✈️ On June 18, 1937, the now legendary and back then deemed impossible non-stop flight was undertaken by Soviet aviators through the "air road not taken before" — Moscow - North Pole - Vancouver. The crew consisting of commander Valery Chkalov, co-pilot Georgy Baidukov and navigator Aleksander Belyakov pursued an ambitious goal: for the first time in history to "connect" the continents by the shortest route - across the Arctic Ocean.

Especially for this and other long-distance flights, the Soviet aircraft engineer Andrey Tupolev in just one year created a single-engine ANT-25 with an extended wing. This design allowed to take more fuel and also increased the machine's planning ability.

🧊The flight, which lasted a total of 63 hours and 16 minutes, was conducted under extreme conditions. Due to Arctic frosts, ice had to be cut off from the cockpit windows manually, and the engine had to be cooled with tea and coffee water (the water reserves intended for this purpose were frozen). Due to cloud fronts pilots had to either pilot the aircraft blindly or change course, which resulted in overconsumption of about 300 litres of fuel.

The flight of Valery Chkalov's team became one of the biggest events in the history of world aviation. It demonstrated the advanced character of Soviet achievements in aircraft construction, proved to the whole world the highest professionalism and courage of Soviet aviators.

🤝 The three pilots feat was widely covered in the press - both Soviet and American. US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt personally received the crew in the Oval Office of the White House. Instead of the planned 15-minute conversation, he chatted with the Soviet crew for 1 hour and 40 minutes.

#FunFact (not so fun at the time): while preparing the flight, a network of radio stations was put in place along the entire Northern Sea Route. In addition, the flight was planned specifically when the drifting polar station "North Pole-1" under the leadership of Ivan Papanin worked in June 1937. The pilots even managed to get a weather report from the station, but just during the passage of this area on ANT-25 the antenna of the onboard radio station failed. So the crew travelled over the Arctic Ocean without any communication.

⭐️ 79 years ago, on 20 June 1945, the Victory Banner was delivered to Moscow from Berlin - the very banner that was raised over the defeated Reichstag on the night of May 1, 1945, by Red Army soldiers of the 150th Rifle Division Mikhail Egorov, Meliton Kantaria and Alexey Berest.

Photos of the burning Reichstag with the Victory Banner flying above its dome were published in the Russian newspaper Pravda on May 3, 1945. The Red Banner, pierced by bullets, stained with blood, became a sacred relic.

Transporting the Banner was entrusted to pilots of the 226th aviation regiment, formed shortly before by officers of the 62nd separate Guards regiment of the USSR Civil Air Fleet.

For some time the original Victory Banner was stored in the combined battalion of the 1st Belorussian Front, then it was sent to the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, where it is still kept.

🇷🇺 It is shown very rarely: the fabric is too fragile. The banner is kept unfurled and in a horizontal position in a glass showcase, which does not allow ultraviolet rays to pass through, while optimal temperature and air humidity are maintained inside. An exact replica of the original flag is on display in the Museum's permanent exhibition.

☝️ The blood-red cloth remains the main symbol of the Great Patriotic War, a source of pride of all the peoples of the USSR who contributed to our common Victory.