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C-47 stops in Salina before beginning 'Warplanes to Siberia' trek

As America's Fuel Stop, Salina hosts a number of historical aircraft and today a veteran of D-Day lifted off on her way to Great Falls, Mont.

A C-47 Skytrain stopped at Avflight Salina for fuel en route to participate in the Russian-American project "Warplanes to Siberia." The Warplanes to Siberia Project re-creates the World War II flights along Alaska-Siberia air route warbirds flying the route in 2015 will participate in the Airspace Show MAKS-2015.

Delivery of supplies to the Soviet Union via maritime routes was extremely difficult and dangerous during the "Great Patriot War," known today as World War II.  In 1941, the Soviet State Defense Committee made the decision to organize an air ferry route from the United States, across Siberia, to the Soviet Union. The chosen air route runs from Alaska, over the Bearing Straight and through the central regions of Chukotka and Yakutia to Krasnoyarsk. The American portion runs from Great Falls, Mont., up through Canada and ends in Fairbanks, Ala. The route was later named the "Alaska-Siberia Air Route."  

The project is a tribute to the memory of the resourcefulness, the bravery, the determination and the dedication of the thousands of men and women across three nations who suffered great hardships in an effort to save the world.

For more information on this fascinating historical project check out their website at en.rusavia.com.