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Source: ria.ru
“Kvochur’s contribution to Su-30 engine capacity promotion is truly invaluable; this hallmark flight is doubtlessly yet another formidable contribution to the history of the Russian military aircraft tests history.” (Flight map)
ZHUKOVSKY AIRFIELD (MOSCOW OBLAST), September 8th, RIA NOVOSTI. Vladimir Mikhailov, General of the Army, Chief of the RF Air Force believed the non-stop Su-30 RF fighter flight repeating that of the soviet pilot Valery Chkalov would be yet another glorious page in Russia’s aviation history.
“We’ve got plenty of pilots like Anatoly; however, he has a unique non-stop flight experience, e.g. he had flown non-stop to India,” the Chief explained. “The flight had been planned two years ago, but at first, he wanted to fly across the North Pole. Kvochur’s contribution to the Su-30 engine capacity promotion is truly invaluable; this hallmark flight is doubtlessly yet another formidable contribution to the history of the Russian military aircraft tests history.”
The aircraft was manned by aircraft commander Anatoly Kvochur, Hero of Russia, Honorary Test Pilot of the USSR; and second pilot Sergei Korostiev, a distinguished test pilot and bearer of the Order of Courage.
The Su-30 took off the Zhukovsky Airfield last night. As reported earlier by Colonel Aleksandr Drobyshevsky, Assistant to the Chief of the RF Air Force, the fifteen-hour Su-30 non-stop flight was assisted by military Il-78 refuelers.
The route ran its course all across Russia to Udd Island at Kamchatka where the legendary Valery Chkalov landed his aircraft seventy years ago. According to the flight plan, the Su-30 was to take off from Zhukovsky Airfield whereas an Il-78 was to take off from Vorkuta Airfield. After the first refueling near the town of Igarka, the aircrafts continued the flight together to effectuate a second refueling near Yakutsk.
Thereafter, the Su-30 banked twice in the airspace of Chkalov Island in the Amur River estuary above the monument to the legendary pilot. Neryunga (the Sakha Republic) witnessed the third refueling; thereafter the Il-78 landed in Irkutsk Oblast while the Su-30 resumed its course back to Moscow. Another Il-78 rose into the air from Dyagilevo Airbase in Ryazan Oblast to meet the fighter, refuelled it near Tomsk, and returned back to base while the Su-30 struggled on to eventually land at Zhukovsky Airfield in Moscow Oblast.
BBC reported that the flight distance was 12 417 kilometres, and four instances of in-flight refueling were registered.
Valery Chkalov was born on the 2nd of February, 1904 in the village of Vasilyovo (at present, the town of Chkalovsk).
In 1919, he volunteered to join the Red Army and work at the aircraft assembly line in Nizhny Novgorod.
From 1921 to 1924, he studied at Yegoryev and Boris and Gleb schools of aviation as well as at the Moscow Aerobatics School and at the Serpukhov Air Shooting and Bombing School.
In 1924, he enrolled into the Red Banner Air Squadron and earned the reputation of a virtuoso pilot.
In 1930, he became a test pilot of the USSR Air Force Research and Development Institute and had tested over seventy types of aircrafts. Chkalov invented and practiced new aerobatic stunts, i.e. the upward spin and slow roll.
From July 20th to July 22nd, 1936, Valery Chkalov, assisted by Georgy Baidukov and Aleksandr Belyakov, effectuated a non-stop flight from Moscow to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
From June 18th to June 20th, 1937, he flew to Vancouver (North America) via the North Pole with the same crew.
On July 24th, 1936, the title of the Hero of the USSR was conferred onto him. He was also bearer of two Orders of Lenin and one Order of the Red Banner.
The legendary pilot died in a new fighter test flight air crash on December 15th, 1938. Valery Chkalov was buried near the Kremlin walls in Red Square.
Source: ria.ru
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