The return of test pilot Valery Pavlovich Chkalov to the USSR was transformed into a true national holiday. Moscow was decked out with flags, the floor littered with world maps as crowds congratulated and welcomed the pilots after their record breaking flight on the Tupolev ANT-25 aircraft for the first non-stop flight from Moscow through North Pole to the U.S. Chkalov teamed up with Georgui Baidukov and Alexandre Beliakov on the record flight. 1937 Supplied By: SCRSS - Society for Co-operation in Russian & Soviet Studies