A closer look
Flying a glorified tin can across the North Pole requires a special brand of insanity. In 1937, Soviet pilot Valery Chkalov commanded an unpressurized ANT-25 aircraft on the first nonstop flight from Moscow to Vancouver, directly over the lethal Arctic ice cap. His crew battled malfunctioning oxygen tanks, freezing coolant, and windshields coated in solid ice. They kept the engine running by manually pumping anti-freeze for over sixty hours, securing a propaganda victory that redefined human endurance.
