Brig. Gen. Vladimir Kokkinaki and his copilot, Major Mikhail Kh. Gordienko, had set out from Moscow on April 28, 1939, in the Russian prototype Ilyushin TsKB-30 twin-engined bomber on an international mission. Though the aircraft was a bomber by design, their flight was one of peace. Nonetheless, it wouldn’t be long before World War II would begin in Europe with the invasion of Poland. Yet now, their plane, christened the “Moskva” and painted in bright red, was to set new records and show the world that Russia was a modern, powerful and capable nation. Their flight was expected to be a 24 hour, non-stop journey, taking the plane far to the north of the usual commercial aerial routes, cutting the distance by flying closer to the Arctic. If successful, it would land them in the history books, pioneer a new northern “Great Circle” route to span the distance from Europe to the USA, and, above all, arrive at New York’s Floyd Bennett Field in time to highlight Russian’s participation in the 1939 World’s Fair, “The Land of Tomorrow” held that year in New York City.
The two men were more than 20 hours into their flight when weather conditions began to deteriorate. Flying higher in hopes of penetrating the clouds and storms that formed a wall ahead, the two men went onto oxygen. They were exhausted too, but soldiered on for the Rodina, Stalin’s Russia. BG Kokkinaki was already a “Hero of the Soviet Union” and he knew that this flight would undoubtedly establish him in the pantheon of the most favored Russian pilots in history. It seemed, however, that the weather over eastern Canada, south of Labrador, was conspiring against him. Surely, he would prevail, he considered, as the plane entered the clouds.
For weeks beforehand, the two men had prepared for the flight, carefully charting an innovative flight plan for a non-stop journey that would take advantage of the curvature of the Earth to shorten the distance between Moscow and New York. This was the Great Circle Route, which meant that the men would fly at the very edges of the Arctic, across the top of the globe, taking advantage of the Spring weather. Their exact route was to fly from Moscow to Novgorod, USSR; then Helsinki, Finland; Trondheim, Norway; Reykjavik, Iceland; Cape Farewell, Greenland (also known as Uummannarsuaq); Labrador, Can
BG Kokkinaki was no stranger to long distance flying. Earlier, he had flown the very same plane on a record-setting flight with copilot A. M. Berdyanskij. Together, the men had made it from Moscow to Spassk-Dalny in Primorsky Krai, Russia, a point that was in the southeasternmost corner of the USSR, nearly bordering with the northeast corner of China. That flight had been a non-stop affair of 24 hours and 36 minutes, covering a total distance of 4,710 miles. For most of the flying, the men had been on oxygen as they had averaged an altitude of 23,000 feet. New York would be farther away, to be sure, but BG Kokkinaki knew he was up to the challenge.
The plane that the pair intended on using was the prototype of Russia’s latest bomber design from the Ilyushin Design Bureau. It was known as the TsKB-30 “Moskva”, and it was painted a bright red. In bold white Cyrillic lettering underneath the wing, the word, “MOSKVA” was spelled out for all to see. The plane sported two engines, both license-built Gnome-RhÔne Mistral Major 14Kdrs radials that had been manufactured by Tumansky. Properly tuned and at altitude, each engine could produce as much as 760 hp. This gave the plane a cruising speed of over 200 mph.
The TsKB-30 was derived from an earlier wooden prototype known as the TsKB-26. In that very airplane, BG Kokkinaki had performed the world’s first loop in a twin-engine airplane, having done so in front of no less than Stalin himself. That had more than demonstrated the plane’s power, maneuverability and ruggedness. The TsKB-30, however, was an improvement over the earlier -26 prototype. This newer plane was all-metal and had included various modifications learned from the -26 design. Ultimately, the TsKB-30 design would be designated the DB-3, which would become one of the USSR’s key medium bombers of World War II. In terms of performance, arguably it was the fastest, most powerful, longest range bomber in any nation’s air force. Even more impressive, it could carry a bomb load of 2,200 pounds.
ada; and then to arrive at New York City’s Floyd Bennett Field on Long Island.
