Evening star., 1937-07-19
BY GEORGE BAIDUKOV.

The most notable trait OF the people
Of our country is that OF never being
satisfied with what has been achieved,
Of constantly reaching out toward new
projects and goals.
| In 1896 our crew had the joyous ex-
perience of opening up the Stain
route, a great triumph for Soviet avia-
ton. After numerous demonstrations,
interviews and meetings with the peo-
pie Of our country, We all settled down
again to the regular routine work that
We loved.
We did not permit ourselves to be-
come complacent or overconfident in
| our day-to-day work Valery Chkalov
and l continued as before making
daily tests of military planes. And
Sasha Beliakov returned to his sys-
| tematic, daily training of the army Of
navigators, teaching them the art of
guiding the plane to its goal, against
| some possible future enemy.
The Winter passed and again our
| thoughts and dreams reached out to
| the endless spaces of the ocean of air,
to the waves and far ice-packs of the
Arctic which last year had swum
under the wings of our legendary
| ANT-25.
Planned Trips Many Months.
Valery and during the Winter had
made a number of trips to Tsagi
| Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute)
where our Ant-25 was kept. We made
several flights. We took council with
our friends. Engineer Stoman and
Technician Berdik about the condi-
ton Of the motor and the plane.
We wrote reports for Kaganovich
and Rukhimovich, and finally de-
cided to reveal our whole plan to
| Voroshilov> always listened TO us
warmly and supported us. Comrade
Voroshilov constantly gave us friend
| ly advice and helped us in solving
our problems.
Our chief problem was to get the
consent of the government for a fight
from Moscow to the United States
over the North Pole in the airplane
! Ant-25. Valery Chkalov and l wrote
a letter to Comrade Stain and waited
for his answer with quite understand
| able excitement and anxiety During
those very days the airships Of Vodo-
ianov, Molokov, Alexeyev and Ma
| zuruk, under the leadership of
! Schmidt, completed their extraord-
mary dangerous and important ex-
pedition and landed at the North
| Pole
Under such favorable conditions,
we were practically convinced We
should have a positive reply to our
| request.
Finally, the eXhausting days and
hours of waiting came to an end
That was on May 25 On that day
as always, I few. At II o'clock in
the morning they sent for me at the
airdrome and told me l had been
called to Voroshilov's office. I went
Immediately to the commissariat of
defense where I found Chkalov and
Levanevsky. From there we went
to the Kremlin.
Invited to Stalin's Office.
At 4 o'clock the three of us were
invited to come into the office of
Comrade Stain AS soon as we en-
tered, Joseph Vissarionovich rose from
| the long table behind which comrades
Molotov, Voroshilov, Kaganovich and
Yezhov were sitting, and. smiling in
welcome, came forward to meet U.S.
After greetings were exchanged, the
three of us sat down at the opposite
side of the table. first looked intently
| at Joseph Vissarionovich, who re-
manned standing at the table, and then
scrutinized the faces and the general
appearance of all the other comrades.
Satisfied that the mood of our
leaders augured well for our enter
prise, and taking advantage of the
silence, I looked around Comrade
Stains Office. On his desk I noticed
a model of the Ant-25, probably pre-
sented to him after our last years
flight. l shall not conceal the fact
that at that moment I was over