Boris Chukhnovsky

Boris Grigoryevich Chukhnovsky (Russian: Борис Григорьевич Чухновский, 9 April [O.S. 28 March] 1898, Saint Petersburg - September 30, 1975, Moscow) was a Russian and Soviet pilot and Arctic explorer. He participation in the rescue of the Airship Italia in 1928 and in the search of the Sigizmund Levanevsky airplane in 1937-1938. He also created, together with Robert Bartini, a dedicated airplane for Arctic research (the Bartini DAR).

Boris Chukhnovsky was born in Saint Petersburg and graduated from a Realschule in Gatchina. In June 1916 he enlisted himself to Navy, as his father insisted, however, in March 1917 he transferred to the School of Naval Pilots, in Petrograd. He graduated from the School in November 1917, and was eventually appointed Chief of Oranienbaum air detachment of the Baltic Sea. Between November 1918 and July 1920 he was involved in the Russian Civil War as a pilot on the Red Army side, mostly in the southern front.

In the Fall of 1923 Chukhnovsky was dispatched to the Naval Academy in Petrograd. Next year, he was working as an intern on the cartography and hydrography of the Russian Arctic. In particular, as a part of the Northern Hydrographic Expedition headed by Nikolay Matusevich, Chukhnovsky performed a number of flights from Novaya Zemlya to the Barents and Kara Seas. In 1925 he continued this work by taking the aerial photos of Novaya Zemlya in the region of the . In 1927, he dropped out of the Naval Academy and started to work full-time as an Arctic pilot. He was essentially one of the pioneers of Soviet Arctic aviation.

...
Wikipedia