First Norilsk airfields were on water

May 17, 2021

In 1933, the twelve first seaplanes serving the Norilsk prospectors landed on the Rybnaya river, at the Chapel settlement.

#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. Two years later, when the intensive construction of the combine began, a direct route Dudinka-Norilsk was opened. On August 8, the pilot Nikolayev, on an SHA-2 aircraft, landed for the first time on the water of lake Dolgoye. In the summer of 1935, 49 flights were made from Dudinka to Norilsk: 224 passengers arrived, 102.5 kilograms of mail arrived and over 45 tons of cargo.

Later the aircraft began to take over the surface of the Norilskaya river, where the Valyok airhydroport was created.

Hydroport Valyok on the Norilskaya river

But soon seaplanes were not enough for big construction. In 1945 first land airfield in Norilsk was built. It was named Nadezhda (Hope) – after the railway station at which it was located. And the station, in turn, received its name from one of the Norilsk mountains. On July 22, 1946, the first aircraft was received on the Nadezhda landing strip.