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[SOVIET AVIATION PROPAGANDA – THE FIRST NONSTOP FLIGHT FROM THE USSR TO THE US] Stalinskiye sokoly: V. Chkalov. G. Baydukov. A Belyakov: Dlya mladsh. i sredn. Vozrasta [i.e. Stalin's Falcons: V. Chkalov. G. Baidukov. A. Belyakov: For Younger and Middle School Children]

Item #2540

Moscow: Detizdat, 1937 (Moskva : f-ka detskoy knigi Izd-va detskoy lit-ry TSK VLKSM). 62, [2] pp.: ill. 22,7x17,1 cm. In original publisher’s illustrated cloth. Illustrated endpapers depicting a globe with a red line tracing the route from Moscow to Portland. Binding slightly worn, but otherwise near fine.

Scarce. First edition. Text in Russian.
A rare Soviet children’s photobook celebrating the first nonstop flight from the USSR to the United States, accomplished on June 18–20, 1937, along the Moscow–North Pole–Vancouver route.
The daring journey was completed in the long-range ANT-25 aircraft by pilot Valery Chkalov, co-pilot Georgy Baidukov, and navigator Alexander Belyakov. Lasting more than 63 hours and covering over 8,500 kilometers, it was the first flight in history to cross the North Pole directly from Moscow to North America without landing. The achievement was hailed as both a triumph of Soviet aviation and a symbol of national pride. Upon their arrival in Vancouver, Washington, the aviators were greeted with a hero’s welcome, securing the flight’s place as a milestone in world aviation history.
The edition was prepared for publication only a month after the aviators’ return. The book combines biographical sketches of the crew with a dramatic retelling of the events leading up to the flight and the day of their successful arrival in Portland. The narrative is imbued with Soviet patriotic rhetoric, underscoring the crew’s loyalty to Stalin, “to whom, like thousands of others, they owe everything.” Richly illustrated with black-and-white photographs, the volume depicts the aviators’ meeting with Stalin, views of the ANT-25, portraits of the crew before departure, their warm reception in Portland, etc. The text is divided into six sections and was written primarily by Soviet authors Boris Galin (1904–1983), Boris Gorbatov (1908–1954), and Lev Kassil (1905–1970).
No copies found in Worldcat.

Price: $850.00