Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 49

Continued from page 47
Oakland sometime on the third day. Since
it was June, the flight would be in continuous daylight from takeoff until reaching
western Canada.
Surprisingly for a Soviet design, the
ANT-25 was not at all suited for flight over
the far north. The only ice protection was
a system to squirt alcohol on the propeller
if it began to ice up. The windshield, wings
and tail surfaces had no ice protection. This
nearly cost the men their lives. Halfway
to the North Pole, and well beyond the
Russian mainland, a massive cloud bank
enveloped the aircraft in freezing mist. Ice
quickly coated the windshield and gathered
on the wings and tail surfaces. Luckily,
the weather briefly cleared and the sun
melted the ice. For the next day and a half,
they encountered successive cloud banks
that were higher and higher, and it was a
continuous fight to take the heavily laden
aircraft to higher altitudes to stay above
the clouds and avoid more ice.
The ANT-25 was also poorly equipped
to handle very low temperatures. It had a
liquid-cooled engine, and some of the hot
coolant was used to provide cabin heating,
but it was not enough. The temperature
in the cockpit was well below freezing for
most of the trip, so sandwiches the men
brought froze, the apples and oranges
turned into popsicles, and the coffee in
their thermos bottles froze solid.
Eventually the crew sighted the mainland of northern Canada and followed
the Mackenzie River valley southward.
The Canadian Rockies were still ahead,
and another storm was moving in. With
oxygen nearly depleted, they would soon
have to descend, but it was unsafe to do
so over the mountains. The only escape
route was a dog-leg course to the west at
20,000 feet to get out to the Pacific Ocean
before nightfall. Then, with their oxygen
supply exhausted and the men barely conscious, they descended into warmer air near
Ketchikan, Alaska, and followed the coast
south. By then they were about 700 miles
north of Seattle.
When dawn came, they estimated only
about five hours of fuel remained. With
freshening headwinds, it became clear they
could not reach Oakland, California. It looked
like Portland, Oregon, would be the limit.
When the five hours were nearly gone, they
spotted the mouth of the Columbia River and

A map of the flight track.

followed it inland, caught sight of Pearson
Field, cranked the landing gear down, and
alighted on the grass runway. Although short
of their goal, they had covered 5,288 miles
in a little more than 63 hours. Nearly every
last drop of fuel had been consumed, with
slightly less than 11 gallons remaining when
measured after landing.

The Reception
Pearson Field was the location of
the U.S. Army's Vancouver Barracks. The
commanding officer's wife prepared a

breakfast of bacon and eggs, which the
hungry Russians devoured and washed down
with two bottles of cognac. Joseph Stalin
sent his congratulations, as did President
Franklin D. Roosevelt. The next day, following a gala motorcade through Portland's
streets, a chartered airliner took them to
Oakland Airport where 2,000 people had
gathered to applaud them. They were flown
to Washington to meet Roosevelt at the
White House and to New York to meet Mayor
La Guardia. They eventually boarded a ship
to travel home to Russia.
Jetrader  *  Fall 2014 49



Jetrader - Fall 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Jetrader - Fall 2014

A Message from the President
Calendar/News
Reach for the Stars
Beauty Contest
Boeing’s Current Market Outlook for 2014
Aircraft Recyclers Debate the Coming ‘Tsunami’ of Retired Aircraft
Engine Support Plans Shift Market
The Second Life of Aircraft: Does It Still Exist?
Restructuring Aircraft Leases in Bankruptcy
Aviation History
Aircraft Appraisals
ISTAT Foundation
Advertiser.com
Advertiser Index
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - cover1
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - cover2
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 3
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 4
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 5
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 6
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - A Message from the President
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 8
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 9
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - Calendar/News
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 11
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - Reach for the Stars
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 13
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 14
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 15
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - Beauty Contest
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 17
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 18
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 19
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 20
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 21
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 22
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 23
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 24
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 25
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 26
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 27
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - Boeing’s Current Market Outlook for 2014
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 29
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 30
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 31
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - Aircraft Recyclers Debate the Coming ‘Tsunami’ of Retired Aircraft
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 33
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 34
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - Engine Support Plans Shift Market
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 36
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 37
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 38
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 39
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 40
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - The Second Life of Aircraft: Does It Still Exist?
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 42
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 43
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - Restructuring Aircraft Leases in Bankruptcy
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 45
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 46
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - Aviation History
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 48
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 49
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 50
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 51
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 52
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - Aircraft Appraisals
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 54
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 55
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - ISTAT Foundation
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - 57
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - Advertiser Index
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - cover3
Jetrader - Fall 2014 - cover4
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