Polestar descending:glavsevmorput in decline, 1936-1939

• Main Author: Mccannon, John
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Oxford University PressNew York, NY 1998
• Subjects: Arctic; North Pole
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195114362.003.0007; https://academic.oup.com/book/chapter-pdf/52535639/isbn-9780195114362-book-part-7.pdf

Abstract In July 1937, in the wake of his successful expedition to the North Pole, Otto Shmidt gave a public address at Moscow’s Regional Council of Professional Labor Unions. Afterward, Shmidt was asked by a reporter why Levanevsky had not yet made a transpolar flight to America. After all, both Chkalov and Gromov had done so. Why not a Glavsevmorput pilot? Shmidt answered by repeating the question: “Why, indeed, has Levanevsky not flown this year?” He paused, allowing a grin to appear on his face: “Remember, my comrades, the year is not yet out.” In other words, bigger and better things were yet to come from GUSMP.