircraft. The speed of the 11-12 when on scheduled flight is 186 m.ph., and of the Li-2, 146 m.p.h. Local air routes between regional (krai) and provincial (oblast) towns and district centres are served by Po-2 and An-2 aircraft. 11-12 passenger aircraft are built to carry 18 passengers and Li-2 carry 14. Every passenger aircraft has a buffet, luggage compartment and toilet. On long-distance aircraft such as those flying between Moscow and Khabarovsk, Moscow and Tashkent or Moscow and Alma- Ata, the crew includes a steward. This Aeroflot flight captain, Pawel Jakimow, is a Hero of t/ie Soviet Union. All aircraft flying along air routes are equipped with modern navigational facilities which en sure regular and safe flights both by day and by night in difficult weather conditions. During the journey two-way radio communi cation is maintained between the aircraft and airports. Dis patchers, who keep a check on the flights from the ground, in form crews of weather conditions along the route. At night both landing and take-off is carried out with the aid of special radio and lighting equipment. . . . The Moscow-Vladivostok Air Route extends for thousands of kilometres crossing almost the whole Soviet Union from west to east. The route passes by way of the most important adminis trative and industrial centres such as Kazan, Sverklovsk, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, Chita, Khabarovsk, to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Along the whole of its tremendous length the route is joined by numerous subsidiary air links which act as feeder lines. Many district and regional centres situated along die Moscow- Vladivostok route have become large junctions for air communica tions. Thus this air route together with its feeder lines connects the eastern regions of the R.S.F.S.R., the Far North and Sakhalin with the whole air network of the country. Along it mere is a steady flow of passenger, freight and postal services covering tremendous distances. As it is connected at Moscow and Irkutsk with international airlines leaving the U.S.S.R. for the west and the east, the route also provides a constant, active air link between the Pacific coast and the Atlantic Ocean. Along the whole Moscow-Vladivostok air route, airports have been built with air terminal buildings, technical services, modem two-way radio facilities and lighting equipment for take-off and landing of aircraft at night. The air terminal buildings along the route provide all comforts necessary for passengers. There are waiting rooms, rooms for mothers and children, restaurants, buffets, hotels, post and telegraph services, hairdressers, book and newspaper stalls of "Soyuzpechat*" and cloakrooms for hand luggage. Good roads have been built to the airports, which are served by motor buses and taxis. Along die whole route, as on all the subsidiary air routes joining it, passengers, freight and mail services continue all the year round. First-class fast aircraft built in the U.S.S.R., modern equipment of technical ground services and two-way radio com munications guarantee a high standard of frequency, regularity and safety of flight both in summer and winter. Airliners fly day and night without interruption to provide services for passengers and to ensure the prompt delivery of periodicals and newsprint, airmail and urgent freight. More than half the distance between Moscow and Vladivostok is covered by night. . . . COMPARATIVE AIR AND RAIL From Moscow KieV .;; .'" Minsk To Astrakhan Kiev Leningrad Minsk Omsk Rostov Stalingrad Vladivostok ... Odessa Adler (Sochi) JOURNEY§T Air hr min 7 30 2 30 2 35 3 20 12 0 5 25 4 50 40 35 3 5 9 5 IMES Roil hr min 53 15 24 7 10 50 16 13 61 48 29 23 30 54 220 5 18 0 65 32 Moscow Airport.—Vnukovo is Moscow's main air gateway. Through this airport—which is one of the largest in the world —passes die main stream of passengers, freight and mail for Moscow, and from Moscow along the air routes of the Soviet country. Moscow is connected by direct air routes with all the cnp>tals of the Union's Republics, with the industrial and cultural centres of the Soviet Union, with all the countries of the camp for pea.ce and democracy—Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Albania, Mongolian Peoples' Republic, China and tW German Democratic Republic. Regular passenger aircraf also * Central Administration for Printed Matter Distribution. Most of Aeroflot's services are flown by ll-12s, as shown above, al-io"?" a number of Russian-built Dakotas (Li-2s) are still operating. T - u-'- (left) is landing at an airport in North Caucasus after flying from M s«*-
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