Moscow air crash (1935)
Tupolev ANT-20 and Polikarpov I-5 · Moscow air parade crash – an air crash which occurred on 18 May 1935 in Moscow
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 52 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 7
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- Unknown
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Unknown
Aircraft 1 · Tupolev ANT-20
- Aircraft type
- Tupolev ANT-20
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- Unknown
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Aircraft 2 · Polikarpov I-5
- Aircraft type
- Polikarpov I-5
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- Unknown
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Moscow air parade crash – an air crash which occurred on 18 May 1935 in Moscow. The ANT-20 Maxim Gorky aircraft, performing a demonstration flight, collided with an I-5 fighter aircraft piloted by Nikolai Blagin. 52 people were killed (crew members, 33 family members of the ANT-20's designers, 7 people on the ground and Blagin).
On the fateful day the Tupolev ANT-20 Maxim Gorky was to perform its last flight at an air show in Moscow. At that time it was the largest aircraft in the world. The aircraft took off from the airfield and was to fly with three smaller machines: an ANT-14, an R-5, and an I-5. During this flight, the pilot of the accompanying I-5 fighter, Nikolai Blagin, tried to perform a loop around the wing of the "Maxim Gorky". He struck it, as a result of which both machines crashed to the ground. 52 people were killed. The official cause of the collision was an error by the I-5 pilot, who according to the communist authorities had not obtained permission for this risky manoeuvre. However, there is also a version according to which the fateful loop around the ANT-20's wing was in the plans for the show, and Blagin had unofficially received an order to perform it; this may also be indicated by the fact that a newsreel crew was flying in another aircraft, as if with the intention of filming the daring manoeuvre.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Polish Wikipedia article “Katastrofa lotnicza w Moskwie (1935)” (revision 72903622, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
Polish Wikipedia article: Katastrofa lotnicza w Moskwie (1935)
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 72903622 · 2024-02-17 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q11737202
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- pl Wikipedia article "Katastrofa lotnicza w Moskwie (1935)" (page 1654013, revision 72903622), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- not stated in the Wikipedia article's infobox or opening paragraph
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: ground fatalities
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Polish Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.