The found C-47 in the tundra

Nearly 70 years was a Douglas C-47 in the Siberian tundra. An expedition has now found the wreckage of the plane, which in 1943 had to make an emergency landing in the wilderness.

The weather was nasty on 23 April 1947. But Maxim Tyurikov was accustomed to such difficult circumstances. As pilot of the State Polar airline Polyarnaya Aviatsiya, he flew passengers and cargo in remote areas of Siberia, where snow and ice make flying in the winter and mud in the summer to the adventure every day. His plane was an American Douglas C-47.

The C-47 was the military version of the Douglas DC-3. During the war, the United States eagerly supplied the Soviet Union with weapons and war material - including aircraft. Finally, it spent fighting the same enemy: Hitler Germany. And so was the C-47 pilot Tyurikov 1943 via Alaska in the USSR.

Delivery from the United States

After the war, the aircraft with the serial 42-32892 produced in long beach was incorporated into the civilian Polyarnaya Aviatsiya. She was responsible for supplying the Northern Soviet areas.

On that fateful day almost seventy years ago, Tyurikov started in the Bay of Kozhevnikova. His target was the city Krasnoyarsk - after a stopover in Dudinka -. But there the plane did not arrive, which was officially with 26 occupants. Unofficially, but 32 people were in the C-47 marked CCCP N238 because some had no ticket.

Engines were

On the flight to Dudinka Tyurikov got problems. One of the two double star Motors failed. The pilot flew on with just one drive. But after four hours, he also fell out. He had no need to end up left, as with the C-47. Tyurikov, managed to set up the machine gently in the tundra.

Three days remained passengers and crew in place and hoped for rescue. Nothing happened. And so Tyurikov, his flight engineer, radio operator and six passengers made up themselves, to get help. They never came back. Until 1953, Hunter found the body of the pilot haven't until now each of the Other eight occupants broken with him.

Russian American expedition

The other occupants were rescued. After 20 days, a search aircraft discovered the wreckage. It remained in the inhospitable tundra of Siberia.

But now a Russian American expedition under the leadership of the geographical society of Russia to the C-47 on the Taymyr peninsula is ventured, which was fairly well preserved because of the climate. They discovered a contemporary witness of bygone times. The aircraft was subsequently recovered and transported to Krasnoyarks. There, it becomes a major exhibit at the new Museum of the discovery of the North.

See pictures of the long-lost C-47 in the above Gallery.

Posted by Jack at .