Bookvica

[SOVIET AVIATION: AIRCRAFT ACCIDENTS] Tyazhelaya poterya [i.e. Bereavement]

Moscow: Partizdat VKP(b), 1935. Item #1618

57, [7] pp.: ill., 1 folding ill. 22x15 cm. In original illustrated wrappers. Very good. Spine and covers slightly rubbed, small stain on outer edge of pages.
This book is dedicated to the rise and fall of the ANT-20, a groundbreaking project of Soviet aviation and the largest airplane of the time. The edition was compiled a day after the aircraft crashed into a low-rise residential neighbourhood in Moscow, killing 45 people including the pilot and crew members. The publication was designed by the noted Soviet graphic artist, illustrator, and one of the most eminent figures in Soviet book art Solomon Telingater (1903-1969).
In 1934, Andrei Tupolev’s design bureau engineers constructed an experimental model of the ANT-20. Standing out for its size and technical characteristics, the aircraft was named after Maxim Gorky and was dedicated to the 40th anniversary of his literary activity.
The plane was meant as the flagship of the Maxim Gorky propaganda squadron. The construction was equipped with a powerful radio set known as the ‘Voice from the Sky’, printing machinery, a library, radio broadcasting equipment, a photo laboratory, a sound film projector, a pneumatic tube, and a telephone exchange for 16 numbers, connecting various sections of the aircraft. One of the most effective tools of Soviet propaganda, this six-engine giant could carry 72 passengers and had bunk beds installed in its wings.
In 1934, Mikhail Gromov (1899-1985), a famous Soviet test pilot, made the first flight of the Tupolev ANT-20. Two days later, he piloted the aircraft again while welcoming the rescued crew of the Chelyuskin steamship. The welcoming ceremony was attended by thousands of Soviet citizens, with the ANT-20 soaring over the crowd.
In 1935, the Maxim Gorky plane took off for a demonstration flight above the main aerodrome on the Khodynka Field. The aircraft was escorted by two other fighters to emphasize the difference in the sizes of the planes. The accompanying I-5 biplane piloted by Nikolay Blagin (1896-1935) performed several maneuvers around the Maxim Gorky plane. On the third loop, the I-5 collided with the ANT-20, causing heavy damage to Gorky’s wing and engine. The Maxim Gorky aircraft managed to maintain its balance only for several seconds before being destroyed by the ensuing midair explosion. In total, the crash killed 45 people, including the fighter pilot, both crew members, nine people on the ground, and 33 of the 36 passengers - mostly shock workers (and their family members, including children) from the Central Aerohydrodymanic Institute. Alexey Orlov, the chief engineer of the ANT-20, also died in the accident.
The book contains memoirs of one of the few survivors of the crash, V. Rybushki, who piloted the fighter P-5 and struggled to land the plane due to a panicked camera operator. In the text, Rybushki chronicles the flight from the very beginning to the final crash and offers a rare insight into the tragic accident. The book also includes specifications of the ANT-20, a list of the victims of the crash, and mournful texts published in newspapers the next day.
There is also a folding leaf featuring pictures of the interior and equipment on board. The book is illustrated with portraits of the victims and a film still of the ANT-20 taken by the camera operator a few seconds before the crash. This image became one of the few (if not the only) remnants of the unreleased documentary film about the fatal flight that was conceived to be a manifestation of Soviet glory.
Worldcat shows the only copy of the edition in the Library of Congress.

Price: $650.00