SSSR-V6 OSOAVIAKhIM

Soviet airship

V6 OSOAVIAKhIM

V6 OSOAVIAKhIM
Role	Passenger/commercial airship Type of aircraft
Manufacturer	Soviet airship program
Designer	Umberto Nobile
First flight	5 November 1934^[1]
Status	Destroyed in crash on 6 February 1938^[2]
Number built	1

SSSR-V6 OSOAVIAKhIM (Russian: СССР-В6 Осоавиахим) was a semi-rigid airship designed by Italian engineer and airship designer Umberto Nobile and constructed as a part of the Soviet airship program. The airship was named after the Soviet organisation OSOAVIAKhIM. V6 was the largest airship built in the Soviet Union and one of the most successful. In October 1937, V6 broke the world record for airship endurance previously held by the Graf Zeppelin; under the command of Ivan Pankow, the airship remained aloft for 130 hours 27 minutes.

Crash

In February 1938, a Soviet Arctic expedition led by Ivan Papanin became stranded on pack ice. V6 was sent on a rescue mission from Moscow with a short intermediate landing in Murmansk.

At approximately 19:30 on 6 February 1938, V6 crashed into a hillside near Kandalaksha, 220 km south of Murmansk. the airship caught fire and was totally destroyed. Of the 19 passengers and crew on board, 13 perished. Their remains were laid to rest at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. In 1972, a memorial was erected at the crash site by local authorities and the citizens of Kandalaksha. There is also a memorial sign in Dolgoprudny at the former Soviet airship base.

Official reports by TASS stated that the crash was due to poor visibility and insufficient altitude. The details and conclusions of the Soviet investigation into the loss of airship were never made public. Among the circumstances assumed to have resulted in the crash were outdated charts and human error; some rumors indicated sabotage, but no evidence was ever presented.

Recent research^[3] revealed that the V6 flew off her route after the crew became disoriented in an unfamiliar area due to darkness and snowfall. Possibly contributing to the disorientation was ineffective use of radio navigation equipment (Telefunken's and Fairchild's RC-3 radio direction finders), lack of general navigational experience and human fatigue. Barometric altimeters could have accumulated error while the crew was unable to maintain constant visual control of the altitude.

The accident was a severe loss to the Soviet airship program which was eventually terminated in 1940.

Specifications

Data from Belokrys (2017)^[4]

General characteristics

Crew: 15
Length: 104.5 m (342 ft 10 in)
Width: 18.4 m (60 ft 4 in)
Height: 25.5 m (83 ft 8 in)
Volume: 19,400 m³ (685,105 cu ft)
Empty weight: 11,700 kg (25,794 lb)
Useful lift: 9,640 kg (21,253 lb)
Powerplant: 3 × Maybach Mb.IVa engines , 194 kW (260 hp) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 111 km/h (67 mph, 58 kn)
Cruise speed: 104 km/h (64 mph, 56 kn)
Range: 4,800 km (2,980 mi, 2,590 nmi) ^[5]
Endurance: 103 hours 27 minutes
Service ceiling: 3,300 m (10,827 ft) Maximum height actually reached.

References

Notes

^ Belokrys (2011), p. 153.
^ Belokrys (2017), p. 6.
^ Belokrys (2017).
^ Belokrys (2017), pp. 237, 299, 422, 427, 430, 433.
^ Maximum distance actually covered.

Bibliography

Belokrys, Aleksei. Deviat'sot chasov neba. Neizvestnaia istotriia dirizhablia "SSSR-V6" [Nine Hundred Hours in the Sky. The Unknown History of the Airship "SSSR-V6"]. Moscow, Russia: Paulsen, 2017. ISBN 978-5-98797-174-1 (in Russian).
Belokrys, Aleksei. Dirizhablestroi na Dolgoprudnoi: 1934-i, odin god iz zhizni [Dirizhablestroi in Dolgoprudnaya: 1934, one year of life]. Moscow, Russia: Paulsen, 2011. ISBN 978-5-98797-060-7 (in Russian).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to SSSR-V6 OSOAVIAKhIM.

