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