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Rockets and People<br />
“Good bye and good luck, Nikolay Nikolayevich!” I shouted. Godovikov<br />
waved, turned back around, and disappeared in<strong>to</strong> the fuselage.<br />
Then he suddenly appeared in the dark entry hatch doorway; and after shouting,“Farewell,<br />
Boris. Now you see it, now you don’t!” he finally vanished.<br />
That is how I remember my unhappy farewell with Godovikov. I believe that<br />
he was convinced of the unfortunate outcome of the flight. How the remaining<br />
crew members approached and said their goodbyes, I do not recall. The excited<br />
and happy Levanevskiy was the last one <strong>to</strong> climb in<strong>to</strong> the aircraft.<br />
Bolkhovitinov came <strong>to</strong> an agreement with the pilots that Kastanayev would take<br />
off and fly the aircraft for the first several hours. The concrete strip was cleared.<br />
Everyone dispersed from the aircraft. One after another the propellers began reluctantly<br />
<strong>to</strong> spin.Finally all four were working.Red Army soldiers ran up <strong>to</strong> the wheels<br />
and pulled out the chocks.The engines began <strong>to</strong> roar and the airplane rolled down<br />
the slope. It ran down the runway for an unbearably long time. It seemed like it had<br />
reached the forest before it <strong>to</strong>re away from the concrete. Kastanayev managed <strong>to</strong><br />
take off at the very end of the runway. It was 6:15 p.m.Then someone who had<br />
timed it announced that the takeoff run lasted 37 seconds.The N-209 slowly rose<br />
up over the forest leaving behind a smoke trail from the far right engine.<br />
After such constant stress we didn’t know where <strong>to</strong> go or what <strong>to</strong> do with<br />
ourselves now. No one left the field. After a while Alksnis received the first radiogram.<br />
He read it aloud:<br />
Ya—RL. 13 19:40. Crossed Mother Volga, cruising speed 205 kilometers.Altitude<br />
820 meters. I hear Moscow well on wavelength 32.8. All OK. Crew<br />
feels fine.<br />
“Good radiogram,” said Alksnis. He <strong>to</strong>ok his son, who had been clinging <strong>to</strong><br />
him, by the hand, and giving no further instructions, left the airfield.<br />
From Shchelkovo, the primary N-209 “ground crew” staff went <strong>to</strong> the Air Force<br />
communications center located at the Central Airfield. Here, Nikolay Shelimov,Air<br />
Force Deputy Chief of Communications, was responsible for radio communications<br />
with the N-209.Thirty sleepless hours still lay ahead of us before Levanevskiy’s<br />
airplane was <strong>to</strong> land in Alaska.A festive reception awaited him in Fairbanks.<br />
I will not describe in detail everything that happened during those hours. In<br />
that regard there have been many publications concerning the subsequent fate of<br />
the N-209. 14<br />
13. RL—Radioliniya (Radio communications link).<br />
14. For the best Russian-language work on the mission, see Yu. P. Salnikov, Zhizn otdannaya Arktike: o Geroye<br />
Sovetskogo Soyuza S. A. Levanevskom (A Life Devoted <strong>to</strong> the Arctic: On Hero of the Soviet Union S. A.<br />
Levanevskiy) (Moscow: Politizdat, 1984). For English language works, see John McCannon, Red Arctic: Polar<br />
Exploration and the Myth of the North in the Soviet Union, 1932–1939 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998);<br />
Pier Horensma, The Soviet Arctic (London: Routledge, 1991).<br />
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