Social responsibility

Alaska-Siberia highway

"Alaska-Siberia" is an air route along which, during the Great Patriotic War, Soviet pilots risking their lives transported from the US to the USSR combat and transport aircrafst supplied under the Lend-Lease program. The decision to create the route was made on October 9, 1941, and the first planes flew from Fairbanks on October 6, 1942.

Almost 3000 people worked for three years in harsh conditions of the Far North. Pilots, navigators, boardwriters and flight mechanics flew over the Bering Strait, tundra and taiga, a pole of cold; engineers and technicians, despite the frostbite, prepared the aircraft for flights. The result of this collective work is more than 8000 aircraft that passed along the highway and entered the army.

After the war aircrafts were used for passenger and freight traffic. One of those plains was C-47 Douglas.

The crew of Maxim Tyurikov made an emergency landing in the middle of the tundra. No one was killed on board. When several days had passed since the incident, and still no help came, the commander Tyurikov, together with the radio operator and the mechanic, went for help. Nobody saw them again.The search for the disappeared board lasted almost three weeks, until on May 11, 1947, the crew of Fyodor Shatrov discovered it from the air 180 kilometers north-west of the village of Volochanka, and near it and the surviving people, among whom were children.24 people returned home. But the plane, in which people spent 19 days, remained in the tundra for 70 years.

Evacuation of the C-47 Douglas

In 2016, the international team for the evacuation of the C-47 Douglas went to Taimyr: 15 people, including experienced mechanics, rescuers and engineers. It was planned that the team will disassemble the aircraft within two weeks. And they were going to work around the clock, using all the opportunities of the polar day, when the sun does not go beyond the horizon.

The work began on the 6th of August. The plane was dismantled into 7 parts: the fuselage, the center wing, two engines and wings. Using the Mi-8 helicopter the aircraft was delivered to the barge by parts, which the employees of the Yenisei Shipping Company brought to the Pyasina River. Then on August, 11 (with a lot of time ahead!) "Douglas" sailed to Dudinka, and then along the Yenisei to Krasnoyarsk.

For the first time, the project of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Branch of the Russian Geographical Society won the RGS Prize

For the first time, the project of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Branch of the Russian Geographical Society won the RGS Prize in the nomination "Expedition in Russia" the winner was the expedition "Tyurikov's Board. Return". This is a key award in the field of national geography, ecology, conservation and popularization of the natural, historical and cultural heritage of Russia. The prize was established in 2014 and is awarded every two years. The winners were announced in the Kremlin. The award was presented to Igor Spiridenko, Chairman of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Branch of the Russian Geographical Society, by the President of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Geographical Society Vladimir Putin.

In total, in 2018, more than 540 applications from 76 regions of the country and foreign countries were received for the award.

The Krasnoyarsk project "Tyurikov's Board. Return" is a large-scale international expedition to evacuate the unique Douglas C-47 aircraft from the Taimyr tundra, which was delivered to the USSR from the USA during the Great Patriotic War under the AlSib Lend-Lease program.

In 1947, the Douglas made an emergency landing in the north of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, 180 kilometers north of the village of Volochanka. The crew commander Maxim Tyurikov managed to save all the people on board. Maxim Tyurikov and part of the crew went in search of help and died tragically, and the remaining people survived for 3 weeks in the harsh conditions of the Far North and waited for help.

There were no analogues of such an operation in Russia yet. It was led by Igor Spiridenko. As a result of the well-coordinated work of the expedition members, the plane itself was evacuated to Krasnoyarsk in 2016, and its wings were evacuated in 2017.

From the very beginning of the implementation of this idea, assistance and support to the project was provided by the Governor of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Alexander Uss. Among the key partners of the Russian Geographical Society were the government of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Ministry of Transport of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the AeroGeo airline, the Yenisei Shipping Company, as well as the Norilsk Nickel, SUEK, RUSAL and Polyus companies.

"It is a great honor for us - such a high assessment of the work of our entire team. And it is very symbolic that today is the Day of Education of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, which turned 84. Our common victory at the RGS Prize is a contribution to the preservation of historical memory. Many thanks to everyone, who participated in the project and helped us to carry out this large-scale expedition ", - said the chairman of the Krasnoyarsk regional branch of the Russian Geographical Society Igor Spiridenko.

It is assumed that subsequently the aircraft "Douglas" C-47 "Tyurikov's Board" will become one of the main exhibits of the "Park-Museum of the Development of the North", which is planned to be created on Molokov Island in Krasnoyarsk.

Source: https://www.rgo.ru/ru/article/pobeda-na-premii-rgo

We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the book on the history of the Krasnoyarsk air route, better known as ALSIB (Alaska - Siberia).