The Lend-Lease policy, formally titled An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States, was an American program to defeat Germany, Japan and Italy by distributing food, oil, and materiel between 1941 and August 1945. The aid went to the United Kingdom, China, and later the Soviet Union, Free France, and other Allied nations. It included warships and warplanes, along with other weaponry. The policy was signed into law on March 11, 1941, and ended overnight without prior warning when the war against Japan ended. The aid was free for all countries, although goods in transit when the program ended were charged for. Some transport ships were returned to the US after the war, but practically all the items sent out were used up or worthless in peacetime. In Reverse Lend Lease, the U.S. was given no-cost leases on army and naval bases in Allied territory during the war, as well as local supplies.
Vitim River is a major tributary of the Lena River. With its source east of Lake Baikal, the Vitim flows 1,978 kilometres (1,229 mi) north through the Transbaikal Mountains and the town of Bodaybo. The river peaks in June and freezes from November to May. It is navigable from the Lena to Bodaybo. Upstream, tugs can haul barges as far as the Baikal Amur Mainline (BAM), but this is becoming rare. Formerly, because of its swift current, goods were hauled 144 kilometres (89 mi) overland from Chita to a place called Romanovka. There boats were built, floated down the river, and broken up at their destination. This lasted until the late 1940s. The Vitim is an excellent place for adventure rafting, but is rarely visited because of its isolation.
Vitim is an urban locality in Lensky District of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located 229 kilometers (142 mi) from Lensk, the administrative center of the district, on the left bank of the Lena River at its confluence with the Vitim River. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 4,376.
Lendlease Group is a multinational construction, property and infrastructure company headquartered in Barangaroo, Sydney, Australia.
The 2002 Vitim event or Bodaybo event is believed to be an impact by a bolide (fireball) in the Vitim River basin. It occurred near the town of Bodaybo in the Mamsko-Chuisky district of Irkutsk Oblast, Siberia, Russia on September 25, 2002 at approximately 22:00. The event was detected by a US military missile-defense satellite.
The Northwest Staging Route was a series of airstrips, airport and radio ranging stations built in Alberta, British Columbia, the Yukon and Alaska during World War II. It extended into the Soviet Union as the ALSIB.
Zyryanka West Airport is an airport in Russia, located 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) west of Zyryanka, Verkhnekolymsky District in the Sakha Republic of Russia. It was built during World War II for the Alaska-Siberian (ALSIB) air route used to ferry American Lend-Lease aircraft to the Eastern Front. It is now barely used, when main Zyryanka Airport cannot be used.
Susuman Airport is a minor airport built 2 km south of Susuman in Magadan Oblast, Russia
Seymchan Airport is an airport in Magadan Oblast, Russia located two kilometers southeast of Seymchan.
Mama Airport is an airport in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia located 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) northwest of Mama on the Vitim River. It is a small airfield near the town center. Angara Airlines serves scheduled flight to Irkutsk three times a week.
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.
Uka Airport was an airfield in Kamchatka Krai, Russia, located 11 km northwest of Uka. In recent decades, it was probably a civilian airfield, but the configuration and runway length suggests that it may have been a military airfield during the 1950s or 1960s. This airfield was used during the Second World War by US airplanes on their way to Siberia for Lend-Lease program. Near the airfield is a very big old antenna built for the Russian space programme in 1950s.
Ust-Kut is an airport in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia located 9 km north of Ust-Kut. It services small and medium-range airliners. The main regular destination is Irkutsk. Principal owner of the airport - JSC "UTair Aviation". In the future, it will be converted into the main base of UTair Aviation in Eastern Siberia.
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.
Seymchan is an urban locality and the administrative center of Srednekansky District of Magadan Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Seymchan River, near its confluence with the Kolyma, and about 350 kilometers (220 mi) north of Magadan. Population: 2,818 (2010 Census); 3,725 (2002 Census); 9,963 (1989 Census).
Events from the year 2002 in Russia.
Talakan Airport is an airport in Yakutia, Russia.
Vitim Nature Reserve is a Russian 'zapovednik' in the mountains 400 km northeast of Lake Baikal in the Irkutsk region of Siberia. It covers the upper reaches of the Vitim River, a left tributary of the Lena River. The reserve protects a wide variety high-altitude, continental climate flora and fauna complexes: larch taiga, cedar thickets, mountain tundra, and sub-alpine meadows of the Kodar Mountains. The reserve is located in the southeast of the Bodaybinsky District of Irkutsk, 150 km east of the regional city of Bodaybo. It was formally established in 1982, and covers 585,838 ha (2,261.93 sq mi).
Aeroflot Flight 2 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight operated by Aeroflot from Vitim Airport in the Sakha Republic to Irkutsk International Airport near Irkutsk. On July 20, 1977, the Avia 14 operating this flight crashed into trees outside the airport shortly after take off. 33 passengers and all six crewmembers were killed while one passenger survived.
