✈️ #OTD in 1937, three Soviet aviators set off on the legendary non-stop flight from Moscow to Vancouver via the North Pole. The crew – commander Valery Chkalov, co-pilot Georgy Baidukov and navigator Alexander Belyakov – pursued an ambitious goal: to connect the continents along the shortest route, across the Arctic Ocean, for the first time in history.

🧊 Soviet aircraft designer Andrei Tupolev developed the ANT-25, a single-engine aircraft with an especially wide wingspan, specifically for this endeavour and for other long-haul flights. Due to this design, the plane could take more fuel, and had a better capability to glide.

🧊 The flight took a total of 63 hours and 16 minutes. The Arctic weather with its low temperatures gave the crew the greatest trouble. The ice from the cockpit windows had to be cut off by hand with a sheath knife. Because of the clouds, the crew had to either pilot the plane blindly or change course, and overspent about 300 litres of fuel.

🧊 Initially, the crew planned to land in San Francisco, but due to excessive fuel consumption, it was decided to land in Vancouver. They failed to break the world flight range record, but in less than a month this was achieved by another Soviet crew under the command of Mikhail Gromov.

🧊 Despite this, Valery Chkalov and his crew's flight became a major event in the history of world aviation. It showcased Soviet achievement in advanced aircraft construction, and proved to the whole world the exceptional professionalism and courage of Soviet aviators.

🤝 The feat of the three pilots was widely covered by the press, both in the Soviet Union and in America. US President Franklin D. Roosevelt personally received the crew in the Oval Office of the White House. The transpolar flight contributed to the establishment of friendly relations between the two countries, and paved the way for fruitful cooperation between the USSR and the United States during World War II.