In Our View: Flight Big Part of Our History

We’ll forgive them. Vancouver, after all, is a long way from New York, and this part of the country likely is an afterthought — or a never-thought — for all those easterners.

So, when The New York Times wrote a headline in 1975 declaring “Coast City Hails 1937 Soviet Polar Flight,” well, it was understandable that some copy editor 3,000 miles away might not have been aware that Vancouver is not a coast city. It’s not like they could look it up on GoogleMaps back in the primitive days of the mid-1970s.

No, the important thing was that Vancouver was a part of aviation history, and that such history remains alive today. So it is that the National Park Service last month celebrated the 80th anniversary of the first transpolar flight, an historic journey that culminated with an unexpected landing at Pearson Field. It was there that a team of Russian aviators led by Valery Chkalov landed on June 20, 1937, after running short of fuel and abandoning their hopes of reaching Oakland, Calif.

You might have heard about it. The 5,288-mile nonstop flight from Moscow — which took 63 hours, 16 minutes — is commemorated today with a memorial at Pearson and with a street named Chkalov Drive just east of Interstate 205 and just south of Mill Plain Boulevard. Preparing for the recent celebration, Bob Cromwell of the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, said: “The incredible journey … was more than just a feat of human endurance and a technological achievement, it was a major moment in U.S.-Russian relations before the Second World War.”

These days, the flight is a well-known part of Vancouver lore, and this year’s commemoration included officials from the Russian consulate in Seattle, a wreath-laying, and artifacts from the flight. But 42 years ago, it was a little-remembered slice of history.

“It took almost four decades, but this little city of 40,000 people put on its best rain gear today to hail a group of aging Russian aviators and dedicate what is believed to be the first monument in the United States honoring an achievement of Soviet citizens,” Andrew H. Malcolm reported for The New York Times on June 20, 1975.

That event, according to The Times, led The Columbian — which then was an afternoon publication — to delay its press run to allow for complete coverage. It also was covered by 20 Soviet journalists and drew dignitaries such as the governor of Washington, the reigning Miss Washington, and Lloyd Stromberg, who had been Vancouver’s mayor in 1937. Valery Chkalov had died in a plane crash in 1938, but his son visited Vancouver, along with the historic flight’s co-pilot and navigator. Igor Chkalov told the crowd at Pearson Field, “I am fulfilling a mission granted me by my motherland.”

All of this touches upon the very soul of Vancouver. As one of the oldest settlements in the Northwest, the city long has embraced and celebrated its history — even while becoming a thoroughly modern city. Not many locations mark the beginnings of its European settlement, as this city does with Fort Vancouver; Esther Short Park was established in 1853 and still serves as the community’s living room; and The Academy near downtown has remained in use for more than 140 years.

Embracing a rich history while not being constricted or limited by that history has helped Vancouver to forge an identity that gives the city a unique flavor. Even if some people mistakenly think it is on the coast.