Air Force Museum - Monino, Russia Grave for Crew of Soviet Airship SSSR-B6 at the Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow
Images of the V6 (Russian)
Map and photo of the monument at the crash site (comments in Russian)
Photos and bluprint of the V6 (Russian)
[1] Umberto Nobile. V6 wins the World's Duration Record (Russian)
[2] Umberto Nobile. The Tragic End of V-6 (Russian)

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1938 (1938)

Jan 10

Northwest Airlines Flight 2

Jan 11

Sikorsky S-42 Samoan Clipper

Feb 5

SSSR-V6 Osoaviakhim

Mar 1

TWA Flight 8

Jul 24

Santa Ana air show disaster

Jul 28

Martin M-130 Hawaii Clipper

Aug 24

Kweilin Incident

Sep 4

Edmonton, London, air crash

Oct 25

Kyeema crash

Nov 4

Jersey Airport disaster

1937 ◄ ► 1939

Aviation accidents and incidents in the Soviet Union

1930s	Osoaviakhim-1 SSSR-V6 Osoaviakhim
1940s	1948 Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-12 crash
1950s	1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash LOT Polish Airlines Flight 232 1957 Kiev mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight 04 1958 Aeroflot Tu-104 Kanash crash Aeroflot Flight 315 (1959) Aeroflot Flight 120 Aeroflot Flight 200
1960s	Aeroflot Flight 315 (1960) U-2 incident Aeroflot Flight 207 RB-47 shootdown incident Aeroflot Flight 036 Austrian Airlines Flight 901 Aeroflot Flight 068 Aeroflot Flight 245 Aeroflot Flight 902 Aeroflot Flight 415 Aeroflot Flight 213 (1962) Aeroflot Flight 191 Aeroflot Flight 03 Aeroflot Flight 25 Aeroflot Flight 012 Aeroflot Flight 366 Aeroflot Flight 663 Aeroflot Flight 721 Aeroflot Flight 101/X-20 Aeroflot Flight 542 Aeroflot Flight 513 Aeroflot Flight 99 Aeroflot Flight 065 Aeroflot Flight 2723 Aeroflot Flight 5003 (1967) Aeroflot Flight 2230 Aeroflot Flight L-51 Aeroflot Flight 15 Seaboard World Airlines Flight 253A 1969 Yukhnov mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight N-826
1970s	Aeroflot Flight U-45 Aeroflot Flight 1661 Dymshits–Kuznetsov hijacking affair Aeroflot Flight 3630 Aeroflot Flight 244 22 January 1971 Surgut Aeroflot Antonov An-12 crash 31 January 1971 Surgut Aeroflot Antonov An-12 crash Aeroflot Flight 1969 Aeroflot Flight 1912 Malév Flight 110 Aeroflot Flight 773 Aeroflot Flight N-63 Aeroflot Flight 2174 Aeroflot Flight 1491 Aeroflot Flight 558 Aeroflot Flight 1036 Aeroflot Flight 217 Japan Air Lines Flight 446 Aeroflot Flight 6263 Aeroflot Flight 141 Aeroflot Flight 630 Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Flight 307 Aeroflot Flight 6551 Aeroflot Flight 109 Aeroflot Flight A-13 Aeroflot Flight 3932 Aeroflot Flight 964 Aeroflot Flight 19 Aeroflot Flight 2022 Aeroflot Flight 2420 1974 Leningrad Aeroflot Il-18 crash 1974 Surgut mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight 2003 Aeroflot Flight 3739 (1976) Aeroflot Flight 909 Aeroflot Flight 1802 Aeroflot Flight A-53 Aeroflot Flight 418 1976 Anapa mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight 2415 Aeroflot Flight N-36 Aeroflot Flight 3843 Aeroflot Flight 5003 (1977) 1977 Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134 hijacking Aeroflot Flight B-2 Aeroflot Flight 6709 Korean Air Lines Flight 902 1978 Yegoryevsk Tu-144 crash Iranian Chinook shootdown Aeroflot Flight 1080 Aeroflot Flight 1691 1979 Dniprodzerzhynsk mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight 5484
1980s– Dec. 1991	Aeroflot Flight 4225 1981 Pushkin Tu-104 crash Aeroflot Flight 498 1981 Armenia mid-air collision 1981 Zheleznogorsk mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight 811 Aeroflot Flight 3603 Aeroflot Flight 8641 Aeroflot Flight 411 Aeroflot Flight 5463 Korean Air Lines Flight 007 Aeroflot Flight 601 Aeroflot Flight 3352 Aeroflot Flight 3519 Aeroflot Flight 7841 1985 Zolochiv mid-air collision Aeroflot Flight 5143 Aeroflot Flight 101/435 Aeroflot Flight 2306 Aeroflot Flight 6502 Aeroflot Flight U-505 Aeroflot Flight N-528 Aeroflot Flight 699 Aeroflot Flight 3739 (1988) 1988 Soviet Air Force Il-76 crash An-24 crash in Navoiy Aeroflot Flight 8556