Palmer, 1995

Scott W. Palmer. 1995. On Wings of Courage: Public "Air-Mindedness" and National Identity in Late Imperial Russia." Russian Review 54:2 (Apr. 1995), pp 209-226. (JSTOR)

• The founder of the Imperial All-Russian Aero-Club was Vasilii Korn. In letters to Novoe vremia and Vozdukhoplavatel he lamented the sorry state of russian aeronautics and challenges the nation to solve problems of flight. (1907) (p218)
• The Aero-Club made appeals for public support to establish a "national air fleet" in early 1909. (p219)
• Great attention was given to the first flight of Russia's first military dirigible, the Lebed' . It was constructed in France. It flew 22 minutes.
• Hyperbole followed also Lt. G. V. Piotrovskii's flight from St. Petersburg to Kronstadt on 22 Sept 1910; heroism and courage. (p221)
• Nov 1909: "Arguing that widespread understanding of aviation terminology was essential [to public consciousness of aviation] . . . Novoe vremia and Novaia Rus' called for a purely Russian lexicon of aero terms. (p221)
• Novoe vremia published in Sept 1910 an article called "The First Aviators" . . . based on manuscripts in Munich it said that naval officer A. M. Mozhaiskii and engineer P. D. Kuz'minskii had made airplanes in the 1880s, although these had not flown. (p222)

Air festivals in April and Sept 1910

• The first Petersburg Aviation Week, which ran from 15 April to 2 May 1910, had 160,000 spectators. (possible source: V. E. Sankov, U istokov aviatsii, 1976, p84 (p213)
• The First All-Russian Festival of Aviation took place at the Komendantskoe airfield, on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, in September 1910 (at least the 20th-24th, probably longer). It was organized by "the nation's most prominent aero club, the Imperial All-Russian Aero-Club, and funded through private donations and state subsidies" with the intent of getting public support for aviation. (p212)
• St. Petersburg was at that time the capital of Russia (p209)
• This all-Russian aviation festival was attended by more than 140,000 people, according to Novoe vremia, 8 Oct 1910. (p213)
• Tickets were sold in four price categories (p213): 5 rubles, 3 rubles, 1 ruble, and 20 kopeks. The 5-ruble one gave one a seat in the main grandstand. The 20-kopek one gave access to the common area surrounding the airfield. It seems that the expensive ones did not sell out. (p213)

Matsievich as pilot, hero, and martyr

• Naval Captain Lev Makarovich Matsievich had been born in Ukraine and trained in France. In the Festival he flew a single-engine Farman biplane several times on Saturday, 24 Sept 1910.
• Matsievich took "Chairman of the Council of Ministers P. A. Stolypin" on a flight. Stolypin said this had convinced him that aeroplanes were practical and that aviation would have a great future. (p213)
• He was attempting to beat the Russian altitude record set 4 days earlier by B. V. Matyevich. Matsievich crashed, and died.
• young men such as Matsievich, M. N. Efimov, and G. V. Piotrovskii were viewed as living symbols of Russian "strength and vitality" (p210)
• refs Imperial Russia's agenda for "conquest of the air" (p210)
• Cites parallel works by Joseph Corn, 1983 and Peter Fritzsche, 1992 on American and German popular cultures regarding aviation
• Cites Jonathan Coopersmith, 1992, The Electrification of Russia, 1880-1926 on Russian tech of the period.
• By the late summer of 1910 aeronautical accidents had become common across [Europe. (p212)
• In June 1909 Gen. F. F. Palitsyn had died in a balloon crash which wounded also his wife and the pilot. (Cites Imperatorskii Vserossiisskii Aero-Klub, "Ekstrennago chrezvychainago Soveta Kluba, 6 Iiunia 1909 g., Vozdukhoplavatel, 1909, no. 8:554-555.
• In Aug 1910, aviator Ivan Zaikin had been injured when his airplane crashed in Kharkov (now called Kharkiv, Ukraine). (Cites Gazeta kopieka, 31 Aug 1910)
• The memorial services and parades for Matsievich in St. Petersburg were huge. Perhaps 15,000 people marched, according to one newspaper. (p212-)
• Author refers to the "director of the aeronautical society Kryl'ia], who is quoted in the Novoe vremia article of 8 Oct 1910 cited elsewhere here.
• the memorial service may have been on Nevskii Prospekt on 28 Sept 1910 (implied, p223)

Later

• In the summer of 1911 there was a big aero race from St. Petersburg to Moscow. The nation celebrated A. A. Vasil'ev's successful flight. Press coverage was extensive and "critical of the sponsor of the event, the All-Russian Aero Club, for inadequately ensuring the safety of the participants. Of the nine pilots who took part, only Vasil'ev finished the competition." There were numerous crashes and a fatality. (p217)

Palmer's sources

• Palmer cites Novoe vremia especially. Also the aero journal Vozdukoplatavel. Other newspapers of the time were Russkoe slovo and Gazeta kopeika. Other periodicals of the time mentioning Matsievich with the goal of making a monument to him were Movkovskiia vedomosti, Rech' , Rodina, Rossiia, Russkoe slovo, Sankt Peterburgskiia vedomosti and Niva.

Original title	On Wings of Courage: Public "Air-Mindedness" and National Identity in Late Imperial Russia
Simple title	Public Air-Mindedness and National Identity in Late Imperial Russia
Authors	Scott W. Palmer
Date	1995
Countries	RU
Languages	en
Keywords	airship, Zeppelin, LTA, dirigible, Kryl'ia
Journal	Russian Review
Related to aircraft?	1
Page count	18
Word count
Wikidata id