B-25 crash near Khilok
Red Army Air Force North American B-25 Mitchell · Difficult weather conditions (probably)
From Far East to 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
- 8 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- 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
- Military
North American B-25 Mitchell
- Aircraft type
- North American B-25
- 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
- Red Army Air Force
- Onboard fatalities
- 8
- Route
- From Far EastTo Moscow
Cause areas
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Khilok, Zabaykalsky Krai, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The B-25 crash near Khilok was an aviation accident involving a B-25C Mitchell aircraft of the Red Army Air Force that occurred on Friday 29 September 1944, 30 kilometres from the village of Khilok in Chita Oblast. The crash killed 8 people — a group of inspectors from the Main Staff of the USSR Air Force led by Hero of the Soviet Union Vladimir Ivanovich Artamonov.
Crash
On 29 September 1944 at 12:10 pm local time, a group of inspectors from the Main Staff of the USSR Air Force, led by Colonel Vladimir Ivanovich Artamonov, was returning to Moscow with the results of an inspection of Soviet aviation units in the Far East. Despite non-flying weather, the B-25C Mitchell took off from the Chita aerodrome "Cheryomushki" and set course westward. 52 minutes after take-off, contact with the aircraft was lost.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
An investigative group consisting of SMERSH officers Major Ryabinin, Captain Poddubny and Lieutenant Voronov drew up a report in September 1945. According to the report, the aircraft encountered conditions of poor visibility, turned "belly" up and struck the ground at a steep angle. The group also identified looters, who turned out to be local hunters. They were convicted but, despite it being wartime, were sentenced to relatively short prison terms — from 5 to 7 years.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Russian Wikipedia article “Катастрофа B-25 под Хилком” (revision 154983422, 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
Russian Wikipedia article: Катастрофа B-25 под Хилком
- Article
- Катастрофа B-25 под Хилком
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 154983422 · 2026-09-11 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q18279562
- 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
- ru Wikipedia article "Катастрофа B-25 под Хилком" (page 5137263, revision 154983422), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata 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
- operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Russian Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.