LOS ANGELES, July 20. /TASS/. The Alasca-Siberia-2015 international program (ALSIB Flight), devoted to the 70th anniversary of the victory in World War II, begins on Monday.
The aircraft will repeat the route of 9,700 kilometres, along which the US in 1942-1945 supplied aircraft and arms to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease program.
The aircraft of the WWII times - transport Douglas C-47 and training Texan AT - are leaving Great Falls towards Alaska. During the war, there was a main US base, from where Lend-Lease supplies went to the USSR via the northern latitudes. The equipment was brought to Krasnoyarsk (in Russia’s Siberia). From there, aircraft were distributed to military divisions.
The historic replica is organized at the initiative of the Alaska-Siberia-2015 Aviation & History Society, the Russian Aviation Society, the Wargaming international company, and the US BRAVO 369 Flight Foundation (an NGO).
During the four war years, the US delivered to the USSR via Alaska and Siberia 6,000 aircraft. Aerodromes, organized along the route, supplied fuel and offered maintenance. The conditions of flights in the northern latitudes were extreme. As many as 177 aircraft could not make it to Krasnoyarsk.
On July 27-28, Douglas aircraft with Russian pilots will cross the Strait of Bering to enter the Russian air. On the route, they will pass Russia’s Uelkal, Anadyr, Oymyakon, Yakutsk, Bratsk to arrive in Krasnoyarsk on August 4. After that, the two aircraft will continue the journey. The flight will finish not far from Moscow, at the MAKS-2015 aviation show, which opens on August 25. After that the Douglas aircraft will be at the Russian Museum of Armed Forces.