Russian Test Pilots Georgi Baidukov (left) Valery Pavlovich Chkalov (centre) and Alexandre Beliakov who teamed up on the Tupolev ANT-25 aircraft to begin the first in the history of aircraft, a transpolar non-stop flight from Moscow via the North Pole to the United States of America. On 20 June the plane made landing in Vancouver, Washington (USA), having covered distance 8582 km in 63 hours and 16 minutes. The Chkalov team flew for the first time above the North Pole and a pole of inaccessibility and discovered the shortest way connecting the two continent. 18 June 1937 Supplied By: SCRSS - Society for Co-operation in Russian & Soviet Studies