1942 Aeroflot Li-2 Krasnoyarsk crash  A Li-2 similar to the crashed aircraft |
|
| Date | 17 November 1942 (1942-11-17) |
|---|
| Summary | Icing, overloading |
|---|
| Site | Krasnoyarsk Airport, Krasnoyarsk (RSFSR, USSR) |
|---|
|
| Aircraft type | Lisunov PS-84 |
|---|
| Operator | Aeroflot (5th Ferry Regiment KVT) |
|---|
| Registration | СССР-Л3965 |
|---|
| Flight origin | Krasnoyarsk Airport, Krasnoyarsk (RSFSR, USSR) |
|---|
| Destination | Kirensk (RSFSR, USSR) |
|---|
| Occupants | 30 |
|---|
| Passengers | 26 |
|---|
| Crew | 4 |
|---|
| Fatalities | 30 |
|---|
| Survivors | 0 |
|---|
The 1942 Aeroflot Li-2 Krasnoyarsk crash was an aviation accident that occurred on November 17, 1942, at Krasnoyarsk Airport. The Li-2, operating on the ALSIB route (also known as the Krasnoyarsk Air Route or KVT) as part of the fifth ferry regiment, was tasked with transporting a group of military pilots to receive new aircraft. However, immediately after takeoff, the aircraft crashed on the airfield grounds, killing all thirty people on board (other sources report twenty fatalities based on the number of identified names [1] ). At the time, this was the second-largest aviation disaster on the territory of the USSR (after the ANT-20bis crash earlier that year, with 36 fatalities [2] ).
Crash
The aircraft operated on the ALSIB route (Alaska-Siberia, Krasnoyarsk Air Route), where pilots ferried aircraft from the U.S. to the USSR, acquired through Lend-Lease. On November 16, the first group of American-made aircraft arrived at Krasnoyarsk Airport from Alaska. The next day, November 17, Li-2 L3965 was scheduled to fly from Krasnoyarsk to Kirensk with four crew members and twenty-six passengers, all of whom were flight crews. There are reports that Kirensk was an intermediate stop en route to the American Ladd Army Airfield (Fairbanks, Alaska), [3] but the 5th Regiment only ferried aircraft on the Kirensk-Krasnoyarsk segment [4] [5]
From the memoirs of the squadron commander of the 4th Ferry Aviation Regiment Viktor Mikhailovich Perov [ ru ]: [5]
We gathered at the airfield in a large group. It was a wonderful sunny clear day. There were two aircraft at the airfield – one Li-2, which was supposed to carry fighter squadron pilots to Kirensk for basing, and the second aircraft was a new American Douglas C-47, intended to take my squadron back to Yakutsk. The Li-2 was the first to load people and start its engine. Since it was early morning, there were no flights or other aircraft at the airfield, except for our two. The Li-2 took off directly from the parking spot, turning its nose towards the center of the field. After lifting off, the aircraft gained altitude, made a 180-degree turn, and set a course to the east. Approaching our parking spot, that is, the place from where it had just taken off, the plane tilted to the right. The pilots corrected the right tilt, but it suddenly tilted sharply to the left, dropped its nose, and from a height of about two hundred meters, vertically crashed into the ground, almost exactly where it had just taken off.
It was thirty to forty meters from our parking spot. The aircraft immediately burst into flames, as it had a full fuel load – three thousand one hundred liters of gasoline. It burned so fiercely that it was hot even standing next to our aircraft.
Thus, the joy of the first delivery of aircraft to Krasnoyarsk was darkened by this terrible event. For inexplicable reasons, the combat pilot, Li-2 commander Barkov, perished, taking almost thirty people with him. Mazuruk's deputy Fokin remained to investigate the crash, while I immediately flew to Yakutsk with my squadron on the C-47.
All the victims (passengers and crew) were buried in Krasnoyarsk at the Troitskoye Cemetery [ ru ]. A monument was later erected on the mass grave. [6]
The Northwest Staging Route was a series of airstrips, airport and radio ranging stations built in Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon and Alaska during World War II. It extended into the Soviet Union as the ALSIB.
