Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's historic personal plane found rotting in ghostly Arctic aircraft graveyard
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's historic personal plane has been found rotting in an aircraft graveyard in the Arctic. The rusting twin-engine Ilyushin Il-14P, which he flew after succeeding Stalin in the Kremlin, was located in Chersky, in the north of Russia 's diamond region Yakutia. It lies alongside other relics of Soviet aviation in a ghostly plane cemetery in this polar village, one of the coldest inhabited places in the world.
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's historic personal plane (pictured), a twin-engine Ilyushin Il-14P, has been found rotting in an aircraft graveyard in the Arctic.
An undated picture shows Cold War tsar Khrushchev with the plane in the late 1950s which was fitted with a VIP cabin for his use.
The rotting Khrushchev airliner which went into service in 1957 was spotted by helicopter pilot and aviation enthusiast Timur Fatkulov (pictured), 33, who flies with Polar Airlines.
The historic plane, along with many other relics, was found in Chersky (pictured), in the north of Russia's diamond region Yakutia.
Another plane in the graveyard is a Czechoslovakian Avia-14, named Pisek (pictured), which was donated to Aeroflot for use in the Arctic.
The Pisek was a version of the Il-14 manufactured in Czechoslovakia which later became СССР-61713 after it was handed to the Soviet Union.
The crew stands on the steps of the CCCP-6173 during its heyday in the Soviet Union before it was abandoned in the Siberian plane graveyard.
An Antonov-2B - number СССР-09260 - lying among the other debris, 'is not as humble as it looks', said Fatkulov, with images showing parts of the plane strewn across the ground.
The aircraft, pictured in service, was accustomed to flying in high latitudes and has two floats.
Another plane among the many discarded in the Siberian town was a Il-14 which is now lying by a lake.
It originally belonged to Hungarian state airline Malev before it moved to the USSR.
Other relics of Soviet aviation, including the IL-14 СССР-04199, USSR-Н629 of the Polar Aviation, lie in the ghostly plane cemetery.
The IL-14 USSR-04201 lies abandoned in the polar village, one of the coldest inhabited places in the world.
In Soviet times, the planes were flown from Chersky as a center of polar aviation.
Many of the abandoned planes carried drillers, geologists, mail, food, and performed medical flights.
Chersky was one of the key centers of polar aviation in the USSR.
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