In the spring of 1929, Valery Pavlovich Chkalov became the head of the glider station at the Osoaviakhim — the Society for the Assistance of Defense, Aircraft and Chemical Construction. In the very first days there, he was sent to Irkutsk to receive a decommissioned German Junkers F 13 small passenger aircraft. The plane was handed over to Chkalov by Mavriky Trofimovich Slepnyov, who would later become a Hero of the Soviet Union.
The plane was loaded onto a railway platform and sent to Leningrad. Valery Chkalov stayed in the cockpit the whole journey.
Both the airplane itself and its engine required a major overhaul. Chkalov, together with the mechanic Sergey Pilyushevsky and the motor mechanic Vladimir Zarkhi, set to work. Their efforts were not in vain, and soon the aircraft was running smoothly again.
At the initiative of Chkalov, the Leningrad Osoaviakhim used the Junkers F 13 aircraft to organize pleasure and propaganda flights over Leningrad and the Leningrad Region. The proceeds from the flights went into establishing and maintaining projects created by Chkalov — a civil pilot school and a gliding club of working youth and intellectuals, who were members of the Osoaviakhim.
During the takeoff of one of those passenger flights, the plane shook violently, and the engine began to rattle. Chkalov turned off the engine and started gliding, managing to fly the plane over the railway embankment and landing it at the very end of the airfield. When the cowling was raised, it turned out that the base of the engine cylinder had burst at the place where it was attached to the upper motor frame, and the piston rod had come off. It was Valery Chkalov’s mastery that helped to avoid a catastrophe and saved the passengers’ lives.
Chkalov devoted his entire career at the Osoaviakhim to training young people how to fly and glide. The most active members of the society were granted a five-minute flight over Leningrad. Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov, an outstanding chief designer and creator of the Antei aircraft, was also a student of the flight group created by Valery Pavlovich at that time.
Recalling his youth, Oleg Antonov shared how he had the honor to get into the cockpit of the Junkers F 13 and sit in the co-pilot’s seat next to Chkalov, who, after performing a climb, asked where the airfield was, and when Antonov answered correctly, Chkalov entrusted him with piloting the aircraft.
The plane was loaded onto a railway platform and sent to Leningrad. Valery Chkalov stayed in the cockpit the whole journey.
Both the airplane itself and its engine required a major overhaul. Chkalov, together with the mechanic Sergey Pilyushevsky and the motor mechanic Vladimir Zarkhi, set to work. Their efforts were not in vain, and soon the aircraft was running smoothly again.
At the initiative of Chkalov, the Leningrad Osoaviakhim used the Junkers F 13 aircraft to organize pleasure and propaganda flights over Leningrad and the Leningrad Region. The proceeds from the flights went into establishing and maintaining projects created by Chkalov — a civil pilot school and a gliding club of working youth and intellectuals, who were members of the Osoaviakhim.
During the takeoff of one of those passenger flights, the plane shook violently, and the engine began to rattle. Chkalov turned off the engine and started gliding, managing to fly the plane over the railway embankment and landing it at the very end of the airfield. When the cowling was raised, it turned out that the base of the engine cylinder had burst at the place where it was attached to the upper motor frame, and the piston rod had come off. It was Valery Chkalov’s mastery that helped to avoid a catastrophe and saved the passengers’ lives.
Chkalov devoted his entire career at the Osoaviakhim to training young people how to fly and glide. The most active members of the society were granted a five-minute flight over Leningrad. Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov, an outstanding chief designer and creator of the Antei aircraft, was also a student of the flight group created by Valery Pavlovich at that time.
Recalling his youth, Oleg Antonov shared how he had the honor to get into the cockpit of the Junkers F 13 and sit in the co-pilot’s seat next to Chkalov, who, after performing a climb, asked where the airfield was, and when Antonov answered correctly, Chkalov entrusted him with piloting the aircraft.
