Chukhnovskii, Boris Grigorevich

Born Mar. 28 (Apr. 9), 1898, in St. Petersburg; died Sept. 30,1975, in Moscow. Soviet polar aviator; colonel. Member of the CPSU from 1932.

Chukhnovskii graduated from the school for naval pilots in Oranienbaum in 1917. During the Civil War of 1918–20 he served as chief of naval aviation in the combat operations of the Volga-Caspian Flotilla and took part in the operations that moved the base of the Baltic Fleet from Helsingfors to Kronstadt in 1918.

Chukhnovskii’s first arctic flight, to Novaia Zemlia, was made in 1924. (Ia. I. Nagurskii made the first flight to Novaia Zemlia.) The purpose of the flight was to conduct hydrographic work and to escort the ships of the Kara Expedition. He flew in the search for U. Nobile’s expedition in 1928, in an ice reconnaissance of the Northern Sea Route between 1929 and 1932, and in the search for S. A. Levanevskii’s crew in 1937 and 1938. Between 1933 and 1936, Chukhnovskii and R. L. Bartini designed the DAR airplane, a long-range arctic reconnaissance plane.

During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45, Chukhnovskii flew as a naval pilot in the combat operations of the Northern Fleet. After the war he was a polar aviator in the Main Northern Sea Route Administration. Chukhnovskii was awarded the Order of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner, and various medals.