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The Sverdlovsk plane crash of 7 January 1950 killed all 19 people on board, including almost the entire ice hockey team (VVS Moscow) of the Soviet Air Forces – 11 players, as well as a team doctor and a masseur. The team was on board a twin-engined Lisunov Li-2 transport aircraft, a licensed Soviet-built version of the DC-3, heading to a match against Dzerzhinets Chelyabinsk. Due to poor weather at Chelyabinsk, the flight diverted to Sverdlovsk. The crew attempted four approaches but during the fifth approach to Koltsovo Airport the aircraft crashed near the airport in a heavy snowstorm with strong winds.[2]
 A Li-2 similar to the accident aircraft | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 7 January 1950 |
| Summary | Crashed in adverse weather |
| Site | Koltsovo Airport, Sverdlovsk, USSR |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Lisunov Li-2 (license-built DC-3) |
| Operator |  Soviet Air Forces |
| Registration | 42 Red[1] |
| Flight origin | Vnukovo Airport, Moscow, USSR |
| Destination | Chelyabinsk Airport, Chelyabinsk |
| Occupants | 19 |
| Passengers | 13 |
| Crew | 6 |
| Fatalities | 19 |
| Survivors | 0 |
Among those killed in the crash was goalkeeper Harijs Mellups.
Aftermath
editThe crash was covered up by Vasiliy Stalin, the son of Joseph Stalin and the team's manager, who immediately recruited a new team without his father's knowledge.[3][4]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Accident description for 42 red at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 8 October 2013.
- ^ "Athletes – Famous Olympic Athletes, Medalists, Sports Heroes". 9 May 2017.
- ^ Ellen Barry; Andrew E. Kramer (7 September 2011). "Crash Wipes Out Elite Russian Hockey Team, Killing Several Veterans of the N.H.L." The New York Times. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
- ^ Kevin Sherrington (13 February 1992). "Remembering hockey tragedy". The Miami Herald. The Dallas Morning News. p. 9D. Retrieved 17 March 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
