Its designer, Andrey Nikolayevich Tupolev, wrote: “The day of May 26 1924 should be rightly remembered in the history of Soviet aviation. On that day, the first Soviet all-metal aircraft made its maiden flight at the Central Airfield.”

The first passenger aircraft covered with a corrugated skin made of Kolchugaluminum (a high-grade alloy based on duralumin with addition of nickel and varied proportion of copper and manganese, manufactured at the plant in Kolchugino, Vladimir Oblast), was taken into the air by pilot N.I. Petrov. Two sandbags played the role of passengers in the first trial flights. The next day Tupolev reported to the Scientific Committee of the Chief Directorate of Aircraft Fleets: “The Central Institute of Fluid Dynamics hereby reports the completion of the construction of a metal aircraft powered by a Lucifer engine and requests your permission to allow it to be tested at the Central Airfield.” Events unfolded rapidly back then: on June 11 of the same year ANT-2 began carrying passengers. In full accordance with its performance specifications: one pilot, two passengers, a 750-kilometer range.