The Soviet long-range bomber DB-3, re-equipped for a record flight along the route Khabarovsk-Lviv and received the name of TsKB-30 No.1 “Ukraine”.
On this DB-3 plane, on the instructions of the Soviet leadership, the female crew as part of the navigator M.P. Nesterenko, the pilots NI. Rusakova and M.G. Mikhalewa was supposed to make a record in the distance flight along the route Khabarovsk – Lviv. The flight was to remind the world community of the potential of Soviet bomber aviation and once again emphasize the fact that Lviv is an organic and integral part of the USSR. To achieve this, on DB-3, the bomber redesigned the glazing of the navigator’s cabins, carried two venturi tubes in the bow of the port side of the fuselage, and equipped the aircraft with more advanced M-87 engines.
On July 27, 1940, the female DB-3 crew took off from Khabarovsk. Above the Urals, the plane got into a cyclone, with one engine problems, and the control center of the flight ordered the landing. Mikhalev and Rusakov have made an emergency landing in the field in the Kirov region, not reaching 2200 km to Lviv. Despite this, TsKB-30 No. 1 “Ukraine” still installed a new female world record for the flight range, having flown 7000 km in 23 hours 32 minutes.
Location: Khabarovsk, USSR
Date: 1940