Soviet aviators -- Col. Mikhail Gromov, pilot, Maj. Andrei Yumashev, co-pilot, and Capt. Sergei Danilin, navigator -- are welcomed after breaking the nonstop flight record, flying from Moscow and landing in San Jacinto, California, via the North Pole. The trio flew over 6700 miles in 62 hours and 12 minutes. The original flight plan called for a landing in San Diego, but fog made landing the Russians’ large monoplane on San Diego’s short runways dangerous, and so the crew landed instead in the semi-desert fields surrounding San Jacinto. After landing, the crew was quickly taken to the nearby March Field Air Base, where they answered questions from reporters after a shower and a quick meal. July 14, 1937.Pictured are Gromov, center behind microphones, Russian consul Grigori Gromov to his left, and Yumashev and Danilin to Gokhman's left.
Photographers and journalists crowd around pilot Mikhail Gromov, co-pilot Sergei Danilin, and navigator Andrei Yumoshev, who landed the then longest flight in aviation history from Moscow to San Jacinto, CA by way of the North Pole. The three men flew for 62 hours and 17 minutes before landing in Earl Smith's Hemet Valley cow pasture. They were quickly taken to March Field Air Base in Riverside, California, for a meal and a shower before meeting the press.
