Vintage aircraft to participate in commemoration of WWII U.S.-USSR program

Seattle WA — Seattle Museum of Flight – On June 22 there will be a vintage warplane fly-in associated with a lecture examining the transfer of American warplanes to the Soviet Union via the Lend-Lease program during World War II. Participants include leaders in the Bravo 369 Flight Foundation, a group that plans to fly World War II-vintage T-6 Texan training aircraft to Russia in 2014 to commemorate the Lend-Lease program. The Foundation’s aircraft will fly-in and be on static display in the Museum parking lot all day. The pilots will be available to meet Museum visitors. The 2 p.m. lecture will include experts on the Lend-Lease program, including Museum of Flight Curator Dan Hagedorn and BRAVO 369 president and pilot, Jeff Geer.

 

BRAVO 369 and the Lend-Lease Program

On June 24th a North American Aviation T-6 Texan warplane will be making its way to Fairbanks, Alaska to recreate a World War II flight and begin documenting the untold story of Lend-Lease and the Alaska-Siberia Air Route. From 1942 – 1945, the United States secretly delivered nearly 8,000 American-made warplanes to the Soviet Union via this route, otherwise known as “ALSIB.” Approximately 6,000 miles long, it runs from Great Falls, Mont., up through Canada and Alaska, across the Bering Sea, into Siberia and on to Krasnoyarsk, Russia. 

 

During the war effort, approximately 177 pilots lost their lives delivering aircraft along the treacherous Alaska-Siberia Air Route. More than 1,000 Women Airforce Service Pilots played a key role in the delivery of these aircraft from the U.S. factories to the staging base in Great Falls, of which 38 women pilots were lost. “The amazing story of these women, along with the men of the 7th Ferrying Squadron and Soviet pilots, will be included in great detail in our documentary,” said Geer. “Very few people knew about this program then, let alone now. Our mission is to accurately re-create the flights as well as document and tell the story for future generations. It was one of the greatest logistical efforts of the 20th century – and a major turning point of World War Two.”

 

Image: North American T-6 trainers similar to the BRAVO 369 aircraft coming to The Museum of Flight on June 22. Photo courtesy Cascade Warbirds.