A scientific and educational conference dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the ALSIB Air Route was held at the RGS Headquarters in Moscow. The commemorative event was jointly organized by the Russian Geographical Society and the All-Russian children's and youth military-patriotic movement "Yunarmiya".
The members of “Yunarmiya”, who came from different parts of Russia, learned a lot about the feat of Soviet pilots who transported combat aircraft from Alaska to Siberia during the Great Patriotic War, shared the results of their own search work. During the conference, the premiere screening of a documentary film about the history of the heroic ALSIB Air Route, as well as about the RGS’s expedition, which studied the preserved airfields of the legendary air corridor between the USA and the USSR was held.
“We are holding a conference in tribute to the heroes. I thank the Russian Geographical Society for cooperation and support," Ekaterina Chizhikova, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of “Yunarmiya”, said at the opening of the conference.
In addition to getting acquainted with the history of the ALSIB, the members of “Yunarmiya” took an informative tour of the Headquarters of the Russian Geographical Society in Moscow. It was given to the young guests of the event by Anton Yurmanov, Director of Youth Work Department of the RGS.
The children learned about interesting finds in various expeditions of the Russian Geographical Society, saw unique exhibits. In the hall of the Academic Council, the members of “Yunarmiya” got acquainted with the winners of the Konstantinovskaya Medal, honorary members of the Russian Geographical Society.
ayr02898.jpg
The heroic ALSIB Air Route is one of the main themes of the local history expeditions of the Russian Geographical Society. In 2021, the team of the RGS explored airfields that served as transit points of the air corridor from the USA to the USSR. Specialists from the Center for Contemporary History studied the condition of 11 runways of the Great Patriotic War period in the Far East and Siberia.
During the expedition, archival data was collected for each airfield, the locations were photographed and filmed, and the crash sites of the found aircraft were mapped. The memory of the pilots who died while ferrying the winged machines is perpetuated.
Helicopter pilots of the Russian Aerospace Forces, servicemen of the Eastern and Central Military Districts, the Pacific Fleet, and the 21st Central Research Institute of Military Vehicles of the Russian Ministry of Defense provided assistance to the search specialists.