In 1929 four Russians unexpectedly landed at Pearson Field for minor repairs to their plane, the "Land of the Soviets". The next Russian landing on June 20, 1937, made headlines around the world.
Valeri Chkalov and his crew of two succeeded in flying nonstop over the North Pole in an ANT-25 monoplane with a massive glider-like wingspan. They made the first nonstop transpolar flight from Moscow in 63 hours, 16 minutes.
A street in the Cascade Park area of Vancouver is named for Chkalov (pronounced Cha-KAH-luf). In the years since the flight, many Soviet delegations have visited Vancouver and city officials have traveled to Russia.
Pearson Air Museum has a pictorial display of the Soviet transpolar flight and other attractions.
