Alexander Vasilyevich Belyakov (; – 28 November 1982) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

flight navigator who, together with command pilot

Valery Chkalov Valery Pavlovich Chkalov (; ; – 15 December 1938) was a test pilot awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union (1936). Early life Chkalov was born to a Russian family in 1904 in the upper Volga region, the town of Chkalovsk, Russia, Vasi ...

and co-pilot Georgy Baydukov, set a record for the longest uninterrupted flight in 1936 and made , flying from

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Vancouver, Washington Vancouver ( ) is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, located in Clark County, Washington, Clark County. Founded in 1825 and incorporated in 1857, Vancouver had a population of 190, ...

. He was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and served as a

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

of the

Soviet Air Forces The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

Biography

Early life and training

Alexander Belyakov was born in 1897 in the village of Bezzubovo,

Moscow Governorate The Moscow Governorate was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Tsardom of Russia, and the Russian Empire. It was bordered by Tver Governorate to the north, Vladimir Governorate to the northeast, Ryazan Governorate to the southeast, Tula Gove ...

(now Orekhovo-Zuyevsky District,

Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast (, , informally known as , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). With a population of 8,524,665 (Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census) living in an area of , it is one of the most densely populate ...

) and grew up in

Ryazan Ryazan (, ; also Riazan) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia. The city is located on the banks of the Oka River in Central Russia, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 C ...

. He studied

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

in 1915-1916 after finishing his gymnasium studies and began serving in the infantry of the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

in 1916. He fought in the Soviet Russian

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

's 25th Rifle Division during the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

. He graduated from the Moscow Aerophotogrammetry School of the Red Air Fleet in 1921 and subsequently taught there and at the A.E.Zhukovsky Air Force Academy until 1935. He graduated from the Kachinskoye Military Aviation School for Pilots and joined the Communist Party in 1936.

1930s records

Flight to Udd Island

Belyakov joined commanding pilot

and co-pilot Georgy Baydukov to navigate a Tupolev ANT-25 plane on a non-stop flight from Moscow to Udd Island (now Chkalov Island) off the coast of

Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and western coastlines, respectively. Immediately offshore along the Pacific ...

in a 56-hour flight on 20–22 July 1936. Their flight, covering more than 9,374 kilometers across nearly the entire width of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, set a record for the longest non-stop flight, preparing the way for a flight across the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

.McCannon, John (1998). ''Red Arctic: Polar Exploration and the Myth of the North in the Soviet Union, 1932-1939''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 70. . The three aviation heroes were awarded the title

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

and decorated with the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

for the record-breaking flight.

Across the North Pole to America

Flying the same ANT-25 plane, Chkalov, Baydukov, and Belyakov completed an 8,504-kilometer flight from Moscow to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, crossing the North Pole and landing in

. The fliers set another record by performing the first non-stop polar flight and establishing a new route from the Soviet Union to the United States.

Later career

The domestic and international press coverage of the Trans-Polar flight immediately catapulted to worldwide fame and ultimate acclaim for the three aviators, who had already been regarded as Soviet heroes after their successful flight to Udd Island in 1936. The aviators' portraits were featured on a postage stamp issued to commemorate the flight. The three were elected to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union in 1937. Alexander Belyakov was appointed head of the Ryazan Supreme School of Navigators of the Soviet Air Force in the 1940s and took part in the fighting against Nazi Germany as the

16th Air Army The 16th Red Banner Air Army () was the most important formation of the Special Purpose Command. Initially formed during the Second World War as a part of the Soviet Air Force, it was from its 2002 reformation to its 2009 disbandment the tactical ...

's chief navigator during the Battle of Berlin. Promoted to

lieutenant-general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

during the war, he continued to serve in the Air Force and became a professor at the

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT; , also known as PhysTech), is a public university, public research university located in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It prepares specialists in theoretical physics, theoretical and applied physics, ...

upon his retirement from the service in 1960. He joined Georgy Baydukov to attend the unveiling of a Vancouver monument commemorating their transpolar flight in 1975.Alley, Bill (2006). ''Pearson Field: Pioneering Aviation in Vancouver And Portland''. San Francisco: Arcadia. p. 125. . Belyakov died in Moscow on 28 November 1982 and was interred at Moscow's

Novodevichy Cemetery Novodevichy Cemetery () is a cemetery in Moscow. It lies next to the southern wall of the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist site. History The cemetery was designed by Ivan Mashkov and inaugurated ...

Honors and legacy

Aside from the

awarded together with the title

on 24 July 1936 (subsequently Gold Star No. 9 was also added), Belyakov was awarded another Lenin Order and was a recipient of three Orders of the Red Banner, an

Order of the Patriotic War The Order of the Patriotic War () is a Soviet Union, Soviet military Order (decoration), decoration that was awarded to all soldiers in the Soviet armed forces, security troops, and to Partisan (military), partisans for heroic deeds in the Easte ...

1st class,

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

twice, three Orders of the Red Star, and additional medals. He received the degree of Doctor of Geography in 1938. An island off Kamchatka in the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...

was given the name Belyakov Island (''Ostrov Belyakova'') in honor of Alexander Belyakov.

References

External links

The Chkalov Transpolar Flight Marker at Pearson Field in Vancouver, Washington
(The Historical Marker Database). {{DEFAULTSORT:Belyakov, Alexander 1897 births 1982 deaths 20th-century Russian male writers 20th-century Russian non-fiction writers People from Orekhovo-Zuyevsky District People from Bogorodsky Uyezd Communist Party of the Soviet Union members First convocation members of the Soviet of the Union Academic staff of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Heroes of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Order of the Red Star Flight navigators Russian aviation record holders Russian military personnel of World War I Russian male non-fiction writers Soviet Air Force generals Soviet aviation record holders Soviet lieutenant generals Soviet male writers Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War Soviet military personnel of the Winter War Soviet military personnel of World War II Soviet non-fiction writers Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery Kacha Military Aviation School alumni