Aviaarktika

Aviaarktika was a Soviet airline which started operations on 1 September 1930 and was absorbed by Aeroflot on 3 January 1960.

History

Aviaarktika was the flying branch of the Department of Polar Aviation of Glavsevmorput. Its first head was Mark Shevelev and it was originally based in Krasnoyarsk. It moved to Moscow in 1932.

Aviarktika established routes along the rivers and lakes of Siberia and Northern Russia; the Ob River with a base at Omsk, on the Irtysh and Yenisei rivers, with a base at Krasnoyarsk, on the Angara near Lake Baikal at Irkutsk, and at Yakutsk on the Lena.

Fleet

Initially Aviaarktika flew the Junkers F.13 floatplane and six Dornier Wal flying boats. By 1933 there were 42 aircraft including Tupolev TB-1, Tupolev ANT-4 and Tupolev TB-3, ANT-6's.

AVIAARKTIKA Tupolev ANT-4, CCCP-H317, currently located at the Ulyanovsk Aircraft Museum in Ulyanovsk Baratayevka Airport (Central) (UWLL), is the only surviving example of the ANT-4. CCCP-H317 crash-landed in Siberian tundra in 1944 and was recovered 39 years later and restored for the museum.

Accidents and incidents

;24 March 1944: SP CCCP-N335 crashed shortly after takeoff from Yenseisk after the pilot became disorientated in crosswinds; both pilots survived.
;November 1945: Douglas C-47 CCCP-N362 force-landed near Tiksi due to fuel exhaustion after repeated landing attempts, causing wing and landing gear damage; all 23 on board survived. The aircraft was possibly written off.
;25 December 1945: A Douglas C-47 crashed on takeoff from Dudinka due to an in-flight fire, killing all 10 on board.
;30 March 1946: S-2 CCCP-N356 crashed near Kazantsevo after the cargo shifted and jammed the controls; both pilots survived.
;8 October 1946: Lisunov Li-2 CCCP-N394 was written off after it was damaged in a flood at Amderma Airport.
;13 December 1946: Focke-Wulf Fw 200, Focke-Wulf Fw 200C-3 CCCP-N400 force-landed on the ice off Ostrov Litne, Yamalsky District due to engine problems; all 21 on board survived, but the aircraft, operating an Igarka-Arkhangelsk passenger service, was written off.
;7 March 1948: Lisunov Li-2 CCCP-N444 disappeared while operating a Dudinka-Anderma passenger service; the aircraft was found on 17 September 1950 on the slope of Netem-Pe mountain in the Urals; all 20 on board died. The aircraft had struck the mountain while in flight due to possible crew fatigue.
;16 March 1948: Lisunov Li-2 CCCP-N456 crashed on takeoff from Vorkuta Airport due to snow on the runway; all six crew on board survived, but the aircraft was written off. The aircraft was involved in a search for missing Li-2 CCCP-N444.
;16 September 1948: Lisunov Li-2 CCCP-N464 disappeared while on an ice reconnaissance flight with seven on board; debris was found in the Barents Sea on 20 and 24 September; the aircraft had ditched at sea at night and the crew were probably knocked into the sea by a wave and drowned.
;19 March 1949: Ilyushin Il-12 CCCP-N441 crashed during a forced landing following engine failure; no casualties.
;23 April 1950: Focke-Wulf Fw 200C-4 CCCP-N500 overran the runway while landing at Yakutsk Airport in a crosswind, causing the left landing gear to collapse and damaging the left wing and both left side engines; there were no casualties, but the aircraft was written off.
;26 June 1950: Consolidated PBY Catalina#PBN Nomad, KM-2 (a Land-Lease PBN Nomad powered by ASh-82 engines) CCCP-N488 crashed on landing in the Khimki Reservoir, Moscow due to crew error, killing two of six on board.
;7 November 1950: Lisunov Li-2, Lisunov PS-84 CCCP-N359 struck ice hummocks and crashed while attempting to take off from North Pole-2, Polar Station SP-2.
;30 April 1952: Antonov An-2 CCCP-N568 crashed, probably in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, following engine failure; there were no casualties, but due to the remoteness and inaccessibility of the crash site, the aircraft was written off.
;1954: Douglas DC-3, Douglas R4D-5 CCCP-N417 crashed on landing at Polar Station SP-3, Antarctica after the landing gear struck an ice ridge and landed on its belly; the fuselage was used as a sauna and eventually sank. The aircraft was originally used by the US Navy for Operation Ski Jump, carrying out landings on drifting ice; the aircraft was abandoned after the landing gear collapsed on one of these flights and was found and repaired by the Soviets in May 1954.
;4 March 1955: Ilyushin Il-12 CCCP-N479 force-landed near Kepino, Arkhangelsk Region due to an engine fire; killing four of 25 on board.
;2 April 1955: Lisunov Li-2 CCCP-N497 broke through the ice while landing at Mys Zhelaniya; all ten on board survived. Four days later the aircraft was swept out to sea by a storm where it sank.
;26 May 1955: Lisunov Li-2 CCCP-N535 crashed on a drifting ice floe in the central Arctic Basin; all 10 passengers and crew on board survived and were evacuated; but the aircraft was set on fire and abandoned. The wreck was later spotted on 11 December 1959 by the Icelandic Coast Guard.
;11 September 1956: Lisunov Li-2 CCCP-N584 crashed near Cherepovets Airport at night during a training flight, killing the four crew.
;22 September 1956: Mil Mi-4 CCCP-N42 was being ferried from Kazan to Khatanga when it broke apart in mid-air and crashed near Pletnikha, Arzamas Oblast due to a design flaw, killing the four crew.
;7 August 1957: Beriev Be-6 CCCP-N662 crashed 35 km from Mys Kamenny Airport after an in-flight fire caused by engine failure, killing the six crew.
;February 1958: Lisunov Li-2V CCCP-N496 stalled and crashed on takeoff from Mirny Ice Station, Antarctica; the aircraft participated in the 3rd Soviet Antarctic expedition in 1958.
;2 May 1958: Antonov An-2 CCCP-N588 crashed 38 mi from Igarka, killing the three crew.
;30 December 1958: Ilyushin Il-14 CCCP-04196 crashed from Hatanga, Krasnoyarsk region, killing 16 of 17 on board.
;10 August 1959: Lisunov Li-2 CCCP-04210 crashed at Chukotka Cape Shelagsky, killing seven of 10 on board.

References

* "Aeroflot: An Airline and its Aircraft", from Paladwr Press, Oct 1992 by R.E.G. Davies, (Curator of Air Transport at the Smithsonian), ,
* "Aeroflot: Soviet air transport since 1923" Putnam (1975) Hugh MacDonald, ,

External links

Soviet Arctic Aerial Exploration

Rossica Journal Number 128-129 dated October 1997

{{Polar exploration, state=collapsed

Airlines established in 1930
Airlines of the Soviet Union
Former Aeroflot divisions
Soviet brands