The Eleventh Air Force (11 AF) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, Alaska.
Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces.
Irkutsk International Airport is an international airport on the outskirts of Irkutsk, Russia, at a distance of 60 kilometers from Lake Baikal.
North Weald Airfield is an operational general aviation aerodrome, in the civil parish of North Weald Bassett in Epping Forest, Essex, England. It was an important fighter station during the Battle of Britain, when it was known as the RAF Station RAF North Weald. It is the home of North Weald Airfield Museum. It is home to many private aircraft and historic types, Essex & Herts Air Ambulance helicopter and is an active flight training airfield.
Platon Oyunsky Yakutsk International Airport is an airport in Yakutsk, Russia. It has one runway and has a capacity of 700 passengers per hour. The airport is the hub for five regional airlines, including Yakutia Airlines and Polar Airlines.
Ugolny Airport is a mixed-use military and civil airfield in the Russian Far East located 11 km east of Anadyr, separated from the town by the waters of Anadyrsky Liman. The airfield was originally constructed in the 1950s as a staging base for Long Range Aviation bombers such as the Tupolev Tu-95 and Tupolev Tu-22M. During the Cold War years it became the primary hub for civilian flights in the Chukotka region.
Susuman Airport is a minor airport built 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south of Susuman in Magadan Oblast, Russia
Kirensk Airport is an airport in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia located 3 km west of Kirensk. It handles small transport aircraft. This airfield was part of the Yakutsk-Kirensk-Krasnoyarsk leg of the World War II Lend-Lease program Alaska-Siberian (ALSIB) air route. Angara Airlines serves scheduled flight to Irkutsk six times a week.
Krasnoyarsk Northeast was an air base in Russia located 4 km northeast of Krasnoyarsk. The airfield was the western end of the ALSIB Alaska-Siberia air route for Lend-Lease aircraft during World War II including Bell P-39 Airacobras and North American B-25 Mitchells. The former airfield has been converted into apartment complexes. There was an Antonov An-2 maintenance facility, which is now gone. It was a utilitarian airfield with An-2, An-24, and An-6 aircraft, probably now based at Krasnoyarsk Yemelyanovo Airport.
ALSIB was the Soviet Union portion of the Alaska-Siberian air road receiving Lend-Lease aircraft from the Northwest Staging Route. Aircraft manufactured in the United States were flown over this route for World War II combat service on the Eastern Front.
Bodaybo Airport is a regional airport built in Bodaybo, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, during World War II for the Alaska-Siberian (ALSIB) air route used to ferry American Lend-Lease aircraft to the Eastern Front. In 2017 it handled 51,910 passengers.
Aviaarktika was a Soviet airline which started operations on 1 September 1930 and was absorbed by Aeroflot on 3 January 1960.
Vasily Sergeyevich Molokov was a Soviet aircraft pilot, major general of aviation (1940), and a Hero of the Soviet Union.
Vitim Airport is a public use airport built in Vitim, Sakha (Yakutia) Republic, Russia during World War II for the Alaska-Siberian (ALSIB) air route used to ferry American Lend-Lease aircraft to the Eastern Front.
Ilya Pavlovich Mazuruk was a Soviet pilot and polar explorer. Hero of the Soviet Union (1937).
Olyokminsk Airport is an airport serving the urban locality of Olyokminsk, Olyokminsky District, in the Sakha Republic of Russia. Opened in 1942. During the Great Patriotic War, more than eight thousand combat aircraft flying from the United States to the front were delivered through the Olekminsk airfield along the Alsib air route. Currently, the airport provides regular flights to Yakutsk and Irkutsk.
The 712th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment is a fighter aviation regiment of the Russian Aerospace Forces. Part of the 21st Mixed Aviation Division of the 14th Air and Air Defense Forces Army, the regiment is based at Kansk air base and flies the Mikoyan MiG-31BM.
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
