23 июля 1911 года начался первый групповой перелет Петербург – Москва

On 10 July, 1911, O.S., 9 planes took off from the Commandant’s airfield in Saint Petersburg and set a course for Moscow. A risky undertaking, in truth – a long-distance (at the time!) group flight. One pilot was killed, another pilot was severely wounded and two more pilots fell down into the swamp. And only Alexander Vasiliev, although he lost his way and made a 200-verst detour (approx. 213 kilometers), touched the ground on the Khodynka Field more than a day after takeoff. The champion and lawyer was not even 30 years old. But one of the first Russian pilots studied at the Blériot flying academy in France and set several aviation records. Vasiliev was not killed in a plane crash, he perished in the Austrian captivity in 1918. What if there were no war?...