Table of contents:
- Post-war situation in the industry
- Dobrolet and the first aircraft fleet
- Daytime Compass Flights and Aeroflot Office
- The first Soviet liners
Video: How Russians flew to the fair in the 1920s, or What Aeroflot was like when it was still Dobrolet
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Officially, the birthday of the domestic civilian air fleet is considered February 9, 1923, when the Labor and Defense Council adopted a resolution on the formation of the Main Directorate of the Air Fleet. A month later, the Russian JSC Dobrolet appeared, which became the progenitor of Aeroflot. The first passenger flights were quite dangerous, the systems of air vehicles were often out of order, and the pilots had only one compass from the instruments. Nevertheless, accidents in the sky were rare, and tickets for the first flights sold out instantly.
Post-war situation in the industry
After the end of the civil war in Russia, an intensified restoration of the national economy began. One of the pressing problems was the establishment of transport links, in particular, railways. Steam locomotives were in short supply, steel tracks were in ruins, train stations with stations looked like ruins. But state forces and funds were directed not only to the fastest possible restoration of transport, but also to further modernize the industry. The Soviet government undertook to create a fundamentally new transport unit - civil aviation. At that time, the military aviation was just gaining momentum, there were not enough own aircraft. Therefore, the nomenclature procedure for the creation of the Main Directorate and the Civil Aviation Council is considered the countdown day of the glorious Aeroflot.
Dobrolet and the first aircraft fleet
On March 17, 1923, the Dobrolet society was founded, which was entrusted with the creation of the aviation necessary for the servicing economy. Dobrolet was a joint-stock organization with a capital of 2 million gold rubles. According to the Charter, the activities of the Society consisted in organizing the transportation of not only passengers, but also mail with cargo. It was also supposed to carry out aerial photography. In general, "Dobrolet" was assigned the strategic role of the creator of the aviation power of a huge state. Everyone who wished had the opportunity to make money on the future largest air carrier and aircraft manufacturer of the USSR.
Any Soviet citizen could buy Dobrolet shares. In addition, the company, which will acquire shares for 25 thousand, had the right to use the aircraft issued with these funds at its own discretion. The only thing, the charter said that at the first government demand, all the property of "Dobrolet" was transferred to the military department. This condition was explained simply: the young USSR was surrounded by enemies.
Following on the type of "Dobrolet" formed "Ukrvozduhput" (Ukrainian Society of Air Communications) and "Zakavia" (a similar Transcaucasian aviation organization). Several years later, by 1929, the united "Dobrolet of the USSR" appeared.
Daytime Compass Flights and Aeroflot Office
For the first half a million collected from the sale of shares, foreign-made aircraft were purchased. Until the 1930s, the Dobrolet aircraft fleet was formed by the German Junkers and the Dutch Fokkers. Flights were made exclusively during the daytime, and the route ran along railway tracks and telegraph lines. And of all the onboard instruments, the pilots had a compass at their disposal. In addition, one had to first probe the routes on horseback in order to find the road in case of anything.
The first passenger flights were made to Nizhny Novgorod, where the Nizhny Novgorod Fair opened. The Junkers, which developed a speed of up to 140 km / h, covered 500 kilometers in 4 hours of flight. However, the total duration of the air travel turned out to be longer, because frequent landings had to be performed to check unreliable engines. For troubleshooting, the crew necessarily included a mechanic. By August 1928, a new airline opened Moscow - Kazan - Sverdlovsk - Kurgan - Omsk - Novosibirsk, a month later extended to Irkutsk. The following year, Dobrolet operated a total of nine lines with a length of more than 12 thousand km. Air lines to Vladivostok and Sakhalin were developed.
On March 25, 1932, civil aviation received a new name - Aeroflot. The personnel were now dressed in uniform uniforms, and the personnel were divided into categories according to the type of army ranks. By the way, in 15 years Aeroflot managed to become the world's largest airline, maintaining its prestigious status until 1991.
The first Soviet liners
After testing passenger transportation on foreign-made aircraft, the USSR set a goal to fly by aircraft of exclusively its own production. The first domestic passenger aircraft were ANT-9 and K-5. Moreover, the latter remained the prerogative of Aeroflot right up to 1940. Compared to the earlier aircraft of the designer Kalinin, the K-5 was as comfortable as possible. The salon was heated, equipped with a toilet and a wardrobe, passengers were accommodated in soft comfortable chairs, forced ventilation and a luggage compartment were provided. The comfort of the crew was not ignored either. The aircraft turned out to be easy to fly and had excellent take-off characteristics. One of the main advantages of the K-5 was a wide view from the cockpit, which was rare for a machine of that time. ANT-9 was inferior to Kalinin's brainchild due to the lower production cost of K-5. It was this aircraft that finally ousted foreign aircraft from domestic air routes.
After the Great Patriotic War, Aeroflot reached new frontiers. During this period, the IL-12 and its brother IL-14 prevailed in the airspace of the USSR. And already in 1956 the first passenger airliner with jet engines Tu-104 took off into the sky. Moreover, this experience of using jet thrust for two years was an innovation not only in the USSR, but throughout the world. Some time later, the flights were made on an even more modernized Tu-114 airship. Well, its place was eventually taken by the improved IL-62.
But there was also a big dark spot in the history of Soviet aviation - the hijacking of an aircraft by a Soviet family. They survived after that, and this was their fate after the incident.
Recommended:
The oldest residential buildings still inhabited: Where are these buildings and what they look like?
Many ancient cities and houses are known in the world, but the overwhelming majority of them have survived to this day either in the form of ruins or in a greatly altered form. And very few of these buildings and settlements were able to retain their original appearance and remain inhabited. It is very difficult to identify the most ancient of them, but nevertheless such attempts are constantly being made. The oldest residential buildings in the world are very attractive, because they are silent witnesses of a century or even a thousand years of history
The curiosity of Soviet cosmonautics: Why did the last cosmonaut of the USSR flew from one country, and returned to another
Unfortunately, the hero of the Soviet Union and Russia, Sergei Krikalev, did not receive such world fame as Yuri Gagarin or Valentina Tereshkova. Even not all Russians know about the existence of such an astronaut and about his interesting biography. Meanwhile, for ten years he was the Earth's record holder for the longest total time spent in space. And he also unwittingly became the only cosmonaut who went into orbit from the Soviet Union, and returned when the USSR had already disintegrated
How the Soviet MiG flew to Europe without a pilot and how it all ended
In 1989, one of the most unusual incidents in world aviation occurred. In the skies over Belgium, a MiG-23M fighter belonging to the Soviet Air Force crashed and crashed down. The incident killed a local 19-year-old boy sitting peacefully on the veranda of his own farm. But the whole incident of the situation was that the plane flew to Europe without a pilot, having covered almost a thousand kilometers on its own. The police officers who arrived at the scene racked their brains for a long time over the fact that the unpiloted
What foreign cities look like, where most of the population is Russians
There are Russian diasporas in many countries of the world. Sometimes former compatriots live far from each other, sometimes they prefer to settle in the same area - this is how the famous Brighton Beach was born. But there is outside the city, where on the streets you can hear mostly Russian speech
The mysterious 2,500-year-old Goujian sword that still looks like new today
In 1965, archaeologists discovered an ancient sword in China that was different from any previously found. This unique ancient weapon is believed to be about 2,500 years old, and what is even more exciting - at the time of its discovery there was not a single speck of rust on it and the sword was sharp … after millennia