Propaganda books

4612

L. Brontman and L. Chvat

La raid héroïque du "Rodina"

The heroic raid of the 'Rodina'

Mosocw: Foreign languages, 1939

225 x 175 mm. 112 pages

Edition: unknown.

Stalin, had ordered that Soviet pilots should connect Moscow with the farther corners of the Soviet Union. Two male pilots had flown 6,850 miles, non-stop from Moscow to the Far East and were declared heroes. After that Stalin ordered Soviet women to make a similar trip. Three of the best and most experienced were chosen and given a specially-built aircraft “Rodina” (Motherland). Stalin selected Valentina Grizodubova as the Commander of the flight. The co-pilot was Polina Osipenko, the daughter of a Ukrainian farmer and the navigator was Marina Raskova. The women took off on September 24, 1938 and had flown to the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk. They turned around and flew back over land, and found nothing but forests and swamps. Because of lack of fuel they made a chrash landing in a half frozen swamp. A Soviet search aircraft had located the wreckage and had dispatched ground rescue. The three pilots were eventually picked up and brought back to Moscow.

Reference:

Zwolle 2016, no. 109